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Avarice
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03 Apr 2010, 7:01 am

Medical Definition: http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=7671

Short Version: Drop in blood pressure as you stand up.

I haven't been to a doctor about it but it's impossible to miss when you have it. I noticed around a year ago that when I stood up I would get so dizzy that I would lose vision, I would also stumble around the room. It's hard to explain the feeling, it's as if I'm only half consicious while it happens. It seems to get worse as time goes on, I hit my head on a door after stumbling out of the lounge room today. It's not a particularly bad condition, but I do wonder if I will ever actually pass out because of it, and that's rather worrying.

Does anybody else suffer this? If so, do you have any strategies to manage the symptoms and prevent fainting?



Last edited by Avarice on 03 Apr 2010, 7:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

Rainbow-Squirrel
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03 Apr 2010, 7:08 am

I think I have this problem right now, the last few weeks actually, maybe it's due to my hyper-sedentary lifestyle ?



leejosepho
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03 Apr 2010, 7:24 am

I have never lost consciousness altogether, but I do occasionally experience the symptoms you have mentioned ... and mostly when rising from laying down. But many years ago I played as a catcher in softball, and I often missed throws because I could barely see anything after quickly rising from a squatting position.

Doing a little stretching or arm movement or moving my head from side to side a few times before getting up seems to help a bit, and I have learned to not just ignore or try to hide what is happening and attempt to move along anyway.


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Avarice
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03 Apr 2010, 7:42 am

leejosepho wrote:
I have never lost consciousness altogether, but I do occasionally experience the symptoms you have mentioned ... and mostly when rising from laying down. But many years ago I played as a catcher in softball, and I often missed throws because I could barely see anything after quickly rising from a squatting position.

Doing a little stretching or arm movement or moving my head from side to side a few times before getting up seems to help a bit, and I have learned to not just ignore or try to hide what is happening and attempt to move along anyway.


That sounds like a good idea, it would help the blood flow and it may prevent all of it from being taken as far down as it can by gravity. I swear I can feel the blood rush out of my head after I get up. In the last week I've started feeling a "pins and needles" sensation, which is one of the things which prompted me to post.



Apple_in_my_Eye
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03 Apr 2010, 7:59 am

I have low blood pressure, though the problem is another condition called

Neurally Mediated Hypotension

I actually get orthostatic hypotension too, but that tends to be transient. With NMH your pressure drops, and then continues dropping as time goes on, or you suddenly faint. There's a good test for it called a tilt-table test. I think I've lost consciousness that way maybe 6-8 times. Walked around with lesser symptoms for many years not knowing what they were.


O.H. is thought to be commonly caused by dehydration. Some meds can cause it too -- i.e. tricyclics, St. John's Wort, and a lot of others. Also if the autonomic nervous system is a out-of-whack (IOW, a kind of dysautonomia) which is the cause of NMH.

Low blood pressure can be treated with meds, or increased salt intake. You have to be careful, though, as you can have transient hypotension on top of hypertension. So even if it drops sometimes, it can still be too high most of the rest of the time -- so one needs to be careful when doing anything that increases blood pressure.

Too tired to write all that's in my brain about this (been dealing with it about 20 years), but the physiology and such of blood pressure is kind of interesting. The body sort of has an internal "g-suit," in that blood vessels are told to contract or expand depending on whether you're standing or sitting, so as to keep blood pressure in the brain (and heart -- the upper half of the body) from dropping because the blood has to be pumped further against gravity than when sitting or laying down. If that g-suit fails then blood pools in the legs and abdomen upon standing, and so the brain (and sometimes heart) gets starved.

The reason increasing salt intake increases b.p. is because the body carefully maintains sodium concentration at a certain level (if it gets even a little off, nerve cells can't function). So if you up you salt intake, the body will reduce water output until the blood is diluted back down the correct level. That means there is more total blood volume inside the same volume of pipes -- so the pressure goes up. (they're a bit elastic, but basically that's it)

Anyway, too tired for more Dr. Science right now.


PS the simplest way to not pass out is to lower the head -- bending down to get some blood to the brain until the pressure stabilizes. If it's really bad, head-between-the-kness, but for less I found just leaning over with hands on my thighs for a bit would be enough.



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03 Apr 2010, 8:24 am

I get this, though not every time. I have very low blood pressure. It's more pronounced after I go on long runs or give blood.

Strategies:
- bend over such that your head is down towards your knees.
- Also, stand up slower.
I know this doesn't address the underlying etiology (so it might not be a very satisfying suggestion, sorry), but it should mitigate the risk of passing out (and hitting your head, etc).



