Fell over at work

[LuvToHike]

I'm on a beta blocker, bystolic 5 mg., for spiking bp and hr.  BP on meds avgs 100ish/6ish, HR 66ish.  Real good, supposedly.  I've only been on it for about a week.  Today, while sitting at my desk, I suddenly started falling over as if passing out.  I never hit the desk (that's where I was heading).  No prior dizziness, pain or anything, I just realized I was on my way down and "came to" although I don't recall ever losing consciousness.  If I did it was just seconds.  After a little while, I went out to my car and took my BP, after resting a few minutes, it was 83/47.  I'd say that was low and probably the reason I fell over.  It came back up and was fine for the rest of the day.  I'm debating whether I should take this medication tonight or if I should take only half.  Any suggestions?

[NTB]

> It must have been a very brief shortage of blood to my brain.  

I'd guess that you were hypotensive for hours on those days, and at one moment just crossed the line downward in systolic BP to where you went out.

Good luck.

[LuvToHike]

Thank you for your replies.  I think it's time for that sole decision, come off the meds and change lifestyle to minimize stress and keep an eye out for those spikes.  I didn't take any medication that night.  I was too afraid.  Last night I could feel the effects of adrenaline a little bit, but my BP never went over 122/81, and HR stayed in the 80s.  So all stayed good.  Today, BP is 113/78, HR is 71.  All seems good so far.  I know they recommend not going cold turkey off this stuff, but I wasn't on it for very long, perhaps it'll be fine to just go off.

Getting a feel for my normal BP cycle sounds like a good idea.  As for passing out symptoms.  The three times I have passed out, there were no symptoms.  I just went down.  To be fair though, 2 of those times, I was ill.  So the fact that I caught this one as it was happening, really surprised me.  It must have been a very brief shortage of blood to my brain.  

I'm going off meds, wish me luck!

[crystalhanzelka]

My doctor wanted to give me a BB but when he realized my BP runs low sometimes...he said no.  Sometimes it is like 95/60 sometimes it is 117/75.  But he said that BB lower it more and he did not want to do that.

[NTB]

right, take only half. (Hard to cut that shape, though.)

There comes a time when a person must decide for themselves, because doctors are not available all the time. This is an obvious time like that.

But since last night has already come and gone, you might have coffee/cola/caffeine pills to offset the BB today. Suggestion: Take your monitor to your desk, and measure BP every hour or so to have advance warning of another spell. Make sure you're not dehydrated, which can lower BP.

Besides that, I'd take my BP throughout the day to discover what my personal low point is. Then you want to make sure that your med's peak concentration doesn't coincide with your own cyclic low point. You might be dipping at noon, e.g., whereas most people don't

I like how you caught yourself and prevented the fainting :) I can do that, too.

It's theoretically possible that you had hypoglycemia, TIA or or some seizure, but odds are way, way favoring hypotension. Memorize what it looked/felt like, so you can compare any future spells. You don't want to one day actually faint, end up in the ER and they start hitting you with heparin, e.g.  Good luck.

[Encephalomalcia]

That is way too low.  Check your blood pressure before taking the medication to make sure that it is still not too low.  You will need to give your doctor a call.  He may have to change your medication.  You can try calling the pharmacist at a hospital for tonight to see if you should only take half depending on what your blood pressure it now.  Do you have a blood pressure machine at home?