Any NHS experts? If you are a fit but elderly male, how do they fix low blood pressure?

[OhioOhioOhio]

Just that.

It's my Dad.

Someone has told me that they can't fix it and I don't believe them...

I have low blood pressure generally

So does my 80 year old mum.

There’s not much we can do sadly. I felt very faint and sick in the heatwave and my boss bought me a huge bag of crisps!!

We do tend to faint if unwell. Certainly we’ve always been told they can’t help.

Sounds as though it's due to surgery and he will be back to normal soon. You can be put on medication, but honestly it makes you feel like a zombie and he'd be much better off without it. Make sure he's getting enough salt and just taking it easy as much as possible until he feels better.

Some new habits - get up and pause, hold onto something while the dizzy fades. Coffee? I found it rather odd when pregnant that low blood pressure just didn’t seem to matter to anyone. I guess no health impact (except fainting) and not much they can do.

Is this a new thing that has just been discovered in the post-operative period? It may well just be temporary and resolve itself. Try not to stress too much as it’s probably really not a big deal. (Caveat: hard to know from limited info in your posts)

There are lots of different reasons behind change in BP. If your dad has just had an operation then his body needs chance to heal, low BP might be temporary.
Your BP is low when you lie down, if you lie down for a while when you are used to being on the move, it's going to take a while to get it back to its norm... such as recovery.
It completely depends on what the op was for, whether this is an ongoing condition, if he has other underlying conditions, what part of recovering from op he's at.
Advising to take certain meds, fluid levels and nutrition could cause more risk to your dad without (us) knowing the bigger picture.
I would suggest you go back to the professionals supporting your dad and ask the question "when is he going to be back to HIS baseline?" And "is there a risk that he could be in better/worse health following the op - what does this include?"

My bloodpressure has always been 90/60. Even when pregnant
I am used to it.
Not something that can be fixed i guess
But doesnt bother me

Salt should do the trick they say. And a vegetarian/vegan diet does not help I've been told (it lowers the bloodpressure. Not sure why)

I have always had low blood pressure. Nurses always look slightly panicky when they take my blood pressure and then relax when I explain it is normal in my family. I get the issue with getting up too but you just get used to it and need to be careful. I would far rather have low blood pressure than high!

I've had real trouble with low blood pressure at times in my life related to hormones. I suspected due to impact on adrenals. Was referred to cardiologist as suffered from terrible lighthesdness and was fainting, he said advice is exactly the same than for high blood pressure, except for salt. Drink a lot, no caffeine at all, wearing pressure socks.

What has helped me is taking amytriptine (prescribed for sleep issue).

Is there anything you can do for the stand up or sit down mediation?

There are a couple of possible drug treatments (fludrocortisone and midodrine) but they are only prescribed in quite specific cases and do carry their own risks. Also, fludrocortisone isn't licensed for this condition (i.e. the manufacturer isn't legally responsible for any harm you come to from taking it) and doctors have to be able to make a convincing case for prescribing it.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/low-blood-pressure-hypotension/

Sums up what I would have said! If he feels dizzy when standing up then flight socks might help, see the GP first though.

Has he fainted/felt dizzy any other times apart from when he was having his blood taken?

If it's temporary because of the surgery, ot should get better.

For all those of you, who have always had it and have tended to pass out on standing too long, hot days etc - welcome to the club!

Advice is drink 3l water a day, up your salt intake - especially towards the beginning of the day. I was advised to have 2 teaspoons of salt first thing and while disgusting, it made a massive difference.

Wear medical support stockings - have to be all the way up to your groin - personally I did not fancy this and have managed to get away without.

Move around and fidget at lot, squueze your bum, and even cross your legs (all the things your mum told you not to do!) as it returns blood from your legs to your heart.

And if all that doesn't work, medication does exist as a last resort.

stopfainting.com/

@Seeingadistance exactly the same: my mother and her mother low blood pressure and I have inherited it.

My mother is a complete salt monster and will season her food even tho, when I cook, I always make sure food is fully seasoned. So it’s lucky she doesn’t have high BP!

Fainting because some handless junior doc had four stabs at cannulation = vasovagal episode, not chronic low blood pressure!
Also, if he needed transfused, his bp will have been low purely from fluid depletion. Again, that’s acute, not chronic.
Do you have any evidence that he suffers long term from hypotension, OP? If not, I’d stop fretting. He’ll be fine once he’s topped up and people stop repeatedly sticking needles in.

