Symptoms of low blood pressure while climbing?
09-25-18, 03:04 PM
#26
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I'm not quite sure how to phrase and ask this but will try my best. Please note: I'm not looking for medical advice -- I mainly want to know of others have experienced something similar.
I'm 65 and have been on blood pressure meds for a few years. Things have been pretty consistent, my numbers have been good. Recently I've improved my diet and dropped a few pounds (though I was only about 10 pounds overweight anyway). Meanwhile one of the meds I had been on (Valsartan) was recalled so my cardio switched me to Benicar. My BP actually got too low after that (systolic of 95 at times, which was causing dizziness) so she had me reduce the dose.
That brought me up to about 105 which was comfortable, but lately it's started creeping down again. Today I did a fairly strenuous climb that I've done about 10 times in the last few years. Less than an hour into the steep part I found myself feeling really winded, achy, and generally weak. I was constantly stopping to rest and catch my breath. It was just too much, so I turned back at the halfway point, after climbing about 1900'. It seemed really odd, because I feel like lately, up till today, I've been in my best condition, endurance wise. I've been breaking a lot of personal records on Strava lately and have been faster than ever before.
I also noticed that when I stopped to sit and rest, I felt really dizzy upon standing up.
The symptoms felt almost exactly like I used to feel when doing high altitude hikes. (I used to do a lot of trekking in the Himalayas, at times getting up to 15,000 or even 17,000 feet.) So this makes me think that my body simply wasn't getting enough oxygen, because my blood pressure had gotten too low.
I will contact my cardio soon to see what she recommends. In the meantime I think I'll try taking my meds later in the day, after doing a big ride, rather than before, and see if anything changes.
My question for the forum is: Has anyone else experienced these symptoms while doing climbs while on BP meds, or during periods when their BP was on the low side?
I'm 65 and have been on blood pressure meds for a few years. Things have been pretty consistent, my numbers have been good. Recently I've improved my diet and dropped a few pounds (though I was only about 10 pounds overweight anyway). Meanwhile one of the meds I had been on (Valsartan) was recalled so my cardio switched me to Benicar. My BP actually got too low after that (systolic of 95 at times, which was causing dizziness) so she had me reduce the dose.
That brought me up to about 105 which was comfortable, but lately it's started creeping down again. Today I did a fairly strenuous climb that I've done about 10 times in the last few years. Less than an hour into the steep part I found myself feeling really winded, achy, and generally weak. I was constantly stopping to rest and catch my breath. It was just too much, so I turned back at the halfway point, after climbing about 1900'. It seemed really odd, because I feel like lately, up till today, I've been in my best condition, endurance wise. I've been breaking a lot of personal records on Strava lately and have been faster than ever before.
I also noticed that when I stopped to sit and rest, I felt really dizzy upon standing up.
The symptoms felt almost exactly like I used to feel when doing high altitude hikes. (I used to do a lot of trekking in the Himalayas, at times getting up to 15,000 or even 17,000 feet.) So this makes me think that my body simply wasn't getting enough oxygen, because my blood pressure had gotten too low.
I will contact my cardio soon to see what she recommends. In the meantime I think I'll try taking my meds later in the day, after doing a big ride, rather than before, and see if anything changes.
My question for the forum is: Has anyone else experienced these symptoms while doing climbs while on BP meds, or during periods when their BP was on the low side?
I've been waiting for a discussion like this.
I am on two BP medicines. No blood thinners or cholesterol meds. That is all normal. I noticed this summer that after about 20 miles in on a ride, I would become exhausted and really fatigued. So much so that the folks that I ride with were commenting on the fact that I was having trouble keeping up. My data streams also showed a 2-3mph loss. Everything else is fine but man do I get exhausted.
Long story short, I dropped my nightly med to try an experiment since one of the symptoms was fatigue. I am in the midst of my trial. My BP is still in the normal range without it at this point. My times and tiredness have increased and gotten better but I am not sure if it is dropping the one med or just the fact that it is getting a little less hot. My experiment will continue until I do my century in November. Then at least I will have some data to show my doctor.
Anyway, I am at a loss on this issue and my REAL issue with this is trying to find a doctor that treats athletes on the cardio side. I simply cannot find one that really works with athletes and I live around a major city that has pro football, Olympic training venues, a NBA team and AAA baseball. So it is a fairly athletic area.
My cardio simply says that if there were a problem, you wouldn't be able to ride for 3 hours when I mentioned a possible blockage. Yes, years ago I had a heart cath and it was negative, but my riding partner when thru a couple of incidents and he needed bypass surgery after his doctor missed the diagnosis.
It is frustrating to say the least in trying to deal with doctors that do not treat athletes. One time while waiting in the lobby someone asked me if I was a salesman. I said no, why did you ask. They replied because I didn't look like the typical patient. Looking around, I was going to be the healthiest patient my doctor was going to see all day. There were many toting oxygen tanks, in wheelchairs, barely able to walk even with a cane and here I am pretty healthy in no need of any of that. So, they cannot relate.
I'd really like to get a handle on what I am dealing with, but as I said, these doctors just have no clue since all they see are extreme cases. My orthopedist is in fact a cyclist so he does understand my questions when I see him as it relates to cycling, but my cardio, no way. He hasn't a clue and trying to find one that does is impossible in my area.
john
09-25-18, 09:49 PM
#27
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