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Cyanosis low blood pressure
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MedHelp Member's Question

Cyanosis low blood pressure

by FirstaidAng, Jul 16, 2005 12:00AM
I have poor circulation and quite low blood pressure. These days I find more often than not, I go blue around the lips and face. This seems to happen periodically. I don't feel ill but last time it happened, noone told me I was going blue and though the weather was reasonably nice, everyone was in short sleeves, I became so cold I was on the verge of hypothermia. It took a warm bath to make me look any where near normal as my face was so blue my hubby couldnt believe what he saw when I arrived home. This hasn't happened to this extreme since as people I am with are aware of my embarrasement & tell me before I get too bad. I have noticed that my left foot also goes blueish and is certainly a different colour to my right sometimes. I have bought a pulse oximeter. On resting in the day I sometimes monitor myself. I go from 98% & gradually go down to 90% and then back up. Is this normal, any suggestions as to what it could be causing my blueness. I am going for an Echocardiogram soon but I feel as I am wasting everyones time as I do feel generally well and I am healthy normally.
Doctor's Answer

by National Jewish, Jul 31, 2005 12:00AM
Cyanosis is a bluish color of the skin and mucous membranes most easily seen in the lips, fingernails, and ear lobes.  This is often seen when the person’s oxygen is low.  Normally the blood returns to the heart from the lungs carrying the greatest amount of oxygen possible.  The oxygen is carried by the part of the red blood cell called hemoglobin.



Cyanosis may be caused by low hemoglobin or anything that causes the blood to leave the lungs before the hemoglobin has soaked up all of the oxygen that it possibly can.  Some examples are high altitude, problems of the lung, problems of the heart, or problems of the circulation.  The echocardiogram is a good way to start.
Member Comments (16)

by bactitech, Jul 16, 2005 12:00AM
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4687



http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-128.shtml



Be sure to ask your doc about Raynaud's Syndrome.

by FirstaidAng, Jul 16, 2005 12:00AM
Have asked re Raynauds... Dr says not as it would be white and numb at first then painful and tingle as blood comes back. I have friends that have this. I don't have any symptoms that I am changing colour. I don't even know it is happening. It is weird. I will bring that up again tho when I see Dr again

by alexja, Jul 16, 2005 12:00AM
first I would like to ask what your average B.P. is, coming to the blueness the cause should lie in somewhere in the chest either to do with your lungs, or the heart. My suggestion is that you go back to your doc, after you've ruled out these two sources then you take it from there

by FirstaidAng, Jul 17, 2005 12:00AM
My BP is sometimes as low as 81/60 and as high as 113/70. White coat syndrome takes it to 124 over something... It goes up and down like a yo yo but I have  not done any obs when the blueness sets in...I never have any equipment with me when it happens and when I get to it, I have returned to normal...Quite funny really, always the case.

by alexja, Jul 17, 2005 12:00AM
To: firstaidAng
It's good that things have returned to normal. At least it will help you get your mind off it. A bp of 80/60 is quite low and it is extremely difficult to tell why that has happened from here. It is not uncommon in young ladies especially in thier late teens to early twenties but 80/60 is still low.

Regarding the blueness your doc will have to have a chat with you and examine you and then he will be able to tell you more about that

by FirstaidAng, Jul 17, 2005 12:00AM
To: alexja
I think that 80/60 could have been a one off. I was quite sick the day after with the worse headache I ahe ever had. It took a few days for BP to return to my normal. My BP is never normally above 100 systolic unless I have exercised. I am really wondering what to expect with this Echocardiogram I am booked in for and why the rise and fall in my saturation levels, what does that mean? I am a first aider in an organisation and I know what a low level should mean but as I said, I feel no ill effects from my going blue and this level of 90% is periodic. I think it is probably just normal or could there really be an underlying cause. Just worried that I am wasting the professionals time as although these episodes are becoming more regular these days it will be sods law that the incident won't happen whilst I am being examined...I am in my early 40's, fit and healthy as a rule.

