Selected Blood Pressure Questions And Answers
What is Orthostatic Hypotension Hypotension is a medical term for abnormally low BP.
Orthostatic hypotension presents when a person is rising to an upright position.
Blood pools in legs and deprives the rest of the body of bloody supply.
In a healthy individual, when changing from lying to sitting or standing position, peripheral blood vessels in legs constrict preventing pooling of blood in legs due to gravity.
Orthostatic hypotension can affect individuals with a blood volume depleted due to dehydration, who are anemic, due to prolonged bed rest or due to recent blood loss.
Medical professionals such as nurses diagnose orthostatic hypotension by measuring a patient's BP whilst in lying down, sitting and standing position.
Skill off assessing orthostatic BP requires critical thinking and ongoing nursing judgement and cannot be delegated.
Symptoms of this type of hypotension will include fainting, weakness and light-headedness.
Does drinking cause elevated blood pressure The association between caffeine found in coffee and elevated BP is still under much debate.
Different studies have produced different and sometimes conflicting results concerning the effects of caffeine on BP.
Fundamentally doctors agree that caffeine results in elevated BP.
However, they do not agree on the issues of tolerance and the overall effects of caffeine consumption on BP in the long term.
Some studies have suggested that some people develop tolerance towards caffeine so much that no matter how much they consume they won't be any BP effect.
Yet on the other hand some credible research work concludes that an amount of caffeine will result in BP spikes regardless of how long one has been using caffeine.
What is generally agreed is that caffeine intake will result in BP spikes 30 to 60 minutes after consumption and this will remain the case for up to four hours in some individuals.
This seems to suggest that any BP measurements taken within four hours of caffeine consumption will be distorted due to caffeine intake.
What are the common causes of low blood pressure Low blood pressure is a condition that affects a certain segment of society.
At the same time it is particularly different from high BP the way that it is diagnosed.
Low BP is not called hypotension unless it is accompanied by known signs and symptoms.
This means a low reading of say 90/40mmHg is not enough if the person feels healthy and not sick.
In fact many people who have low BP are healthy and have no signs or symptoms related to lower than normal BP numbers.
The following are the causes of this condition called low blood pressure; * Medicines or any medications used for surgery * High blood pressure treatments * Anti-anxiety agents * Diuretics * Heart medicines * Some antidepressants * Narcotic analgesics * Alcohol
Orthostatic hypotension presents when a person is rising to an upright position.
Blood pools in legs and deprives the rest of the body of bloody supply.
In a healthy individual, when changing from lying to sitting or standing position, peripheral blood vessels in legs constrict preventing pooling of blood in legs due to gravity.
Orthostatic hypotension can affect individuals with a blood volume depleted due to dehydration, who are anemic, due to prolonged bed rest or due to recent blood loss.
Medical professionals such as nurses diagnose orthostatic hypotension by measuring a patient's BP whilst in lying down, sitting and standing position.
Skill off assessing orthostatic BP requires critical thinking and ongoing nursing judgement and cannot be delegated.
Symptoms of this type of hypotension will include fainting, weakness and light-headedness.
Does drinking cause elevated blood pressure The association between caffeine found in coffee and elevated BP is still under much debate.
Different studies have produced different and sometimes conflicting results concerning the effects of caffeine on BP.
Fundamentally doctors agree that caffeine results in elevated BP.
However, they do not agree on the issues of tolerance and the overall effects of caffeine consumption on BP in the long term.
Some studies have suggested that some people develop tolerance towards caffeine so much that no matter how much they consume they won't be any BP effect.
Yet on the other hand some credible research work concludes that an amount of caffeine will result in BP spikes regardless of how long one has been using caffeine.
What is generally agreed is that caffeine intake will result in BP spikes 30 to 60 minutes after consumption and this will remain the case for up to four hours in some individuals.
This seems to suggest that any BP measurements taken within four hours of caffeine consumption will be distorted due to caffeine intake.
What are the common causes of low blood pressure Low blood pressure is a condition that affects a certain segment of society.
At the same time it is particularly different from high BP the way that it is diagnosed.
Low BP is not called hypotension unless it is accompanied by known signs and symptoms.
This means a low reading of say 90/40mmHg is not enough if the person feels healthy and not sick.
In fact many people who have low BP are healthy and have no signs or symptoms related to lower than normal BP numbers.
The following are the causes of this condition called low blood pressure; * Medicines or any medications used for surgery * High blood pressure treatments * Anti-anxiety agents * Diuretics * Heart medicines * Some antidepressants * Narcotic analgesics * Alcohol