Blood pressure not getting controlled. Effect of antibiotic? Please help

[jo]

My mom has completed her course of antibiotics last week. She has been on antibiotics (Cefazolin) for the past 1.5 months to treat staph infection. Since they started her on antibiotics (Cefazolin), her BP's started elevating all of a sudden. I was thinking that her elevated BP's could be because of the antibiotics. Now she has been off the antibiotics and her systolic BP is still about 200 and her BP medications doesn't seem to help. At dialysis, they keep saying that the elevated BP's are because of her fluids and they have to pull more. But, my mom doesn't have fluids and she is already close to her dry weight and they are not able to pull more fluids past her dry weight even with extra treatments. Now, I am pretty sure that it is not her fluids. I got an appointment for a sleep study through her primary care. What else could be causing this? Has anyone been in this situation before? I am crying here without knowing the cause of the elevated BP readings. Please help.

[cassandra]

Hi Jo several sites mention how antibiotics can cause high blood pressure. They can also reduce the effect of BP meds. But CKD can 'cause' it too.

Love, luck and strength, Cas

[sahern]

I had an infection from a cath procedure.  They cleaned it out and put me on antibiotics.  The was medicine was CLINDAMYCIN HCL.  My blood pressure jumped to 170/110 scared the heck out of me normally it is 120/70. I looked it up online and found out that this can happen. I stopped it and went to the doctor the next day.  They were not sure what to make of this but said that because I had been on a high dose to not worry about taking any more medicine. I was on it for two and a half days before I stopped.  It took over four days for my blood pressure to come down close to normal for me.  I hope it works out for your mom.






sp mod Cas

[Charlie B53]

There is a great amount of research into how the micro-organisms in the intestines effect the body health.   Oral Anti-biotics can selectively kill some of this bacteria, somewhat selectively but killing far more than the targeted bad bacteria that is causing an infection.   Broad spectrum anti-biotics often arbitrarily kill off most all bacteria in the intestines, causing diarrhea.  It can take time to re-colonize the gut with the 'good' bacteria.  Eating fresh fruits and vegetables as well as taking probiotic capsules may speed this recovery.

I suspect the recent treatment has killed off some of those 'positive' acting colonies.  You might try the probiotics for a couple of weeks and hope I am correct.  It wouldn't hurt to ask your Dr if he agrees.

[PrimeTimer]

My husband is diabetic, takes meds for high BP and is on dialysis. Sometimes his BP briefly shoots up when he first stands up after dialysis. You might read up about the Vagus nerve and Vagus nerve damage in diabetics. Sometimes damage to the Vagus nerve causes an erratic heart rate. 



http://healthylifemed.com/what-does-the-vagus-nerve-do/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagus_nerve


Want to add that his BP was also higher when they increased his EPO and Iron due to anemia. Once his hemoglobin went back up and they reduced the EPO/Iron, his BP went back to normal.

[jo]

Hi Jo several sites mention how antibiotics can cause high blood pressure. They can also reduce the effect of BP meds. But CKD can 'cause' it too.

Love, luck and strength, Cas

Yes, I read it too and that is why I was suspicious, but the doctors wouldn't agree that antibiotics is the cause.

[jo]

I had an infection from a cath procedure.  They cleaned it out and put me on antibiotics.  The was medicine was CLINDAMYCIN HCL.  My blood pressure jumped to 170/110 scared the heck out of me normally it is 120/70. I looked it up online and found out that this can happen. I stopped it and went to the doctor the next day.  They were not sure what to make of this but said that because I had been on a high dose to not worry about taking any more medicine. I was on it for two and a half days before I stopped.  It took over four days for my blood pressure to come down close to normal for me.  I hope it works out for your mom.
sp mod Cas

Exactly, my mom's BP's were normal until she was put on Cefazolin. She was on that antibiotic for a month and a half now and I am not sure how long it would take for her BP's to come back to normal. Also, they put her on an extra BP medication now to control the BP which doesn't help even a little.

