Feel like you're gonna faint when you stand up sometimes?

If you're wondering what the heck is going on it's called Orthostatic Hypotension (there are also a few other names for it such as postural hypotension and orthostatic intolerance) basically it means that when you stand up blood rushes down from the upper part of your body down into your abdomen which leaves that area including your brain short of oxygen, but just for a few seconds until your body responds by pumping more blood that way. It's more of a symptom then a disease or condition, meaning a lot of different things can cause it. It seems to be a fairly common side effect of rapid weight loss and is most likely caused by low blood volume due to dehydration - so the most common recommendation is to increase intake of liquids and to increase salt intake to help retain more water. There is also some other info out there that suggests that poor nutrition caused by our new physiology may contribute to a part of our nervous system not functioning properly - the part that controls things like the fight or flight response. It seems like there isn't a lot of good available info about that though, so I can't really say much more. If this sounds like you then Google the term you can find tons of information about it, and as always there could be something else going on with you that only your doctor could diagnose, so by all means don't take this as medical advice! Anybody else have these symptoms? Get any good advice from your doc?

thanks for posting this! i had no idea what was going on. i feel this way sometimes and i get kinda scared, my mom keeps telling me i need to drink more water! so i try to make sure that im getting it all in!

Thanks for putting a title to it!

So that explains it! I was wondering why this was happening. Doesn't happen ALL the time, but there have been times where I almost fall over. Interesting! Thanks for sharing!

Yes, I get this.  Frequently.  I knew what it was called, but I couldn't quite figure out what is causing it for me.  I've been dealing with it since I was about 3 months out, so for around 6 months. It's problematic for me, because it causes some sort of temporary blindness sometimes.  Everything just goes very cloudy and white and I can't even see things right in front of my face.  It passes after a few seconds, but it sucks while it's happening. My issue is that while it definitely has ties to dehydration in me, meaning it gets a lot more severe when I am not drinking enough water, but it never completely goes away even when I AM drinking enough water.  I've even been loading the salt on my food and drinking 90+ ounces of water per day in hopes of getting it to go away and it never completely does. The only advice I've ever been given is to up the water.

I get this a lot - like almost every time I stand up. I feel super dizzy & I see stars. I read somewhere the other day that it can be from lack of calories or lack of iron. It is a weird feeling!! 

thanks for the info Michael glad to hear from other people going through this.  I know I experienced this even before WLS(although now its much worse) and my doctors gave me all kinds of test before finally telling me it was probably just dehydration(doesn't it make you feel good when your doctors tell you they PROBABLY know whats wrong wiht you LOL).

If drinking a lot of extra water and or salt doesn't do the trick your doc might consider putting you on medication for it - there are some things out there for it. Anemia or low iron could cause it as well, but it sounds like that is much more rare - none the less postop WLS patients need to have their iron levels monitored regularly anyway - especially females since they lose blood menstruating