Light Headed and Problems Walking

Had a very strange issue this morning. I got up as usual, had breakfast and arrived at work feeling fine.

There was a weekly all-hands meeting in a large room with no chairs. Have stood thru similar meetings before with no problems. But, today (about 10 minutes into the meeting) I started feeling hot, there was a slight nausea, and the room started swaying. I moved from where I was standing and leaned against a support.

Started feeling worse (like I was going to faint) so I left the meeting to go back to my office. Walked up a flight of stairs and was stumbling down the hall. Had to stop in the lunch room and sit down because the room was spinning.

Didn't eat anything unusual for breakfast. Drank my 64 oz yesterday. But, the scales this morning showed a 4-5 lbs weight loss over night. So, was this:

1. Dehydration?
2. Low sodium?
3. Low blood pressure? (My last reading from my PCP 2 weeks ago was 90 / 60. This was 2 weeks AFTER I stopped taking Lisinopril.)

Had to rest in the lunch room for a few minutes but feeling fine now. A couple of co-workers saw me stumbling and came to check on me. Said it looked like I totally drunk. Please, no comedy remarks about age and hot flashes - wrong gender for that.

Anyone else experience this before? Any clue what may have caused this?

Just a guess here, but perhaps your body is adjusting to the medication change?  I experienced some symptoms very similiar to what you described 2 years ago - it was diagnosed as low blood pressure and low blood sugar and even my vision was affected.   While I've lost the diabetes and the high blood pressure, I still sometimes get a little "hot-flash" every now and then - I think it's related to what I eat, esp. sugar/carbs.  Good luck!   Pop-Pop

Sounds like your blood pressure was low.  Could be not enough fluids.  Sometimes certain activities can stimulate the vagas nerve, which slows the heart rate leading to low blood pressure and passing out.  Bearing down can do this (picking up something heavy, going to the bathroom, holding your breath.

If this happens again, sit down or even lay down as soon as you feel this way.

good luck, talk to your doc.

Jim

1. Dehydration?
2. Low sodium?
3. Low blood pressure?
Could be any of these...
As long as it didn't feel like an elephant was sitting on your chest (heart attack) you should be fine.  What I do in those situations is eat some protein and drink a little orange juice (get the sugar level up and it has potassium).  I faced the low blood pressure for a few months post op.  Like someone said...check your medication.

Thanks for the swift responses.

I just googled the symptoms of low blood pressure and that seems to describe what happened to me. No further problems during the day and I felt just fine once this episode passed. (Thank goodness there was no elephant-like pain.)

But, next time I'm not taking any chances. I'm dropping my ass down immediately and won't try to maneuver the stairs and get back to the office.

Perhaps my body is still adjusting to the lack of meds or rapid weight loss. But, this could have been a whole lot more serious if it happened while I was driving.

I just had that same problem, luckily I had post op with the doc scheduled the next day....They said the same thing you did, low BP or Dehydration. 
I would get a home BP Monitor, its very usefull. Ours is a nice cuff one with two different user settings and it tracks it for you. Then you can review the dates and times you check it and take it into your PCP on your next visit to discuss. Its made by Omron...

G

 Standing with your knees "locked" can also trigger the dizziness and light-headedness.  When I was in the Army, we would regularly have "parades" for change of command or something similar (the Army loves to put on a show).  Every single time we did it, there would be a few folks who would stand with their knees locked, and just fall over - dead to the world.  Something physiological about having your knees locked while standing that cuts off the return blood supply, resulting in fainting. These were guys who could run 5 miles in combat boots with a full pack, but just standing there would cause them to keel over.

You most likely had a low BP situation, but standing for a period of time (even 5 minutes or less) can trigger the fainting.  I would imagine that low BP would make one even more susceptible.  They taught us to stand with our legs ever so slightly bent at the knees, like you were just starting to crouch.  That alone prevents the problem.

Corrective action is to get your head lower than your torso for a few minutes to refresh the blood supply to the brain, then get moving.  When I have to stay in lengthy meetings (unfortunately that's nearly every day) I get up and pace at the back of the room a lot.  Everyone at work knows about the surgery, and I've told them I have to "move around" a lot, so it makes it "acceptable" to everyone...  

Thanks gman and Jim for the responses. Sorry, gman, to hear you had a similar incident. But, it's reassuring to know that I'm not the only one that's had this happen. The BP cuff is a great idea and I should monitor things more closely for the next few weeks.

Jim, I sure know where you're coming from with the "locked knee" stuff. Had that happen when I was in the Navy so I know that wasn't the issue this time.

Called my PCP today and he also felt it was low BP. But, he also chewed my butt for trying to climb the stairs and walk to the office. Not really a smart move but thank goodness I didn't go down on the stairs.

Lesson learned and I hope this helps other new guys realize the potential problems as your body adjusts.

 I had a similar situation a couple weeks ago. My son had an early hockey game and the rink was freezing cold. At the snack bar the choices were hot cocoa or regular coffee. No tea, no decaf. This was my first post-op caffeine and I was tweeking after one cup. We stopped at a diner for breakfast on the way home, I had one bite of scrambled egg and felt like I was going to pass out. The waitress asked if I was alright. I told her I was a little light-headed and asked her to box my breakfast. She told me about a similar guy last week who had been drinking the night before. After she left my son was so amused that the waitress thought I was hungover. I just assumed it was the caffeine but it could have been a number of reasons.