Low blood pressure during operation

[scaredofhospital]

I had a laparoscopy yesterday and I was told by the anaesthetist when I woke up that they'd had to give me medication whilst I was under to bring my blood pressure up as it went too low. My BP is low as a baseline, sort of 90/50 ish region, resting pulse usually sits around 42-50 bpm. I'm told this is on the lower side of normal.

It's been bothering me that I was told I had to be given medication to raise my blood pressure whilst in surgery. My anxiety has spiralled a bit and I'm wondering if this means I might have almost died? Is this the case or not necessarily? Are people routinely given this medication?

Any advice from medically trained people would be appreciated. Thank you.

This is the third time you've started threads on this OP. You didn't nearly die. They're used to dealing with people with low blood pressure, it isn't that unusual as people have already a told you.

I tell you this hoping you get some help - you really need to see a medical professional with some degree of urgency about this level of anxiety.

Happened to me during a c section when I was awake, it wasn’t an emergency, they said it was pretty common and fixed within minutes.

Also happened to me in one of my sections. I think it is more common than perhaps you realise. Try to put it out of your mind now and concentrate on your recovery.

It’s perfectly normal , focus on your future health and recovery

it's very common to give medication to manage low blood pressure during surgery - really wouldn't worry about it. (DOI: anaesthetist)

It's not uncommon during surgery and that's part of the anaesthetists job. That's why they have a surgeon AND an anaesthetist.
My BP drops whenever I am physically unwell.

Thanks to (almost) everyone who's been kind and helpful. Appreciate your replies.

Definitely not. I'd say at least hmm 60-70% of the people I anaesthetise need bp support asleep, as all anaesthetic drugs drop blood pressure as a side effect. If yours is low to.stsrt with then totally unsurprising and nothing to worry about in the slightest

It's normal
Mine absolutely plummeted the day after an operation, something like 70/45 when mine is usually normal
They asked me to stay in bed for an hour, eat some breakfast and have plenty to drink, it went back up and I've never thought about since really

Thanks to those with medical training who've reassured me too. That's why i specifically posted on the health board rather than anywhere else, so I could seek reassurance from those who do this every day and know.

Might the lower blood pressure explain why I took longer than basically everyone else on the ward to come round and feel able to walk steadily / get dressed etc? My recovery seemed to take so long compared to others.

Happened to me during one of my sections too. They gave me some medication and a sick bowl and I was fine after a few minutes. They also preemptively gave me some medication before my next C-section, at least the said they had.

I was going to just ignore this but you've annoyed me so much.

Firstly, why comment?? Feel free to move along and comment on something less tedious to you?

Secondly, no I have not made three identical threads - I've posted about anxiety before my operation, how strange I felt and the fact I couldn't pull myself round after my operation, and this is a thread specifically to seek advice from medical professionals in the health board about how common or otherwise it is to need medication to bring up BP under a general.

Thirdly, don't tell me I need support for my anxiety, you know nothing about me. Surgery is anxiety provoking for many people and it's totally normal to reach out for support at times when we are overwhelmed, emotional, unwell and anxious. Don't pathologise my response to what has been a stressful overwhelming time.

It's very common to need inotrope meds to keep your BP up alongside sedation as the drugs dilate your vascular system as a side effect. If your BP is on the low side to start with, there is less leeway to allow for a drop. It's standard to have meds on standby in case required whenever sedations are used, for that reason. You'll be fine, no need for drama.

@Opentooffers
Thanks for the info.

It's not "drama", it's a genuine concern/ curiosity about my health. This is the health board, not AIBU.

@Destiny123
Thanks, it sounds like you know what you're talking about so I appreciate your input.

Can I please ask - is it normal practice for you to inform the patient when they wake up that you needed to do this?

I think its fairly normal and it's happened to me twice during operations. My blood pressure dropped during my c section and I was awake so I felt it - started feeling really wobbly and faint, thought i was going to pass out. They gave me something and I felt better quite quickly.

I also had a laproscopy, and I'm not sure what happened during the op as I had a general anesthetic, but afterwards I had very low blood pressure - I was only there as a day case but they wanted to keep me in due to the low bp. I really didn't want to stay so persuaded them to discharge me - then I fainted in the lift!

Anaesthetics and recovery nurse here- very common for people to be given drugs to raise blood pressure.

Anaesthetic drugs and opiates used for pain relief lower your blood pressure as a side effect, the anaesthetist's role is to monitor the effects these drugs and the surgery have on your body and treat and correct them if needed.

Definitely nothing to be worried about. If your BP remained on the low side post surgery then that might be why you found you took longer to recover than others but honestly, everyone responds differently to an anaesthetic and surgical procedure and some just take longer than others to feel more 'human' again.

I don't normally unless the patient is awake under spinal anaesthesia as low BP when you're awake can make u feel sick... and despite checking bp every 3mins, occasionally it drops between the cycling and so if they tell me, I can fix it for them

I'll tell people if they are still on medication to support the bp post op as it means they'll be in recovery for longer (or need HDU or icu post op).

I may mention it if the patient is someone that has asked a trillion questions preop and may be the sort to ask the recovery nurses about what happened intraop as if I can preempt that rhen I can answer the qs before I leave recovery and save the nurses having to phone me to come back and discuss

Low BP has nothing to do with speed of wake up. People normally have high BP as we wake them up and take the breathing tube out as its stimulating. It just varies between individuals and whether the anaesthetist used gas or iv to keep you asleep.

Dizziness can result from low BP post op so that may make you less steady when mobilising