Low Blood Pressure - What causes it?

Eviledna

I've heard it said before that low blood pressure is very common, especially in young women. I've even heard it said that it's safer to have low blood pressure rather than high. However with the nastier side effects including fatigue, dizziness and fainting I was wondering...what causes low blood pressure and can it be normalized?

keiran110

Plenty of causes exist:
Hormone- If you lack adrenaline or have a malfunctioning thyroid.
Heart problems- Weak heart causes low blood pressure.
Injury- If you lose a lot of blood, you will have less pressure in your body.

Medications-
A common misconception is that the majority of calcium in our body is found in our bones and teeth. The majority is actually found in our muscles. Our muscles need calcium to contract. If you are taking Calcium Channel blocking medication (given to people with high blood pressure), this can cause low blood pressure.

Digoxin is a chemical found in the plant "foxglove" which herbalists use to treat heart problems. This can cause low blood pressure.

Other illegal and legal drugs cause low blood pressure.

Emotion-
People faint when they get scared for example. Basically the heart gets slowed to the point where their blood pressure is low and they faint. The fainting is caused when the brain is not recieving enough blood flow and oxygen. If it is recieving a minimal amount, this is when fatigue is felt.

Prevention
Yep, it can b normalised.
Type into google "prevent low blood pressure" and click the first link. Its a nice concise non scientific explaination.

Hope this helped, enjoy!

Eviledna

Thank you keiran110, that definitely offers insight to the issue!;)

Is there a particular reason why otherwise healthy young women tend to suffer from this? For example if there are no hormone, emotional,heart or medication related reasons, and electrolytes and hydration are not an issue?

Is it a gender related problem?

keiran110

I'm sorry but i really cannot say why that is the case. I've never actually looked at any studies or went into detail on the case!

Hope you find the answers your looking for though!

sam34

Eviledna wrote: »

Thank you keiran110, that definitely offers insight to the issue!;)

Is there a particular reason why otherwise healthy young women tend to suffer from this? For example if there are no hormone, emotional,heart or medication related reasons, and electrolytes and hydration are not an issue?

Is it a gender related problem?

if it's a problem you have then you should speak to your doctor about it.

keiran110

sam34 wrote: »

if it's a problem you have then you should speak to your doctor about it.

Indeed, no safer option. Self diagnosing is also a dangerous thing.

locum-motion

keiran110 wrote: »

Indeed, no safer option. Self diagnosing is also a dangerous thing.

That's great, then. All is good in the world.
The advice of a qualified medical doctor (I think. Am I right, Sam?) has just been passed and approved by an undergraduate student of medical herbalism.:D
L-M

tallaght01

LOL. This place gets weirder every day :pac:

keiran110

In fairness guys. Do you have nothing better to do with your spare time then to follow me around and criticise and shoot down everything I say? Honestly like, whats in it for you? Im trying to be a good person and help. You guys are just being downright asses.

Its sad to say that most people ive met on this forum are immature, closed minded and idiotic. Locum Motion, I regret to say but Il be happy if i never hear from you again and I hope I never find myself in your workplace or presence. You are plain ignorent. And it seems the phrase "birds of a feather" applies here with most other people on this forum.

Im taking my business elsewhere and I refuse to waste my time surrounding myself with negative input and comments from immature people.

GradMed

Hey, I'm actually genuinely sorry that you feel this way. I appreciate that it can be difficult for a person to engage in a discussion when it contains information that runs contrary to their views, i.e., your alternative medicine views and the evidence based medicine views espoused by other members of the forum.

DrIndy

Kieran

We tolerate everyone on this forum - when you voice an opinion - it will always be listened to. This forum is known across boards for having one of the most easygoing moderator ethos about.

But if you engage in a scientific discussion about the topic you are clearly interested in - it is the right of the other user to ask for backup. This defines a scientific discussion - and not just one paper - but an explanation why that paper is strong and better evidence than the previous evidence.

We do keep an open mind and I am glad you brought this up as I was about to PM you about why everyone was going on about scientific evidence and the importance of it.

If we are having an open chat - we are chatting - but if we make claims, we need to back them up rationally.

