Postural hypotension from hell

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yirara
yirara Posts: 9,442 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I finally know why I cannot run fast, or run or walk uphill, and why even running over a tiny speed bump leaves me exhausted: Postural hypotension.

Yes, I know my blood pressure drops quite dramatically when I stand up. At times I'm close to fainting though usually I don't notice it even if my blood pressure drops from 110/70 to 87/47. Turns out if I just stand about I recover quickly, but if I jump up and continue walking then my legs remain heavy, my head remains light-headed and my heartrate doesn't get up to get the blood out of my legs again. The same happens on inclines, or when trying to run too fast, or when sprinting from standing. I don't think it's ever been any different. Certainly as a small child I could not suddenly start to around without experiencing heavy legs and shortness of breath. So walking uphill has always meant for me to walk 50-300 steps depending on how steep it is, stop with very heavy legs and shortness of breath, feel normal again within a few seconds, walk on again and the same happens again.

Are there other people how experience something similar? have you found any solution that might help? btw, I'm at normal weight and eat a normal, varied diet.

Replies

  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
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    I'm confused, how have you ran half marathons if you have always had this condition? Even ones categorised as flat have some hills.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
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    I slacked big time with strength training over the last couple of months.. well, basically since October last year. Good thing is: my muscles seem to remember how to look cool and I don't seem to need to much work to get back to my old look. The bad thing is: DOMs! I've only been doing YAYOG and so far focused on core and upper body as I figured my legs can't be in such bad shape. I mean, I run three times per week, can keep it up for two hours and do lots of hills.

    The above is a quote of yours?
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,442 Member
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    No, I'e never ran halfs before. I wanted to be got sick just before. Looking back through my running data I am fine if I start running very slowly and then slowly get faster. Starting too quickly wrecks me in no time.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,442 Member
    edited November 2017
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    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »
    I slacked big time with strength training over the last couple of months.. well, basically since October last year. Good thing is: my muscles seem to remember how to look cool and I don't seem to need to much work to get back to my old look. The bad thing is: DOMs! I've only been doing YAYOG and so far focused on core and upper body as I figured my legs can't be in such bad shape. I mean, I run three times per week, can keep it up for two hours and do lots of hills.

    The above is a quote of yours?

    yep. I did. I was living in an area with different terrain than here. Very gradual hills and not undulating while it's much more steeper here and constantly going up and down. Here I even run out of breath when I'm walking. And running for two hours for me means to run about 15km. that's how slow I am.

    I was sick a lot though since I wrote this and only managed to build distance up again. Every sicness basically throws me back to the beginning of barely managing 1km in 8:30 minutes. And when I wrote above I was in the shape of my life. I've not managed to get back to it since unfortunately.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
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    But now you're saying you can't walk 50 steps of hills without stopping?
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,442 Member
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    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »
    But now you're saying you can't walk 50 steps of hills without stopping?

    And it's never been different. All my life. Look, there's steep and there's less steep. I have very steep hills here. On those I might manage 50 steps and don't manage to run at all. On gradual inclines I'm even able to run and can walk without stopping. I still feel very winded.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,442 Member
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    And being able to run up a fairly gradual incline is GREAT for me considering my history.
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
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    Sounds like you are just out of shape and not used to steeper hills. Over time with consistent exercise and walking/running and progressing, you should increase your abilities to handle the hills.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,442 Member
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    rybo wrote: »
    Sounds like you are just out of shape and not used to steeper hills. Over time with consistent exercise and walking/running and progressing, you should increase your abilities to handle the hills.