Nan
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03 Apr 2010, 9:47 am

Yes, I had a lot of problems with it when I was a teenager. I outgrew it in my late 20s, though. My daughter has quite a lot of problems with it - POTS. You have to learn to not stand up too quickly, etc.,....

Good luck!



Ambivalence
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03 Apr 2010, 12:43 pm

Avarice wrote:
Does anybody else suffer this?


Yes, frequently when I stand up. It's extremely annoying.

Quote:
If so, do you have any strategies to manage the symptoms and prevent fainting?


Yes, when I feel it starting to happen I immediately drop into a crouch. I usually still go faint and it looks silly, but it's a lot better than trying to stay upright while my legs and brain aren't working. ^^


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mechanicalgirl39
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03 Apr 2010, 12:57 pm

I've got the head-rush thing too. I nearly drowned in the bath last week from that. Had it since being a little kid. I thought it was normal to go blind for a few seconds when you stand.


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Willard
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03 Apr 2010, 3:10 pm

I get this if I squat to look for a book on a low shelf or rummage in a cabinet. I always thought it was a circulatory thing from temporarily interrupting blood flow through the legs, but it is very disorienting and I'm afraid eventually I'll faint and hit my head or something. It can also cause me mild headaches for a while. Is this in any way connected to AS, or is it an unrelated and separate condition?



SamwiseGamgee
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03 Apr 2010, 7:55 pm

The only time I have ever fainted was because of this. I stood up, walked to the kitchen, my eyes clouded over and I woke up on the floor. It's not instant for me, I get at least a few steps before I feel it coming on. If it is instant, I just sit back down and wait a couple seconds for it to pass. Otherwise, it depends on what I'm experiencing. Usually I just feel a little dizzy so I just stand still and hold on to something, like a wall or a shelf. If my eyes start clouding over (blackness comes in from the sides of my eyes, moving towards my nose), I fall to a crouch and open my eyes wide (not sure if the wide eyes help, but it's just what I've always done) and wait for the clouds to disappear. They've never clouded over completely since the time I fainted from it, it's why I open them wide, it feels like the clouds have just a little further to go if my eyes are open a little more so I have a better chance of not passing out. Stupid, I know, but whatever.

If any of you feel like laughing about the situation, one of my favourite comedians said this: "I don't do drugs. If I want a rush I just get out of a chair when I'm not expecting it." Made me laugh quite hard. It was Dylan Moran, if you wanted to know.


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mechanicalgirl39
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03 Apr 2010, 8:16 pm

I nearly drowned in the bath from one of these.


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Avarice
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03 Apr 2010, 8:19 pm

Thanks for the advice everyone, I've never considered crouching when it happens, mostly because I'm not entirely conscious when it does. It seems as if it's a common thing.


SamwiseGamgee wrote:
If any of you feel like laughing about the situation, one of my favourite comedians said this: "I don't do drugs. If I want a rush I just get out of a chair when I'm not expecting it." Made me laugh quite hard. It was Dylan Moran, if you wanted to know.


Good joke.

Willard wrote:
I get this if I squat to look for a book on a low shelf or rummage in a cabinet. I always thought it was a circulatory thing from temporarily interrupting blood flow through the legs, but it is very disorienting and I'm afraid eventually I'll faint and hit my head or something. It can also cause me mild headaches for a while. Is this in any way connected to AS, or is it an unrelated and separate condition?


I doubt it. I can't see any connection between AS and this.



Nan
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04 Apr 2010, 11:05 am

Willard wrote:
I get this if I squat to look for a book on a low shelf or rummage in a cabinet. I always thought it was a circulatory thing from temporarily interrupting blood flow through the legs, but it is very disorienting and I'm afraid eventually I'll faint and hit my head or something. It can also cause me mild headaches for a while. Is this in any way connected to AS, or is it an unrelated and separate condition?



Willard - We were told that my daughter's POTS is related to nervous system dysfunctions she has. I would think it's not necessarily causually related to AS, but as they are both related to brain wiring, there might be some sort of potential for there to be a correlational aspect. - Nan



mechanicalgirl39
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04 Apr 2010, 12:58 pm

You can deal with a head rush less obviously by tensing up your core then close your throat and try and force yourself to exhale but don't actually breathe out.. (sorry, that was messy descriptive language!!) That's what I do.


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10 Apr 2010, 5:20 pm

I have orthostatic hypotension from my adrenal insufficiency. It lowers when I go from lying, sitting, standing. First off, go very slowly when getting up. Move to the end of your seat, sit for a minute before you get up, etc. You might have some adrenal 'fatigue'. I don't know what else causes hypotension upon standing. Here's an adrenal fatigue quiz. Click