Blood Pressure...

[Catrin]

I am curious if anyone has heard about mild dehydration causing a drop in blood pressure. At my doctor's office today they took it like they always do, and it was 91/58. It is normally between 103-110/60 so it wasn't THAT much lower than normal, but I've never seen that top number in the 90s. The med. assistant said it was probably from dehydration. To take my mind off my mom and my shoulder I looked it up and there is some indication about that being in the "athletic and children" range, though that seems a bit of a catch-all. I am not worried about it at this point, though given my current extreme stress level I am rather surprised that it is low rather than high.

[Artista]

Yes, dehydration can lower blood pressure. That's one of the reasons that doctors sometimes prescribe diuretics along with blood pressure lowering meds.

[indysteel]

Yes, because I've experienced it myself.

[Becky]

Yup, had some of these discussions with my docs.

[OakLeaf]

Dehydration reduces blood volume, so pressure follows. Don't even ask me how many times they had to stick me to find a vein to rehydrate me when I got dehydrated from not getting enough salt.....

[Catrin]

Very interesting! Oakleaf, I've had the same thing happen on days I've needed to get blood drawn but this is the first time I've seen it affect my blood pressure. Well, it makes sense as I had just left from my crazy group training to go to my Osteopath for yesterday's appointment.

[Eden]

most definitely - we had a real hot spell around here a few summers ago and I took my blood pressure when I was pretty sure that I was quite dehydrated and it was something like 90/50.....

[Susan Otcenas]

I supported my randonneuring club's 600K this weekend. My volunteer position was at the overnight control. We sent a rider to the hospital in an ambulance after he passed out while sitting in a chair. Hit the deck HARD. He was admitted to the hospital and given FIVE liters of IV fluid. He peed out ~1.5 during that time frame, so he was easily 3 liters down. Dehydration --> low blood pressure --> blackout. Fortunately, he's OK now and was released after ~16 hours in the hospital.

I sometimes chuckle when I read articles about hyponatremia (basically, over-hydration leading to low blood sodium concentrations.) Yeah, it happens from time to time, I suppose, but FAR more endurance athletes suffer from DEhydration than anything else.

[OakLeaf]

I sometimes chuckle when I read articles about hyponatremia (basically, over-hydration leading to low blood sodium concentrations.) Yeah, it happens from time to time, I suppose, but FAR more endurance athletes suffer from DEhydration than anything else.

As someone who struggles with both hyponatremia and dehydration ... IMO it all stems from the salt-phobia generated by the media. In myyyyyyy day they passed out salt tablets at practices when the weather was hot ... we even had these things called "PE classes" that kids participated in whether they were talented athletes or not, and we all got salt tablets. Now, active people get the idea in their head that they can get by on the same amount of salt as people whose exercise routine consists of 12-oz curls in front of the TV. So when they're active, they're already borderline hyponatremic, and then they take in a barely adequate amount of water and a grossly inadequate amount of salt, and Bad Things Happen.

It's just maddening, really. Sodium is the only mineral that human beings (maybe all mammals?) cannot get from a diet of exclusively plant and animal foods. That's why there are so many place names based on salt ... why Roman soldiers used to be paid in salt ... etc. But because companies put too much salt in foods that people shouldn't eat at ALL, people get this idea drilled into their heads that salt is bad for them ...