[jo]

There is a great amount of research into how the micro-organisms in the intestines effect the body health.   Oral Anti-biotics can selectively kill some of this bacteria, somewhat selectively but killing far more than the targeted bad bacteria that is causing an infection.   Broad spectrum anti-biotics often arbitrarily kill off most all bacteria in the intestines, causing diarrhea.  It can take time to re-colonize the gut with the 'good' bacteria.  Eating fresh fruits and vegetables as well as taking probiotic capsules may speed this recovery.

I suspect the recent treatment has killed off some of those 'positive' acting colonies.  You might try the probiotics for a couple of weeks and hope I am correct.  It wouldn't hurt to ask your Dr if he agrees.

I explained this to the doctors and asked what he thinks about this. He got mad at me and said he cannot tell me anymore that antibiotics is not the cause of her high BP's. He complains that my mom has fluids in her body which causes her BP to be high. I cannot agree with that. My mom is always close to her dry weight after every treatment, and they cannot take more fluids off of her even with extra treatments. Even the dialysis techs agree that she is on her dry weight, but not the doctors and the nurse. I am very upset. Thanks for your suggestion.

[jo]

My husband is diabetic, takes meds for high BP and is on dialysis. Sometimes his BP briefly shoots up when he first stands up after dialysis. You might read up about the Vagus nerve and Vagus nerve damage in diabetics. Sometimes damage to the Vagus nerve causes an erratic heart rate. 



http://healthylifemed.com/what-does-the-vagus-nerve-do/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagus_nerve


Want to add that his BP was also higher when they increased his EPO and Iron due to anemia. Once his hemoglobin went back up and they reduced the EPO/Iron, his BP went back to normal.

My mom had the BP shooting up issues after standing up initially, but not anymore. Now, it is actually the opposite. Her standing blood pressures are lower than the resting blood pressures. For eg, now her BP records systolic over 190 at rest/sitting positions, but it measures systolic 170 when standing. The blood pressure spikes are caused after the antibiotic. No one is able to figure out what is causing these spikes.

[Charlie B53]

I can relate.  I suspect the pressure spikes are caused by the ody reacting to the 'shock' of the antibiotic killing bacteria.

If I may relate a little story.   I am still adding antibiotics to my PD bags because of an infection.  I'm healing fine now.   Early on in this infection while O was being moved from the local hospital to the VA hospital I ended up going over 24 hours without antibiotics being administered.  Once at the VA hospital the Tech had pharmacy add the antibiotics to my PD bags.  As I began to fill with those treated bags my abdomen began to BURN!  Holy Crap!   No doubt if they had been taking my BP at that time it would have shown a great rise from the pain, or shock.

This can be happening but not such that the patient notices other than measuring BP.  No other obvious outward sign.

It is perfectly normal for BP to drop a little standing as the body systems take a moment to become accustomed to the additional stress from the change in physical exertion and body position.    If you wait a few minutes and take the BP again you should see it recover to a more normal reading.

Late Spring and early Summer as the weather warms I sometimes have those pressure drops upon rising so badly I have actually fainted for a second.  Dr usually makes a small reduction in my BP med for the summer and I'm fine.

[KatieV]

I explained this to the doctors and asked what he thinks about this. He got mad at me and said he cannot tell me anymore that antibiotics is not the cause of her high BP's. He complains that my mom has fluids in her body which causes her BP to be high. I cannot agree with that. My mom is always close to her dry weight after every treatment, and they cannot take more fluids off of her even with extra treatments. Even the dialysis techs agree that she is on her dry weight, but not the doctors and the nurse. I am very upset. Thanks for your suggestion.

I sympathize with your frustration!  My nephrologist said the same thing about me for months!  "If you lose more weight, your blood pressure will go down."  It was over 200/110 - sometimes up to 230/124!  She finally addressed it after my husband and BOTH my parents showed up at dialysis.  She added another blood pressure medication to the four I already took.  It helped some, but not a lot. 

