Postoperative Hypertension

Is it unusual to develop high blood pressure after surgery? I did not have any problems with my blood pressure before surgery, and was usually around 130/70. Immediately after the surgery, while still in the hospital, I had very low blood pressure, of about 100/60. About 1 month postop, I started having regular readings of around 150/100. This has been fairly steady and continuous for the past 3 months. (I am currently 4 months postop.) My GP asked me to keep a BP log for a month, and if my log shows consistent high pressures, he will put me on BP meds next month. I am a little confused since I thought losing weight would lower my pressures and not raise them! Has anyone heard of this happening before? Thanks for your help.

Cathy I got high blood pressure after surgery and have had to take medicine now. The doctor checked everything out but everything ok. I didn't have it before, he doesn't know why it has changed.

Hi Cathy! Was your doctor able to figure out what caused your high blood pressure? I'm pre-op (still waiting for insurance approval) and my main concern is that, aside from being overweight, I'm very healthy. I don't have diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol or high blood pressure. It concerns me that high blood pressure became a problem for you after the surgery. Are you taking BP medication now or was a change of diet the answer? I welcome anything you'd like to share about your experiences. Take care! Cassandra

Nope, they still can't figure out why I developed high blood pressure after surgery. The best guess was that it must have been there all along, but never showed up on readings before -- that doesn't exactly make much sense to me, but whatever. ; ) I am on meds now -- a fairly low dose -- and my doc says that I probably will only need to stay on them for a few months. I have lost 80 lbs so far, so one would think that the blood pressure would be on its way down by now! It has gone down quite a bit, just not quite where it should be yet. My doctors are not worried about it at this point and I'm not either, especially since I am feeling *FANTASTIC* these days! Cassandra, I realize my reply is very late, and I apologize. Have you had your surgery yet? Believe me, you have nothing to worry about. For me, the worst part of the entire experience was jumping through all those hoops to get everything completed and getting insurance approval. After that, everything (and yes, including the surgery itself and recouperation) was completely downhill. Having this surgery was the best decision I've ever made in my life. I still have a lot of weight to lose, but even if for some reason I stopped losing tomorrow and have to remain at my current weight forever, it would still be completely worth it.