High Blood Pressure

[mandg]

Morning all, a question? Reading the MSA factsheets is says that Low Blood Pressure is feature of MSA, but my husband seems to be having high blood pressure readings, and is something we are discussing with the GP. Is this also attributed to MSA do you think?

Perhaps some of you may have some ideas. Thanks

[Yanno]

Hello. Jackie started with low blood pressure and then moved to a combination of low and high! Basically, MSA affects the autonomic system with blood pressure being one. After some very difficult weeks of fainting through low pressure and then having very high pressure on lying down, the high blood pressure was treated with medication and whilst the low pressure continues Jax doesn’t faint at all, touch wood(!)

We continue to check Jax’s blood pressure on a regular basis.

Good luck, hope you get to the bottom the issue. Take care, Ian

[mandg in reply to Yanno]

Thanks for that Yanno, doing regular readings and waiting to speak to GP.

[CanAmK]

Just as with Ms. Jackie, my husband will fluctuate between the two. He seems to have a high reading following a low reading- perhaps his body is trying to keep it up. He does not take any medicine for this and has no problems with blood pressure prior to MSA. We live rurally and see a neurologist 2 hours away. We are attempting to get a basic neurologist closer. Hoping foe maybe a medicine that focuses on the orthostatic hypotension. Good luck.

[Morganthreewheeler]

HiIt is normal with MSA to have a high BP reading when lying down and a low BP reading when standing due to a failure of the autonomic system. My wife takes Ephedrine Hydrochloride 15mg to raise her BP but only morning and lunch time and NOT in the evening. Low BP can cause falls.

[incon1982]

My husband would have periods of extremely high blood pressure, followed by normal readings, and then a couple of months of super low readings with fainting spells. This roller coaster ride went on for about 3 years (he passed away in October). We kept records of daily -- and sometimes several times a day -- readings. His GP helped him control the blood pressure as much as possible. Over those 3 years we tried lots of combinations of medications plus also just about stopping everything, too, when things were too low. It was a constant balancing act! And yes, his doctors said the crazy readings, high and low, were a result of the autonomic nervous system failing. So sorry you are going through this!

[mandg in reply to incon1982]

So sorry for your loss. I do feel that Graham has more things going on at the moment which are out of the ordinary, and its difficult to know what is normal or not, I`m sure this is probably just what we have to expect.

[TK-67]

Yes - this is. symptom, it's about not being able to control it. Mum's consultant has stoped trying to control it - she still takes a drug to help when it's low however if she's showing symptoms that suggest her BP may be high, it's checked and the drug is not given.