I finally got my blood pressure mostly under control (130s/140s).  It took switching to NxStage (5 days of dialysis is better than 3) and a new nephrologist who actually listens to me.  I kept track of my BP readings throughout the day, as well as what meds I took.  I am currently on five different BP meds, but we were working on reducing my dosage and eventually, hopefully, getting me off of a couple of them.  I then had my second catheter infection in 2 months (after going for more than a year without an infection) and my blood pressure is through the roof again!  I am on a six week course of Cefazolin.  When giving the antibiotic, my heart feels like it does somersaults, so I'm sure it affects my blood pressure too. 

I would keep track of her blood pressures - maybe get a cuff for home - and give it a little time for the antibiotics to clear her system.  The last time I was on Cefazolin, I had awful diarrhea for weeks after.  I'm sure it lingers in the body for quite a while.

[Charlie B53]

Antibiotics are FOREIGN invaders to the body.  They are NOT natural and attack bacteria.  The body can react to these invaders, increasing heart rate, blood pressure, respiration.  Some people report 'feeling' the onset of the medication.

Some antibiotics are very broad in the bacteria they kill, not only the bacterial infection but many of the beneficial bacteria essential to digestion.  Thus when taken orally the dose must be so high as to be enough to cross over into the blood stream and reach the entire body the intestinal tract suffers, getting 'cleaned' out.

Bananas, yogurt, probiotics can be beneficial in aiding the restoration of many of the beneficial digestive bacteria.

[jo]

I explained this to the doctors and asked what he thinks about this. He got mad at me and said he cannot tell me anymore that antibiotics is not the cause of her high BP's. He complains that my mom has fluids in her body which causes her BP to be high. I cannot agree with that. My mom is always close to her dry weight after every treatment, and they cannot take more fluids off of her even with extra treatments. Even the dialysis techs agree that she is on her dry weight, but not the doctors and the nurse. I am very upset. Thanks for your suggestion.

I sympathize with your frustration!  My nephrologist said the same thing about me for months!  "If you lose more weight, your blood pressure will go down."  It was over 200/110 - sometimes up to 230/124!  She finally addressed it after my husband and BOTH my parents showed up at dialysis.  She added another blood pressure medication to the four I already took.  It helped some, but not a lot. 

I finally got my blood pressure mostly under control (130s/140s).  It took switching to NxStage (5 days of dialysis is better than 3) and a new nephrologist who actually listens to me.  I kept track of my BP readings throughout the day, as well as what meds I took.  I am currently on five different BP meds, but we were working on reducing my dosage and eventually, hopefully, getting me off of a couple of them.  I then had my second catheter infection in 2 months (after going for more than a year without an infection) and my blood pressure is through the roof again!  I am on a six week course of Cefazolin.  When giving the antibiotic, my heart feels like it does somersaults, so I'm sure it affects my blood pressure too. 

I would keep track of her blood pressures - maybe get a cuff for home - and give it a little time for the antibiotics to clear her system.  The last time I was on Cefazolin, I had awful diarrhea for weeks after.  I'm sure it lingers in the body for quite a while.

Yes, I completely agree with you and the same happened to us. The neph didn't add an other BP medication until I sent them an electronic email with what's been going on and what would the treatment be for this. That worked! It looks like we might have to wait and see for a few days to see if the BP's are controlled. The extra BP medication doesn't help either so I am definitely suspicious on the antibiotic to be the culprit.

[jo]

Antibiotics are FOREIGN invaders to the body.  They are NOT natural and attack bacteria.  The body can react to these invaders, increasing heart rate, blood pressure, respiration.  Some people report 'feeling' the onset of the medication.

Some antibiotics are very broad in the bacteria they kill, not only the bacterial infection but many of the beneficial bacteria essential to digestion.  Thus when taken orally the dose must be so high as to be enough to cross over into the blood stream and reach the entire body the intestinal tract suffers, getting 'cleaned' out.

Bananas, yogurt, probiotics can be beneficial in aiding the restoration of many of the beneficial digestive bacteria.

Thank you for the information.