Blood pressure problems

[Kittybaker]

At the last gp visit, which I booked myself as had been feeling very unwell, the latest discovery is problem with blood pressure.

I was sat down, blood pressure taken and it was 140/80 then Gp stood me up, took blood pressure again and it had dropped to 70/90

This is in the space of ten seconds!

Any ideas??

I am booked back in for a cat scan and a mri. In December they discovered pappilloedema behind both eyes. This was through routine opticians check, then straight to A&E for a Doppler scan on both eyes. It appears there are calcium deposits behind both eyes.

At the moment I feel I am going backwards health wise again. It has been a calmer two years on Riveroxoban. Over the past three months though I have had fainting spells, ankle joint just collapsed when walking and injured my hand and face.

I can’t seem to feel better anymore. Full bloods done so awaiting those results

Any ideas, help advice greatly received. Also referred to a rheumatologist as bizarrely I have never seen one, just under a haematologist

Thank you for reading

Natasha

[Ray46]

Guessing your second numbers were 90/70 - 70/90 would be really weird. Labile (variable) blood pressure seems to be a problem for many of us, as is high blood pressure, and postural effects. Not sure whether it's caused by APS or related to or just common co occurrence. APS can definitely cause BP problems via the kidneys, both renal artery stenosis and APS-Nephropathy - both of which I've had tests/scans to rule out.

My BP, systolic, can (will) drop 20+ going from lying to sitting, when tested immediately. I am more cautious, and slower, than I used to be getting up because I know I can sometimes feel dizzy (but then I'm on four BP meds, all of which say that is a side effect...). Sometimes other movements seem to trigger it, sitting down again fixes it. My GP has seen it vary from 120-170 while she was measuring it (the old fashioned way) - shouted at me "what did you do!" (no idea, just sat there...).

Two main thoughts:

1. I thought the sitting-standing BP test was "sit, wait, test, stand, wait (5mins?), test", I think ten seconds may be too short - might be worth looking that up.

2. If you haven't already, get your own BP machine and measure and track your BP at home - they cost very little, are not hard to use and give can advanced warning of stuff not being right. Wouldn't bother with fancy ones with memory and stuff - I just stick the numbers in a simple spreadsheet. I usually check mine once a week unless it's not stable in which case it's once a day or if (as now) it's so unstable my meds doses are changing I do three times a day.

Oh, and also worth getting everything else checked as well - vitamin levels, thyroid, and so on.

[MaryF Administrator]

Hi, has your GP considered POTS? healthrising.org/blog/2018/...

Several on here have it. Also if you have calcium deposits, your GP also needs to consider this: diagnosticpathology.biomedc...

I am sorry things are so difficult for you currently. Is the Rheumatologist off our list of recommended specialists? Which is a) on here: ghic.world/ and also b) some under pinned posts over on the right hand side of the forum.

MaryF