fainting / low blood pressure Lupus CNS?

Is it common to see fainting / low blood pressure (blood pressure changes) w/ Lupus? I had to be taking by ambulance to emergency last night because I had an almost complete black out, weakness in my legs, profuse sweating and tingling which ended up resolving itself after a few hours (although when it first started I wasn't sure I was going to be able to stay awake). I wonder if this is at all possible with Lupus? When they checked my vitals early on my blood pressure was 120/80 (approx), by the time I was leaving it was 105/53 and I have seen it drop to 68/46, but not last night. Could this be related to CNS in anyway? I was doing really well. Hadn't been to the hospital in over two-weeks, but yesterday's episode was kind of scary/ Thought I might be having a stroke, but doctor's didn't seem to think that this was the case. This has never happened before, but I have been very ill since the end of September / beginning of October. In bed all day most days.

Thanks for your thoughts. I'm also open to hearing about non-lifethreatning possibilities as to why this may have happened.  

[geminigirl1963]

I'm sorry you're having such a tough time and not feeling well.

I'm afraid I can't answer your question as to this being related to lupus, but I do have a couple of questions/possible ideas for you.

You mentioned that you've been very ill for quite a while and spending most days in bed all day.  When this episode happened last night, had you just recently gotten out of bed or increased your activity level?  If you've been spending a lot of time laying down in bed, then it's possible that just with the change in position, especially if you got up quickly, that your blood pressure dropped quickly and that's why you got weak and shaky.  I know when I've been ill for a while and have had to spend a good bit of time in bed, or even just sitting around, I quite often get the weakness/tingling in legs/sweating when I try to do more than what I've been used to doing - either because of changing positions too quickly or even just loss of strength from being sick.

Another possibility I was thinking of is low blood sugar or electrolyte imbalance.  How has your appetite been since being sick?  Have you had a good bit of vomiting and/or diarrhea?  Both low blood sugar and electrolyte imablances can defintely cause the symptoms you had.  did they check your blood sugar?  I'd be more interested in the reading initially, rather than what it may have been at the hospital (if they did the test) because if the ambulance started an IV, it could have raised your blood sugar level enough by the time you reached the hospital to not show it being too low at that point.

I would defintely suggest checking in withyour regular doctor and having some labs done to check on your electrolytes and other blood levels.

I hope you start feeling better real soon!

[oona]

Thank you geminigirl!

Actually, I had been out for a couple of minutes sitting and waiting for some water from the convenience store. The feeling started happening when I was sitting, then I got up to get some air and just started to go black and weak. The paramedics checked my sugar right away and it was 6.5 (good). I have had a few blood tests for electrolytes, etc and all of that seems ok.

The only thing I can think of is:

a) drop in blood pressure
b) stroke (and I'm really hoping that that is not what it is)

I'm only 29 years old, so I think the doctors believe that a stroke is highly unlikely. Hence, no specific imaging to look into that, yet.

Today we bought a blood pressure and heart monitor, so I'm taking it easy and checking this every couple of hours.

I just wondered if any of the other Lupus folks on this forum have experienced drops in their blood pressure and if yes, do they know what might cause this.

Thanks a lot for your reply :)

[geminigirl1963]

You're welcome - I'm sorry that I wasn't of more help.

The only other thing I can possibly think of is maybe some dehydration - even slight dehydration can make you feel the way you were feeling, and sometimes it takes quite a bit for your blood work to actually show that you are dehydrated.

[Maria216]

Hi There, I'm also experiencing the same thing, I mean, Very low blood pressure.  I have SLE too and am wondering what's causing it.  I monitor my blood pressure too but only every Saturday.  I have palpitations every now and then.  Hope someone could help explain.

[annsiety]

me too. I've had two strokes-both SLE related. The first one before I was forty. My blood pressure always runs on the normal to high side. I'm even on meds to bring it down. Now, all of a sudden I have low blood pressure. I'm feeling weak like I've got the flu. I just thought it was a Lupus flare. Then I started taking my blood pressure for a few days. Day one:94/64
Day two: 94/71 Day three: 106/72 Day four: 106/82  Is this Lupus related or not? Noone knows because they don't know enough about this disease.