by alexja, Jul 17, 2005 12:00AM
I know that you are realy concerned about this matter but the important thing is that you are following it up, you should not feel that you are wasting anybody's time. After all that is why the professional are there. So go on have your echocardiogram, You will feel much better once you find out what happened there. There is also a possibility that your low Bp was just a faulty reading especially if there were no associated signs. Don't worry too much as you are doing the right thing. Good luck

by Inanga, Jul 17, 2005 12:00AM
I have read that dehydration can cause low blood pressure - I have been in theis situation myself - been told I had the pressure of a 20 year old when I'm nearly 40 - I felt to terrible at the time - woozy etc - I took it as something being wrong at the time. Had been rather sick and was quite dehydrated. I dunno if this would cause the blueness though. It's also my experience that being very unfit leads to somewhat unpredicatable pulse rate and bloo pressure - up and down and all over the place - after regaining some fitness it settled down to a more steady pattern. Are you healthy and FIT or just healthy? 90% O2 sounds pretty serious and worth persuing to a conclusion. I wouldn't let the doc fob you off. all the best.

by bactitech, Jul 18, 2005 12:00AM
A few years ago I experienced light headedness. My BP has always been on the low side, but it was really low that day. My family doc wanted to order a tilt-table test. I believe that's where they put you on a table in different positions and they take your BP in different positions to see the effects. However, insurance would only allow a cardiologist to order this test.



By the time I went to the cardiologist, my BP was a lot better although never really high. He told me he could try lot of drugs, or I could make sure I was well-hydrated and try salt tablets to keep my BP up. I opted for the latter, but never took the tablets for very long.



However, I NEVER had a problem with cyanosis. That, in and of itself, indicates you really need to be evaluated for possible heart problems.



A friend of mine from high school dropped over dead in the middle of class back in 1966. It turned out that she had some sort of congenital cardiac problem. Back then, there weren't as many options as there are now. I'm not sure if her family even realized there was a problem. Looking back to my pre-medically aware days, I realized that she was always pale and blue-lipped. You really need to have this checked out by a cardiologist.



I'm glad you have discussed Raynaud's already. Probably would be worth mentioning to your heart doc also, just to be sure.

by FirstaidAng, Jul 18, 2005 12:00AM
Thank you everyone for your valuable comments. bactitech, thanks for yours. I will mention this to my cardiologist as there is a congenital factor that I know very little about in the maternal side of the family. In the paternal side there is heart probs. Dad and his mum both died of heart attack this is why I went to docs. Going blue in the incident that pushed me to going to see Doc was scary but I didnt have any pain anywhere... Just really cold and on the verge of Hyopthermia in a very mild short sleeve shirt weathered day...Weird. The Vascular Surgeon has never come across this before and I think she is well baffled. She has done all the stethascope stuff and says heart sounds healthy and no whooshies or anything like that, hence reason to send me to cardiologist.

by FirstaidAng, Jul 23, 2005 12:00AM
Well, Cardiogram over and done with... I have a healthy heart (thank goodness) but now I am baffled. The cardiologist does not think I have Raynauds either, he says it is something but now it is back to the drawing board. I still thinking it is my O2 Saturation levels but where do I go from here???? Any suggestions of any tests the professionals might do ... If I am this bad in Summer, even indoors, what am I going to look like in the winter...Does any one know of anything I could take to prevent my blue/greyness happening???

by bactitech, Jul 24, 2005 12:00AM
Did the cardiologist say anything about doing a Holter Monitor (24 hour) on you? This is applied with leads to your chest and it takes a recording of your heart for a full 24 hours. Also, please realize that an EKG is just a snapshot of your heart for the period of time the leads are applied. Cyanosis is NOT normal.



What did the cardiologist say? Is he just washing his hands of you or did he recommend further testing? What about a stress test? MRI