Low blood pressure

I have low blood pressure. Plan to discuss with my doctor again in a couple of weeks. She told me to up my salt which I've been trying to do. I already drink 100oz plus of water a day.

But I get dizzy after bending over, standing up from a sitting position etc. (Basically all day long). I have fainted a couple of times when I forgot and got up too quickly and started walking. I'd say I have had some memory problems too.

Ive googled and read medications to treat it can cause weight gain so understandably I'm terrified of that.

Anyone have any other ideas for things I can try?

When I'm light headed I drink Gatorade, not the one with artificial sweeteners, and it helps.

I had this, orthostatic hypotension, pretty bad the first year. I also passed out a few times. Extra salt and other electrolytes help. Lots of extra fluid, no matter how much you currently drink, will help. Powerade Zero and its electrolytes helped some.

Stand up in stages. Slowly. Pause before you walk.

This is common at your stage. It's almost always gone by the end of year 2. I turned down any additional meds because this can be worked around without drugs.

You could also ask the opinion of a vein specialist. Being obese can really screw up our circulations in a lot of ways. I needed EVLT on yhe greater saphenous in one leg, and the lesser saphenous in the other. And some sclerotherapy and other assorted things.

Thanks Grim! Makes me feel better. I'm at my mom's currently and she was scaring me with the "it can cause permanent damage to your organs deal.

The test they sometimes teach for orthostatic hypotension in nusing school is, lie down, relax, take your BP.sit up, take your BP. Stand up, take your BP. If it drops each time, but comes back up after standing for a few minutes, it's BP. Only dangerous in our context if you pass out and hit your noggin.

It will almost certainly go away after your body has stabilized for a while.

I deal with the same issue. Lots of water and salt seem to help. I drink water constantly and go through bottles of tamari. It really does help. I've had issues with it on and off every time I loose weight. The doctor never seems to think it's a big deal.

I have had the same experience as well, whenever I've lost weight.

Orthostatic hypotension has been a plague on my existence. I ended up seeing a cardiologist when it hadn't gone away 3 years post-op.

His recommendations included: pump legs before standing up, wear compression tights, add in a sports drink like Gatorade.

I do the leg thing, compression tights didn't work because they just compressed my excess abdominal skin and caused rashes/smell, I add G2 powder to all my water. For the most part, I'm okay.

However, I do recommend seeing a cardiologist. I had ultrasound of my heart and legs and he found that I have some "leaky" superficial leg veins that are causing problems with blood return.

The leg vein problems are why I had EVLT and sclerotherapy.

Our big huge bodies grew many, many miles of extra veins and capillaries. Our smaller selves just don't need them all. The vein surgeon described it as picturing yourself starting the shower. Nice water pressure.

Then have someone turn on the upstairs shower, kitchen and bathroom faucets, flush the toilets, and water the lawn -- all at once. The water pressure in your shower would really suck.