I was just wondering if anyone has had their surgery cancelled due to high blood pressure? How long did it take you to get your blood pressure down to the required level?
I was due to have a laparoscopy last week and I have hypertension. I had been checked in to the hospital, had my blood pressure taken and was told to get into my gown etc for going down to Theatre. The Anaesthetist then came to meet me, took one look at my blood pressure readings and said ‘I’m sending you home’. My readings are on average 154/101. My blood pressure is always slightly elevated when it’s taken at the hospital and I told all the nurses and my consultant that I was very nervous.
I had a pre op the week before where my blood pressure was 160/101. I was also sent for an ECG, which was normal. The hospital were aware of my hypertension, and it was highlighted on my pre op questionnaire. I’m just very annoyed that I had travelled down to London for surgery, only to be sent home.
I would be very grateful for any advice.
Thanks
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PinkLaura
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Hi PinkLaura, I would say its a good thing that the hospital have not let you have the surgery just yet, because hypertension can cause bradycardia during a laparoscopy which can lead to a cardiac arrest so I guess they're just being cautious. Apologies but I can't give any advice about how to get blood pressure down. I know it's a rubbish thing to happen and I hope you can have it soon 🤞🏻
Thanks Vizzle, I’m definitely glad they’re being cautious but wish they had made the decision at my pre op appointment rather than on the day of surgery. Hopefully I’ll be able to get my blood pressure down soon to be able to have the surgery.
Hi, I have elevated BP when I attend hospital, I put it down to the stress of it all. My GP gave me tablets for my BP, they have made a difference. Usually they don’t treat elevated BP I have been told but due to all of my health conditions they decided to. I hope they offer you some medication and can have your surgery soon x
Thanks for your message. I agree, my BP is always elevated when I’m at the hospital or at my GP surgery. I’m just hoping my change in medication will take effect so that I can have the surgery soon. Are you able to advise how long it took for your tablets to take effect?
I would say I started to feel the benefit of the tablets about a month after starting them. I also have a fast heart rate and they have helped that too (always thought it was down to my menopausal symptoms) x
Thanks for getting in touch. Sorry to hear that you had to travel down to London only not to have the surgery, that's so frustrating. As AllthatGlitters has advised, it would be best to speak to your GP about the hypertension/high blood pressure. They may be able to offer something that helps. Unfortunately we are not medical experts, but wish you the best and hope you can have your laparoscopy soon.
Thanks Claudia, my GP has changed my blood pressure medication so hopefully this will take effect soon. I just wanted to see if anyone else had a similar experience.
Hello, sorry for your disappointment, very frustrating. Anaesthetists are highly specialised experts, and they will only have made that decision with your very best interests in mind. My husband is on medication for high blood pressure. Recently we both did the fast800 diet (for weight loss) for 12 weeks, involving greatly reduced carbs and increasing protein and fibre and it had an incredibly good affect on his blood pressure, within the first week, which has been maintained. It also lowered mine which was already within the normal range, might be worth considering if you also have weight to lose. Best of luck, I really understand the frustration as I too have been in the situation of being gowned and ready for surgery and then had it cancelled, I cried all day!! X
Thanks so much for your response. I’m so sorry that you had your surgery cancelled too. I felt exactly the same. I was really upset all day. I will definitely look at the Fast 800 diet for some ideas x
this diet definitely works as I did it last year but now I have stopped I have gained weight and the nurse is threatening to take my mini pill off me because my bp is raised again n I really can’t b without it .
154 and 160 are high but 101 is not. In fact, 101 is quite low. I don't know the significance of the latter figure. I wonder if you manage to reduce the first figure whether the second one at 101 will reduce as well.
Thanks for your reply. I’m trying to get a cardiologist appointment at the moment and I think that’s a really good question as the Systolic figure is always above 140 so it will be interesting to see if both figures will reduce with the medication x
A diastolic (bottom number) of over 100 is quite high, it should be 80 or below, so please be reassured that they cancelled with your health in mind. Do you have your own BP machine? It might help to take a reading when you're at home and feel calm as a lot of people have "white coat syndrome" and their BP shoots up when they're in a medical setting.
Thanks Misswah, I really hope it will start going down soon! I have a BP machine at home so have been keeping an eye on it. I definitely have ‘white coat syndrome’!x
I get confused. Mine used to be always 70 over 110, sometimes 100. In recent years it has been higher, still only about 70 (even on some occasions 57/58) but over 120/135. I saw a specialist recently and he took it - 90+ over about 158 - even he had a shock. I have been sitting around working from home and not going out walking much let alone the gym. I have started going regularly - it does reduce it. Losing weight helps. I have stopped eating ready meals almost completely as even though low fat/low calorie, they are very high in salt. Try cutting out salted crisps and nuts. Salt definitely pushes it up.
I naturally have low bp but during my last surgery I had severe complications! Aka my bp kept rising and rising! Can’t remember the name for it, but it can kill! And the risk is higher with laparoscopy than laparotomy because of the gas!
Limit salt in take, keep up with meds and drink water to flush any salt out!
Oh gosh! That must’ve been really scary 😧 I’ve definitely started to drink more water as I don’t think I drink enough fluids. Thanks for your message x x
Well the thing is, I only recently found out about it! I remember waking up in recovery to cardiac complications and the nurse said something to the anaesthetist about it and her reply was “yes, she was doing that during surgery, I don’t know why!”. But didn’t question it at the time as just come round from major surgery! But then I got a copy of my notes! It can lead to sudden cardiac arrest! I have been secretly considered ‘inoperable’ since that surgery! After almost dying from complications of Endo my GP let it slip I was a ‘complex’ case but I wouldn’t find out in my notes(?). At first I thought it was because of those complications! Then it turned out it’s because my Endo is severer than severe! Lol! But now I’m down for major, major surgery! May get it in another lifetime though with how fast the NHS move! It would appear the worse you are, the more reluctant they are to do anything!
So anyway! Just spent 6 years of my life on 3 monthly consultations while crippled but being told ‘yes just keep up the hormones, they’re obviously working’ to then find out my first major surgery was merely a patch up job, and I’ve had endometriosis still all along! Lol xx
That sounds awful 😢 I really hope you can have your surgery sooner. I always wonder how many people have very severe endo but haven’t been told about it. I’m so sorry you’re having to go through this as I know how crippling the pain can be x x
I kinda did know I had it! I was diagnosed stage 4 DIE sub aggressive! But was told all I had to do was take hormones to stop it coming back! My symptoms restarted about 2 weeks post surgery! Then the good old IBS and Fibromyalgia diagnosis’s come out! I was kept on 3 monthly consultations and given a scan a year! None of which was clear! But completely ignored cuz they didn’t want to do more surgery! And that was that! At one point I was refused a hysterectomy and told “oh god know! That’s last resort and you ain’t bad enough for that!” And I’m worse than bad! They’re classing me as stage 5 🤣 xx
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