I don't want you to be put off from this forum - but we are scientific forum and have the right to objectively criticise.

locum-motion

keiran110 wrote: »

... to follow me around ...

Please! I'm not 'following you'. I'm visiting unread threads and posts in a forum I have an interest in. So are you.

keiran110 wrote: »

...criticise and shoot down everything I say? Honestly like, whats in it for you? Im trying to be a good person and help. You guys are just being downright asses...

That's (sort of) the point! I don't know you. I'm sure that you're a nice person. I have not criticised you. I have challenged you on what you have said. I and other posters have engaged with you logically. You have not engaged logically back.

Please, give me one single example of a personal attack from me upon you. If I have asserted something as a fact (and I have), come back to me with evidence that I'm wrong, not "That's just your opinion".

keiran110 wrote: »

...Its sad to say that most people ive met on this forum are immature, closed minded and idiotic. Locum Motion, I regret to say but Il be happy if i never hear from you again and I hope I never find myself in your workplace or presence. You are plain ignorent. And it seems the phrase "birds of a feather" applies here with most other people on this forum.

Im taking my business elsewhere and I refuse to waste my time surrounding myself with negative input and comments from immature people.

I really do regret to say that the above description could be better applied to your posts here than those of the rest who have posted. I'd appreciate an apology for your personal attack on me whenever you get a chance.

Thanks for reading.
L-M.

ps. If you feel we've treated you unfairly, report it to a moderator. 2 of the moderators from this forum have posted replies to you, so why not invite an independant moderator from a different forum to review your thread and the responses on it. Let them decide if we've treated you unfairly.

sam34

locum-motion wrote: »

That's great, then. All is good in the world.
The advice of a qualified medical doctor (I think. Am I right, Sam?) has just been passed and approved by an undergraduate student of medical herbalism.:D
L-M

yep, you're right!

2Scoops

Can't we all just get along? :pac: In fairness, kieran110 has been on the receiving end of some fairly patronizing comments. Not criticism or abuse, but not exactly friendly either. You catch more flies with honey and all that...

keiran110

easy going moderation of the forum? If thats what you want to call it be my guest. In fairness, whats really happening in my eyes is the moderators on this forum are just not doing their job.

You talk about this being a scientific forum where everything must be backed up and clinical but yet the moderators are allowed to be lax and not engage in their job properally? This is a terrible forum and im sorry but everybody I've met here bar a couple of people are immature, arrogant, pretenious and closed-minded. I could never imagine anybody here ever teaching anything scientific to anybody or uplifting anybody with their knowledge.
It seems i can't write anything without being shot down or insulted. Can somebody not give a opinion without having to search through books and literature to back up their claim???

e.g.
If i came on this board and said "hey guys, ever heard the phrase 'whiskey for the heart, brandy for the stomach', it seems like I need to post endless links and studies to show the factual nature of that statement.
Can I not just state a fact or give my insight into something and if it really really REALLY bothers you that much and you think its really false and wrong, check it out for yourself and find the validity of it yourselfs. Thats why I got into science, I like to question things and I like to learn for myself.

GradMed

keiran110 wrote: »

easy going moderation of the forum? If thats what you want to call it be my guest. In fairness, whats really happening in my eyes is the moderators on this forum are just not doing their job.

You talk about this being a scientific forum where everything must be backed up....It seems i can't write anything without being shot down or insulted. Can somebody not give a opinion without having to search through books and literature to back up their claim???

Of course anyone can give an opinion but this forum is aimed toward scientific discussion so if you give an opinion here you should be prepared to support it with evidence. You are right that insulting someone is out of order but shooting down, critiquing a persons ideas/point is valid. In science once a claim is made it is torn apart, poked, prodded and subjected to scrutiny. This is fundamental to scientific progression.
So

keiran110 wrote: »

If i came on this board and said "hey guys, ever heard the phrase 'whiskey for the heart, brandy for the stomach', it seems like I need to post endless links and studies to show the factual nature of that statement.

then you would have to support your claims with evidence.

keiran110 wrote: »

Can I not just state a fact or give my insight into something and if it really really REALLY bothers you that much and you think its really false and wrong, check it out for yourself and find the validity of it yourselfs.