    Nope, unlikely. I've been running for close to 3 years now and have not managed to improve my pace. Every time I run faster I immediately I get those heavy legs, I get light headed and experience shortness of breath and need to stop. Mind you, yes, I am close to running a half marathon distance again at the moment as long as the terrain is flat. Hell, cycling home from school, up a hill never got easier in the 6 years I did this every day as a child. I manage to stretch my running distance given I don't get sick inbetween as long as I stay on flat terrain, but faster or uphill have never improved at all, regardless of how I trained. And yes, it is *kitten* annoying to walk up a mountain where you have to stop every few steps, you breath heavily and stumble over your own legs while people twice your age overtake you happily chatting. I'm certainly not able to talk then.
  • susanp57
    susanp57 Posts: 409 Member
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    When I was younger I had that problem to the point where I did pass out, esp. when I first got up in the morning.I also dropped at the gym and once onto a concrete floor in the middle of a night club. That one gave me an ambulance ride and a purple face.It wasn't easily diagnosed and I seem to have gotten over it as I have aged.But I am slightly concerned as I am getting back into shape and have noticed that my BP numbers have gotten low again. You need to have a chat with a doctor.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,442 Member
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    susanp57 wrote: »
    When I was younger I had that problem to the point where I did pass out, esp. when I first got up in the morning.I also dropped at the gym and once onto a concrete floor in the middle of a night club. That one gave me an ambulance ride and a purple face.It wasn't easily diagnosed and I seem to have gotten over it as I have aged.But I am slightly concerned as I am getting back into shape and have noticed that my BP numbers have gotten low again. You need to have a chat with a doctor.

    Thank you for sharing your experience. In my case it has never really changed and was always there as a child, as overweight adult and at a normal weight now. My GP knows I have postural hypotension and measured very low numbers after getting up from lying down before. I will have to show her how my blood pressures changes from walking on a flat surface to up a slope and back to flat surface. Though I suppose there's very little you can go unfortunately.
  • susanp57
    susanp57 Posts: 409 Member
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    yirara wrote: »
    susanp57 wrote: »
    When I was younger I had that problem to the point where I did pass out, esp. when I first got up in the morning.I also dropped at the gym and once onto a concrete floor in the middle of a night club. That one gave me an ambulance ride and a purple face.It wasn't easily diagnosed and I seem to have gotten over it as I have aged.But I am slightly concerned as I am getting back into shape and have noticed that my BP numbers have gotten low again. You need to have a chat with a doctor.

    Thank you for sharing your experience. In my case it has never really changed and was always there as a child, as overweight adult and at a normal weight now. My GP knows I have postural hypotension and measured very low numbers after getting up from lying down before. I will have to show her how my blood pressures changes from walking on a flat surface to up a slope and back to flat surface. Though I suppose there's very little you can go unfortunately.

    Yeah. They generally don't want to elevate your BP. I'm probably older than you (62) so hence the aging out. But lately during casual at-home checks I've been noticing resting numbers like 118/63. So I may start to keep an eye out.
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,298 Member
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    Low blood pressure is an all too real problems for some. It was for my father, his doctors did not seem interested enough to discover what might be the cause. I realise Yirara's pre dates adult hood. I wonder if something like b12 deficiency may be involved. This is a tricky vitamin because it requires an enzyme or microbe, which escapes me at the moment, to enable it to reach the point in the digestive system to be ingested. I've seen endocrine imbalances given as a cause too. Some medications do have this as an adverse reaction.

    Best wishes to Yirara and Susan I hope you both find a medical adviser to help you overcome these draining, restricting difficulties.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,442 Member
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    susanp57 wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    susanp57 wrote: »
    When I was younger I had that problem to the point where I did pass out, esp. when I first got up in the morning.I also dropped at the gym and once onto a concrete floor in the middle of a night club. That one gave me an ambulance ride and a purple face.It wasn't easily diagnosed and I seem to have gotten over it as I have aged.But I am slightly concerned as I am getting back into shape and have noticed that my BP numbers have gotten low again. You need to have a chat with a doctor.

    Thank you for sharing your experience. In my case it has never really changed and was always there as a child, as overweight adult and at a normal weight now. My GP knows I have postural hypotension and measured very low numbers after getting up from lying down before. I will have to show her how my blood pressures changes from walking on a flat surface to up a slope and back to flat surface. Though I suppose there's very little you can go unfortunately.

    Yeah. They generally don't want to elevate your BP. I'm probably older than you (62) so hence the aging out. But lately during casual at-home checks I've been noticing resting numbers like 118/63. So I may start to keep an eye out.

