Dizzy when crouching or bending?

Valve Replacement Forums

Help Support Valve Replacement Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

DachsieMom

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 2, 2015
Messages
367
Location
CT
Anytime I crouch or bend over for a few minutes, I am very dizzy when I stand up. This has happened since getting on Coumadin - noticed it again today while painting a small end table (it didn't smell, so it wasn't the fumes!). My blood pressure is fine. Does this happen to anyone else? I expect it has something to do with compressing blood vessels as I crouch. I have young children and a small dog, so I crouch down frequently.
 
When you say that your blood pressure is fine, have you experimented and measured it just as you stand up? After my mechanical valve was fitted to replace a stenotic Aortic valve 3 years ago, my previously slightly high blood pressure dropped to be borderline low, I found that I would feel dizzy just after standing up. Soon after, I joined a clinical trial for a cholesterol lowering drug, and one advantage of doing so is the more frequent comprehensive blood testing that they do during the trial, and they tested my pressure while sitting and then standing. They found a small drop, but as the pressure was already low it dropped sufficiently to cause the dizziness. The advice was (a) to add some salt to my diet, to increase blood pressure, and (b) to stand still upon standing for a few seconds, to allow blood pressure to recover a normal level.

Apparently the important reading is the lower one, the Diastolic reading, with results below 60 likely to lead to dizziness.

If there is a significant difference between the standing and sitting readings I recall it can be medically significant and you should tell your doctor. As an aside, I was on a blood pressure lowering tablet, which they reduced to a small daily dose but wanted me to continue to take it despite having low pressure. This was because it "provides other benefits".
 
Last edited:
It happens to me when I bend over. In my case I think it's because I hold my breath when I'm bending for those few seconds. My BP is fine. But ask your doctor about it.
 
Since this is happening "anytime I crouch or bend" and has occurred since your OHS and use of coumadin, I would ask my doc or cardio for their input.. I infrequently get dizzy feelings but not with any kind of frequency......and I think mine are mostly weather or allergy related. I've never had reason to tie my use of coumadine/warfarin to these events.
 
DachsieMom;n879056 said:
Anytime I crouch or bend over for a few minutes, I am very dizzy when I stand up

I found that happened well before (the 2011) surgery and less so after it, but it still happens. Especially when doing something like picking berries.

I second the try your BP when doing it. Although that may be hard for the machine to sort out (them preferring to do steady state than middle of change)

As a theory, I'd say its a combination of the general lack of vascular elasticity that occurs as you age combined with the compression and release of major muscle groups (such as your quads) making changes to your internal blood pressure. Akin to squeezing a balloon VS a plastic bottle, and the brain (at the other end of the pipe) doesn't like the pressure changes.

and (not meaning to be pedantic) does crouch mean squat down and bend mean tilt at the waist? Just wondering if one does it more than the other.
 
Thanks, everyone! Crouch meaning squat down. Today, I happened to be painting a small piece of furniture so was squatting for several minutes painting the legs. i did take my blood pressure shortly after - it was 106/64. I am not on any blood pressure meds, but that isn't crazy abnormal for me. Before surgery, I was typically 100/60 but since surgery two years ago I hover around 120/80 or 125/70. (They had me on blood pressure meds briefly two years ago after surgery, but I was only 70/50 so off that pretty quickly!).
 
Hi

DachsieMom;n879068 said:
i did take my blood pressure shortly after - it was 106/64. I am not on any ​​
​​​​

Seems a little on the close to low side to me

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-c...s/dxc-20316599

Some experts define low blood pressure as readings lower than 90 mm Hg systolic or 60 mm Hg diastolic. If either number is below that, your pressure is lower than normal.

A sudden fall in blood pressure can be dangerous. A change of just 20 mm Hg — a drop from 110 systolic to 90 mm Hg systolic, for example — can cause dizziness and fainting when the brain fails to receive an adequate supply of blood.

Either take it as an indicator of the new normal or speak with your doctor (or both :)
 
Pretty sure sign of a temporary drop in blood pressure. Assuming this happens after you stand following a period of squatting or bending over. Not unusual. If it fits with what I have experienced in the past, temporary means it can resolve in a matter of seconds.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top