Low BP after surgery is totally different than long term every day low bp. Different cause different treatment.
Sometimes it’s due to blood loss at surgery but sometimes it means there’s still bleeding going on inside and might mean a second OP to deal with that.

It doesn’t need to be fixed. Just tell him not to get up too fast.

Multiple attempts at taking blood doesn't necessarily mean that they "fucked it up" OP. Low blood pressure = low pressure in the blood vessels.
Think of a balloon. If it is fully inflated (high air pressure) it is firm and large, and if you puncture it air will leave very quickly. If it has low air pressure it is only partially inflated, so smaller. If you make a hole, air leaves slowly.
Low blood pressure makes it harder to find a vein, and if you do enter a blood vessel it takes longer to draw the blood.
I have low blood pressure and even experienced staff often have to try both arms before drawing blood from me.
If it's a new symptom after an operation it may be that he is a bit dehydrated or just needs some time to recover - sometimes it's better to wait and see than add new medications which aren't always effective and may have unpleasant side effects. I had postural hypotension when I took a certain medication and I just had to take care standing up.

"Stand up sit down" hypotension is called postural hypotension.

This is what you can do about it -
*Drink more fluids.
*Stand up slowly when getting out of a chair.
*Don't cross your legs when you are sitting.
*When you are getting out of bed, get up slowly and sit on the edge of your bed for several minutes before you stand up.
*You can wear compression stockings, which apply pressure to your legs and help with blood circulation.
*Raise the head of your bed.
*Don’t stand for long periods of time.

*Your doctor may prescribe a medication to treat the postural hypotension, such as fludrocortisone , midodrine , or erythropoietin . These drugs work by increasing blood volume or by constricting (narrowing) blood vessels.

Just wanted to echo the others saying that if this has only occurred post-surgery, it will almost definitely sort itself. Some years ago after I had a major op my blood pressure suddenly went through the floor - I was given a blood transfusion, kept in hospital for a couple of extra days, and it all went back to normal. Never had a problem with it since.

This has been incredibly helpful. Thank you so much everyone.

There’s a massive difference between low blood pressure caused by anaemia & the perioperative period & low blood pressure in a ‘stable’ medical setting. There is not enough information in your post for anyone to confidently suggest how to manage it. Things that will make a significant difference to you dad’s management include what his normal BP is, what his heart rate & rhythm are, what medications he’s on at the moment, what his Hb is, when & what sort of anaesthetic he had, what operation he had, whether he usually has symptoms of low BP. The management for each of the possible causes of low BP listed above is completely different. Your best bet is to discuss him with the HCPs looking after him.

Fainting whilst putting needles in is usually caused by a transient, relatively low heart rate and is not a problem outside the context of putting needles in and there’s not much that will prevent it (it’s best to be lying down when the needles go in if it’s a recurrent problem).

In particular, forcing an older person to start drinking enormous amounts of water will quite possibly cause more harm than good.

DOI: anaesthetics/ICU doc.

Medical questions, I'd see a GP rather than ask for late night armchair diagnostics. What your asking is easily googleable. But see a GP.

Depending on your age, health and the type of low blood pressure you have, you can do this in several ways:

Use more salt. Experts usually recommend limiting salt in your diet because sodium can raise blood pressure, sometimes dramatically. ...
Drink more water. ...
Wear compression stockings. ...
Medications.

Awkwardpaws, I’m a retired hospital doctor - specialised in anaesthetics, have inserted over 30,000 cannulae in my working life! Thanks for the egg sucking lesson, though...
I can assure you that some inexperienced juniors are handless, and they should get senior help if they can’t cannulate a shocked patient, not have four failed attempts. I’ve caught some attempting it without even using local anaesthetic first, for 16G venflons. Barbaric!

While docs here are talking about low bp....
I have very low BP....around 75 systolic recorded over a month on hospital. After rushing to gp yesterday and the stress of the waiting room etc she recorded it at 88 systolic.
I have been on fludrocortisone for a month now so maybe that has also pushed it up into the 80s.
Go has ordered a 24 hr bp recording next week, to see if I can come off the meds. Problem is I have dizzy spells, postural drop and no idea what else I can do.
Female 40s. Very low weight.
Help! I feel terrible.

Babdoc I totally agree - but just pointing out that low bp does make it harder. I'd much rather an experienced nurse than a F1/2, but sometimes it's just my blood vessels not playing ball