    No, I'm not quite there yet :) Early 40s. The lowest I've so far measured was 89/49 after standing up, and I did not get dizzy then. Makes me wonder how low it drops when I do get dizzy or nearly faint.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,442 Member
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    Fuzzipeg wrote: »
    Low blood pressure is an all too real problems for some. It was for my father, his doctors did not seem interested enough to discover what might be the cause. I realise Yirara's pre dates adult hood. I wonder if something like b12 deficiency may be involved. This is a tricky vitamin because it requires an enzyme or microbe, which escapes me at the moment, to enable it to reach the point in the digestive system to be ingested. I've seen endocrine imbalances given as a cause too. Some medications do have this as an adverse reaction.

    Best wishes to Yirara and Susan I hope you both find a medical adviser to help you overcome these draining, restricting difficulties.

    Thanks a lot! I do have VitB12 deficiency indeed, but the problem seems to be with my stomach as I have the antibodies associated with that. I am well treated though, by taking care of it myself. My GP would only be able to give me a shot every three months, which would never have healed by nerves. But she at least checks all cofactors I ask for. But this certainly was not present during childhood. I would say that I did have other problems then though as I have a life-long craving for salt and liquorice, quite badly actually.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,680 Member
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    I have had this, but not nearly as badly as you do. I used to pass out occasionally, but mostly just got dizzy and saw black when I stood up. Stress made it much worse. Then for years I had no problems. The last couple of years I mostly have a problem if I'm running fast and then stop (at a light for example) I'll get dizzy. It passes quickly. It may be salt related, since I don't have the same issue in the winter when it's cold and I'm not sweating. It has happened on the TM.

    Since you know it helps to start slow, you might start out all your runs by 5-10 minutes of walking. Also look for flatter areas to run. I have a hill at the end of my street with a 130' climb in about .3. When I want a break from it, I drive to town so I can run on the flat.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,442 Member
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    spiriteagle99 wrote: »
    I have had this, but not nearly as badly as you do. I used to pass out occasionally, but mostly just got dizzy and saw black when I stood up. Stress made it much worse. Then for years I had no problems. The last couple of years I mostly have a problem if I'm running fast and then stop (at a light for example) I'll get dizzy. It passes quickly. It may be salt related, since I don't have the same issue in the winter when it's cold and I'm not sweating. It has happened on the TM.

    Since you know it helps to start slow, you might start out all your runs by 5-10 minutes of walking. Also look for flatter areas to run. I have a hill at the end of my street with a 130' climb in about .3. When I want a break from it, I drive to town so I can run on the flat.

    Ha, with me it's exactly the other way around: I get dizzy when I start running. If I'm slow and careful, and the terrain is flat then I recover. If not then I have to stop due to shortness of breath and heavy legs. When I stop or change to walking I'm fine again within just a few seconds. My HR recordings for my runs or runs with walking intervals looks pretty wild with lower HR when I'm running and higher HR when walking when my heart finally decides to get all that blood out of my feet :smiley: I feel like doing a few more tests with a bp meter, but winter and Scotland don't really go well together :wink:
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,298 Member
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    Yirara, Sorry to read of your known b12 issues. I have my b 12 pills from a UK supplier, my doctors never bothered to test me, even though it is common is hashi people. I followed up on something I watched and because I was already in contact with this company they added information in a general mail. (I'd been referred by my nutritionist) I started with one and increased within their references because I felt an immediate improvement. Since then I have seen sublingual product too. B12 is vital for so many functions in the body.

    I hope you are taking digestive microbes along side your antibiotics. Antibiotics also attack your digestive microbes as well as the problem you are taking them for. I found a good range at the local health food store it includes ones specifically for use with antibiotics, taking these also made a great difference to me. I'd had many rounds of antibiotics over the greater part of 50 years, and true it took taking 30 these things, three packets end on end and I do repeat them occasionally even now. Its so difficult to rebuild a good body of digestive microbes, fibrous foods and plenty of vegetables also increase the survival of these microbes. Hope this helps.

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