Has anyone had experience of variations in blood pressure with no symptoms. Over the last month or two my wife has varied from 218/112 to 105/63 (maybe lower). GP can’t find a reason and is trying to control with changes to meds. Is this normal for MSA-P?
Kind regards
yes sadly this one of the challenges of MSA. There's a fact sheet here that may help about low BP, sometimes other drugs can cause a low BP in MSA. My mum though had periods of massively fluctuating BP, it would then settle again. We tried meds to stabilise it but often it would cause even bigger fluctuations so it had to be monitored very closely. msatrust.org.uk/wp-content/...
Thanks TK-67, Most articles I have seen emphasise low blood pressure but I haven’t seen anything about high blood pressure. I wonder if high bp is a symptom for some people? Cheers.
Hello, blood pressure issues were a feature of Jackie's challenges with MSA-C. We had to carefully monitor her blood pressure every day and balance managing the high pressure - which one may not see - with the low BP - which we did see as Jax would frequently faint. Bizarrely, once we managed the high BP with medication, the fainting stopped - it appeared to be the very high to very low that caused the issue.
Take care, Ian
My husband has the same severe fluctuations - he usually doesn't exhibit symptoms when it is high, but is very weak and dizzy when it drops below 90/60. We were told that people with autonomic dysfunction can acclimate to the lower readings over time so might not be as symptomatic as someone who has the occasional hypotension.
my blood pressure has been high on at least one occasion, for the first time in my life since getting msa. It was whilst lying down and I had palpitations at the same time and terrible neck pain and stomach ache. It went off on its own? ( it has not been investigated and I don’t take tablets). Much of the time it’s border line. It’s odd though because I’ve always had a spot on bp and I’m still relatively fit so it’s very new having a raised one!
My wife's blood pressure used to fluctuate massively. From 70/40 to 220/110. It was the low blood pressure that used to cause issues like fainting, falling asleep whilst eating etc. Doc / neurologist wasn't overly concerned by high blood pressure, and prescribed Midon, which worked fairly well.
In time we gave up taking BP readings as would drive you nuts, trying to stay on top of it.
hi there in reply to your query about BP, my husband BP varies so much he is taking fludrocortisone and midodine to try and control it. Certain times in the day it changes from 135/76 sitting and 115/85 standing in the morning then 144/83 sitting and 85/63 standing in late in the day. It is part of the illness. The medication is helping as he used to fall all the time but not so much at the moment.
Regards
Doreen
Hello. My husband suffered from this terribly. My daughter who is an anaesthetist and therefore very interested in bp fluctuations, asked us to record it many times throughout the day recording times and situation. We would send it to her via a tool she set up electronically. On doing this we were able to identify situations where it would occur throughout the day (fluctuating sometimes from around 225/115 to about 90/65). We found that giving him carbs when it was high (eg a banana, biscuit etc) it would drop quickly dramatically, and if it was low we would give him protein which would raise it just as fast (eg protein drink, egg. cheese). We therefore ensured he had these at times/situations that had previously showed the fluctuations. For him this seemed to work, and he was able to come off medication.
This may be something you could perhaps try, although I realise everyone is different. I do hope you can find something to help as it is indeed a very difficult part of MSA to deal with. Take care.
Maureen
Pressure sores
Needing opinions or facts with MSA-C
low heart rate
My dad