Why should the onus be on others to actively disprove what you are saying. If you believe that your claims have merit then you should not have a problem providing evidence. Until you provide evidence you are not stating a fact just an opinion.

keiran110 wrote: »

Thats why I got into science, I like to question things and I like to learn for myself.

A questioning mind is vital for science and I hope you start questioning not just views that conflict with yours but your own views. A good scientist will reevaluate his or her stance on an issue as new evidence arises.

Eviledna

f it's a problem you have then you should speak to your doctor about it.

In fairness at no point did I say I was suffering with this, I merely wanted to discuss the condition, it's causes and apparent gender relation.

I realise this is a heavily modded board and I have been repremanded (very nicely mind) once for trying to discuss a personal issue. But This is not a personal question, I just wanted to discuss the condition. I'm curious.

I appreciate everyone's relevant input, especially Keiran110, who has added to the discussion.

So anyone know any more about low blood pressure?

GradMed

Very sorry for your thread going so far off topic.

DrIndy

It has gone off topic.

Lets get back on topic.

Kieran please appreciate the need for evidential backup to scientific claims.

Everyone else - give kieran a break - he is new to the forum and is trying to engage. Lets be more welcoming.

_Whimsical_

Originally Posted by keiran110
Indeed, no safer option. Self diagnosing is also a dangerous thing.

Originally Posted by locum-motion
That's great, then. All is good in the world.
The advice of a qualified medical doctor (I think. Am I right, Sam?) has just been passed and approved by an undergraduate student of medical herbalism.
L-M

In that instance Keiran110's post was completely in keeping with the charter. He was not asserting his own qualification at all, just backing up the opinion of another poster. Surely you don't need to be a fully trained medical professional to echo the sentiments that someone should see a doctor around here. He said nothing in that post deserving of the ridicule he got from the locum-motion. To the casual observer that post seems to be equally outside the spirit of the charter as not engaging in an acceptable calibre of scientific discussion is.

locum-motion

chilly wrote: »

In that instance Keiran110's post was completely in keeping with the charter. He was not asserting his own qualification at all, just backing up the opinion of another poster. Surely you don't need to be a fully trained medical professional to echo the sentiments that someone should see a doctor around here. He said nothing in that post deserving of the ridicule he got from the locum-motion. To the casual observer that post seems to be equally outside the spirit of the charter as not engaging in an acceptable calibre of scientific discussion is.

Duly noted. My comment was an overflow from a different thread.
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055626973

sam34

originally posted by Eviledna;61285184]In fairness at no point did I say I was suffering with this

indeed. which is why i said "if it's a problem you have..."

sam34 wrote: »

if it's a problem you have then you should speak to your doctor about it.

Eviledna

So anyway...the low blood pressure, is it a lifelong thing or is it changeable?

ZYX

Eviledna wrote: »

So anyway...the low blood pressure, is it a lifelong thing or is it changeable?

It all depends if it causes symptoms or not. "Normal" blood pressure has been regarded for years as 120/80mmhg. Ideally your blood pressure should be at this or less. Very commonly people have blood pressure of less than 100/60mmhg. This for the most part is a good thing. It tends to be lower in women than in men. Many things are recognised as increasing blood pressure so if you avoid them your blood pressure will be lower. So women who are fit, exercise regularly, have a good diet, drink in moderation etc will have lower blood pressure. This is the commonest type of "low blood pressure" and should not cause any problems.

Where low blood pressure causes problem,s it is when it changes suddenly between one level and another (this is commonly something called postural hypotension, where when a person is lying down their blood pressure is normal but falls when they stand up thus making the person dizzy on standing) or, when the low blood pressure is of new onset eg due to drugs, heart condition etc.

Eviledna

Thanks ZYX, that's a very comprehensive answer

Thanks to all who contributed, I understand it better now.

cathy01

Years ago, when I was pregnant my blood pressure was 210/150. Than about 7 years ago I was at my GP and he wouldnt let me leave.My blood pressure was 60/40.It was very low.I didnt have medication.Its now 100/60 , which I think is ok, a bit on the low side.So to answer does it change , in my experiance, yep, it does.HTH,Cathy

sam34

zombie thread. locked