low BP low pulse low O2 headaches

[jam jam]

Hi,

I would really like to find out if anyone has similar symptoms or knows what could be wrong with me. I am a generally healthy 28yr old female, I say generally healthy because I have no diagnosed health problems except for migraine and cluster headache but most days I feel really ill and I am restricted in the activities that I can do and struggle at work because I just feel so wiped out all of the time. I usually have very low BP, regularly measured on 2 different machines at home to be 80/60 but whenever I go to the doctor the effort of walking there, I usually arrive out of breath with heart racing, and then trying to convince them that my BP may be low and needs to be measured puts it right up to about 150/100. My medical notes say I have normal tending to slightly high BP even though 99% of the year it is around 80/60. In addition to low BP I have a low pulse rate, when I am sitting (45 beats per min) but on the times I feel really ill when I stand up my heart rate rapidly climbs to 120 beats per min. When I am out shopping I often have to sit down in the middle of the aisles as I am feeling woozy and my heart is pounding out of my chest. I also have difficulty sleeping because I keep waking every hour feeling like I'm not breathing enough, I have a muggy headache and feel sick. My partner has counted my breathing rate as 6 breaths per minute whereas he takes 12 and I also breathe a lot more shallowly than he does. My oxygen saturation level during the day has been measured at 93% On certain days though I feel all of this dissapears and I feel absolutely fit and well, I can run long distances without tiring and climb many flights of stairs without getting out of breath. I find the muggy night headaches a lot worse when I have slept with the window open, could this be an allergy? I am definatley not anemic, its the first thing the doctors think of so its been measured dozens of times and always fine.

[espresso_dreams]

I actually feel like that a lot. I don't mean to derail... but my questions were similar, and maybe it'll generate more info in the process...
So... my normal BP reading is around 90/60... sometimes, it's as low as 80/40. Yet no one has every really looked into that, despite my having morning episodes of symptoms fairly regularly... Usually, MAs & nurses scramble around trying to find new machines to check it with, but after three or four successive tests, they say... "hmm... are you dehydrated?" Um, yes. Always. "well, drink more water then." I currently drink roughly a gallon or more a day, and wake up at night to drink water also. "weird." Then, nothing more is said about this. About 8 years ago, I was found to have metastatic thyroid cancer (papillary). It was treated (and is still being treated) with total thyroidectomy, RAI & suppressive dose therapy. Is there any chance the two things could be related? Maybe this is another way that the body freaks out when it realizes that cancer is present (it still is, in me)? I've noticed that cancer tends to cause some very strange symptoms, particularly with blood chemistry... maybe it's low because the chemistry is off? The only time it has ever not been low enough to create difficulty in testing (sometimes, my vitals don't show up at all - imagine the nurse's horror lol) was very briefly during pregnancy (I had cancer then, too, as it was not detected yet), when I was pre-pre-eclamptic. I guess that means it was sub-clinically elevated. So, what I'm asking is this: would having cancer cause depressed vital signs in general? I always have very low BP, low o2 sat (85-95), my temp range is 96.5-97.5F, and while my pulse rate sometimes shoots way up, it is typically hard to find (weak). My skin is often some strange shade of purple, and my lips turn blue when I'm cold. I think that's mostly from not having a thyroid, but it was always like that, it's just more severe looking now. I once had a nurse joke that according to my vitals I was dead. I passed out the one time I tried to give blood, the small volume of blood that came out had a syrupy consistency and a dark appearance. They got about half of what they were trying to get before I passed out. I know that this isn't normal, but it's where I've been my whole life. I'm just curious as to whether or not it could all be related... Oddly, my metabolic panels all come up completely normal, except for low calcium (only slightly) and my endo says he can see my blood sugar has been off a lot (I eat high protein, at his request. It's still always off). I get headaches a lot, too. Usually, they aren't that bad, but they last for weeks.

[jam jam]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your advice. I haven't had my heart checked I would like to get that done but the problem is going to be the doctor. I haven't had a good experience with doctors, my cluster headache was misdiagnosed for 10 yrs, my dad had prostate trouble with family history and was diagnosed with gall stones and they nearly burst his bladder, he had skin cancer and for 3 yrs they told him it was eczema, he had a severe root ulcer periodically draining into his chest cavity and they reprimanded him for wasting their time with a touch of rheumatism, my mum had coeliac disease and they diagnosed asthma, her mum had cd and they gave her indegestion meds until she developed gastro-intestinal cancer and then they missed that too, the list goes on...
I hate going to the doctors so I don't go often but when I do they talk over me and say it must be anemia, hence the many tests over the years. I can't even get them to measure my blood pressure when I ask without it turning into a big argument! I don't think it's anxiety because I don't think about it first, it happens and then I think about it (for instance I wake up feeling really sick and headachey but try to get through it to get ready for work or when I go shopping with someone, if they stop to discuss something I become quite irratable with them and want to sit down, it is only later I realise why I am being like that because the effort of standing up and discussing something when I am out of breath and going dizzy is making me snappy). I am always quite stressed with work though so I won't rule out anxiety. I do drink plenty but also quite a bit of caffeine so I will try cutting that down. I did get my thyroid checked with one of my annual anemia tests and that came back normal. I'll look into the tilt test and see if I can get my heart checked because I do think it is a blood pressure related problem. Sorry for not replying sooner, work has been crazy recently and I've only just checked the message board. Thanks again for your help!

[tmv]

It sounds a lot like me when I had anxiety-now treated with lexapro. Everyones symptoms are different and I would swear for months that it was not bc I didn't feel anxious. However, a month after being on med and I no longer experience that feeling. Also, the heartrate will go up from sitting to standing and you may feel dizzy as a result of orthostatic hypotension. Dr office can do a "tilt test" and measure lying, sitting and standing bps. You have to be sitting, standing for 1 minute before reading it. Best wishes and hope you feel better soon.

[Isaiahsun]

Have you been checked for atrial afibrillation. I am doubtful its anything like that, but it never hurts to find out. Also how often do you worry about your condition? Is it somthing you think about alot. What is your anxiety level at?  Could also be overactive thyroid or even believe it or not dehydration.
I say dehydration because I am shocked at folks who drink little water, and dehydration causes headaches, heart palpatations, raceing heart, general sicky feeling. You sound active so I'm sure your conscience of water intake, but I had to ask. Keep me posted with your progress. Take care