Hypotension?

[csutherland]

Jerry has had something odd occur. Yesterday was his 6-mo. CT scan & app't with the pulmonologist concerning the Blastomycosis that he's had since last summer. That's another issue that I won't get into.
His BP was 98/56, plus he has lost 10 lbs. I'd been thinking his jeans were hanging lower lately, but he's been working a lot lately (he paints rooms when tenants move out of rental property), trying to get our garden in, building fence, etc, so I wasn't alarmed. We hadn't been watching his BP much the past few months because it had been so stable before and, frankly, we were just concentrating on getting him over the Blasto.
Tonight, after he worked outside all day building fence, I took his BP. It was 92/46. It has never been that low to my knowledge. Now he's getting a little freaked out.
About 3 mo. ago when he had a bout of foot/ankle/leg swelling the cardio lowered his Lasix dosage and added Spironolactone. The fluid retention was fixed very quickly with no further problems. I usually ask lots of questions but for some reason I didn't ask what this drug is for. I've just now read that it's another diuretic. so now I'm wondering if this is what is lowering the BP so much. When his edema got so much better he took himself off the Lasix but he's still taking the Spironolactone.
I've read up on hypotention and can't find out a whole lot. It seems that his diastolic is definitely lower than it should be. His target BP was 110/70 due to the aneurysm & was pretty stable in that area up until now.
Sorry for the rambling post. I didn't think this through before I started typing. He does see his cardio again sometime in May.

 

[njean]

I was just looking at your husband Jerry's profile.

Is he still taking the Atenol & the Altace?

The reason I ask, is because I take Altace but I only take 5mg daily. When they first started me on it, they started me on 5mg 2x a day & that proved to be too much for me because it would lower my BP too much. And Atenol will also lower your BP in fact they wanted to put me on it when they took me off of Toprol XL but decided to just keep me on the Altace instead.

I take a very high dose, 160 mg per day of Furosemide (generic for Lasix) & it does not interfere with my BP at all so I don't think it's the Spironolactone. My feeling is that it's either the Altace or the Atenol.

I'm sure that with this low of a BP your poor husband feels without any energy & fatigued which is not a good feeling at all. I would call his cardio & report your concerns.

Good luck!

 

[njean]

I googled possible side affects of this drug, Spironolactone, that you said your husband is taking.

Some of the drugs that may clash with this drug are ACE medications which Atenol & Altace are which is why I asked if he was still taking these two meds.

 

[csutherland]

Oddly, he's not feeling unusually tired. As I said, he's been working hard for a 72 year old, in my opinion. He's on Atenolol, Benazapril, Spironolactone, & HCTZ, and of course Warfarin. Plus, for 6+ months he's been on Itraconazole, an antifungal, for the Blastomycosis.

I'm thinking this is a fairly recent change in BP. This morning it was 124/64. That's a 60-pt spread, which I think is too wide if I correctly understand what I've read. I think optimal is about a 40-pt spread. Does anyone on here know?

His app't with cardio is May 14, but I'm calling today just to report this.

 

[Ross]

BP is something that will probably never be fully understood. There are just to many things that contribute to how the body regulates the pressures. I don't even think your Doctor could tell you.

Definately let the Doctor know that his BP was that low. When mine was, I was having a major GI bleed and didn't know it. Not trying to scare you, but I wouldn't want to see it any lower then what you already have.