Question about blood pressure

[erowe]

I am just wondering if anyone else has the same problem as me.  My blood pressure has been very low lately (88/44) and I am curious if this is a normal problem with kidney disease. 
My doctor wants me to hold my lasix today and tomorrow and then take only one pill thereafter, I was taking 3 lasix daily before.

The doctor also thinks I'm "too dry".  Does anyone know if this would cause such a drop in blood pressure?

[justme15]

if by 'too dry' he means dehydrated, then yes, this can cause your blood pressure to get very low.

[Rerun]

Maybe have some soup which is fluid and a little salt.  That should raise your BP and enjoy it becasue it is not often that you can have it.

       

[deniferfer]

Yes it can cause it to drop. When i get dehydrated my will drop that lower or even lower. Mine has dropped so low I have almost passed out. They tell me to drink broth cuz of the salt but i found it doesn't always works with me. during the summer and warm days I try to drink a little more water to help keep it up.

[Grumpy-1]

I found that the longer I was on PD, the lower my blood pressure dropped.  It continued to come down to the point I no longer had to take any type of BP meds.  As has been stated, being dehydrated will also cause a drop in BP.  I found beside broth, the crackers and water will help with the dehydration and the BP will come up as well.   

[malaka]

This may or may not be helpful. I'm on dialysis.  My bp is measured several times in the process.  It drops significantly from the pre-treatment standing bp to post-treatment standing bp.  The only difference in me in those 3.5 hours is the loss of fluid from dialysis.  They take off whatever amount equals about one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of fluid.  So, I believe that water in your body directly impacts your blood pressure.

[adairpete]

Hydration most definitely does impact blood pressure!  The good news is that low bp is much easier to fix than high bp.  When I take too much fluid off doing PD, I eat a pickle and chug some water.  Salt and water.  The water obviously replaces fluid, and the increased salt pulls fluid from your tissues into your bloodstream, raising your blood pressure.  After I eat a pickle and drink water it's usually only a half hour before I'm good again.  Maybe not marathon-ready, but at least that's when the dizziness, weakness, and lightheadness pass and I can see a difference when I check my bp.

[erowe]

Thank you all for the replies.  I will try to have a little extra salt to see if this will help.  I have been so paranoid with the sodium intake that maybe I went a little overboard!

[smcd23]

Have a few bites of chicken noodle soup. It always does the trick for SO when he gets too low. If it keeps happening, ask the clinic to consider adjusting your dry weight if you're doing hemo. If you lost any weight from diet changes etc, they could be pulling too much off now.

[erowe]

Thanks, smcd.  I haven't started dialysis yet.  My doctor did adjust my lasix but so far the pressure has been the same.  He seems to think that if I have no symptoms that I am ok.  The bottom number has been in the 50's lately, sometimes in the 40's.  I get more labs done tomorrow so I'll see if anything else is going on.

[smcd23]

My blood pressure is always on the low side. I've been 79/50 before. No wonder I'm always cold, right? You may need a different blood pressure med, or a smaller dose spread out over the day too. My SO has wicked blood pressure. Up and down constantly but it's been up more lately than down. They think right now it's due to his parathyroid so he's going to have to have it removed. I hope your doc can get it fixed for you, it's uncomfortable and can be dangerous if it drops too low too fast.

[Melissa19564]

I have been dealing with the same thing the last few months. I was originally taking 200mg Metoprolol, 100mg Losartan, and 25mg chlorthalidone. Now I am down to 25mg Metoprolol, 50mg Losartan, and 25mg of chlorthalidone. I will take my bp while I am sitting at it will be 142/91 and than I can have spells while I am active that go down to 85/46!! I'm suprised I haven't passed out yet--def feel like I might. My Doc is blaming it on dehydration though so keep an eye on how much your drinking, they didn't want to increase my sodium and throw anything else off though.

[natnnnat]

Gregory keeps an eye on his fluid (swellings on his body, which for him are ankles, and face, also lungs but he cant see that) and on his weight.  When his weight goes up, he uses the lasix to bring it down, but only one a day.  His bp was high until he was put on the lasix but he doesnt take it unless he has to as it isn't good for the kidney.  His bp at present sits around 135/84 or so.

[sullidog]

how's your urine output? Mine so so great that they don't even pull anything infact they have to give me some.

[mamagemini]

Weare having issues with my BP also. I have to use Symbicort inhaler (steroids) and that raises my BP. Well my BP is not under control because they had to take me off Lopressor due to coughing alllllllllllllllllllll night. Now I am on Losartan/Cozarr and it isnt doing a thing. My last BP check it was 140/88...not too bad but still not low enough. She asked how long it was up and I said since they diagnosed me with Asthma a year ago. She got worried and said we need to get that down asap.