Blood Pressure Drop!
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Blood Pressure Drop!
Hi, I am 49 y.o, and doing 3-4 rides a week that ranges between 30 - 60 miles per ride .. I did experience 2 occasions of significant drop in my blood pressure (BP) towards the end of the ride. It was too hard that I could hardly lift my neck on the last few miles on the ride. At home, my BP was around 88/55 .. very low! I was dizzy. After eating, drinking and resting, it started climbing back up. I do take blood pressure pills .. I am thinking I might need a lower dose, but I also read about the post exercise hypotension as a condition widely observed. Appreciate any opinions that can help prevent or reduce this problem .. Thanks
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My opinion: talk to your doctor.
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Go see your doctor. That is the only advice here that you should listen to.
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It sounds pretty scary. any advice outside seeing a dr would just be anecdotal at best.
Enjoy riding but do it safely.
Enjoy riding but do it safely.
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Hi, I am 49 y.o, and doing 3-4 rides a week that ranges between 30 - 60 miles per ride .. I did experience 2 occasions of significant drop in my blood pressure (BP) towards the end of the ride. It was too hard that I could hardly lift my neck on the last few miles on the ride. At home, my BP was around 88/55 .. very low! I was dizzy. After eating, drinking and resting, it started climbing back up. I do take blood pressure pills .. I am thinking I might need a lower dose, but I also read about the post exercise hypotension as a condition widely observed. Appreciate any opinions that can help prevent or reduce this problem .. Thanks
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Hi, I am 49 y.o, and doing 3-4 rides a week that ranges between 30 - 60 miles per ride .. I did experience 2 occasions of significant drop in my blood pressure (BP) towards the end of the ride. It was too hard that I could hardly lift my neck on the last few miles on the ride. At home, my BP was around 88/55 .. very low! I was dizzy. After eating, drinking and resting, it started climbing back up. I do take blood pressure pills .. I am thinking I might need a lower dose, but I also read about the post exercise hypotension as a condition widely observed. Appreciate any opinions that can help prevent or reduce this problem .. Thanks
Start with your general care physician. Don't postpone it.
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Hi, I am 49 y.o, and doing 3-4 rides a week that ranges between 30 - 60 miles per ride .. I did experience 2 occasions of significant drop in my blood pressure (BP) towards the end of the ride. It was too hard that I could hardly lift my neck on the last few miles on the ride. At home, my BP was around 88/55 .. very low! I was dizzy. After eating, drinking and resting, it started climbing back up. I do take blood pressure pills .. I am thinking I might need a lower dose, but I also read about the post exercise hypotension as a condition widely observed. Appreciate any opinions that can help prevent or reduce this problem .. Thanks
#9
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Obviously not a medical opinion but had similar thing happen to me that scared me enough to go to hospital. End result was that I was severely dehydrated which leads to lower blood volume along with hard exercise which expands your blood vessels and your blood pressure drops.
Please check with your doctor though.
Please check with your doctor though.
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As an MD, I’ll just leave this here: The potential consequences of drops in blood pressure are much more serious for people with history of high blood pressure than for others. Do not **** around with this.
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Do you have an HR monitor? What were your BPM during your ride?
One time and only one time when I just was starting to get addicted to the high cardio rush some of us get with cycling, I noticed my vision was a little blurry and feeling light headed during a ride, but on my way home and close to the house. My HR was only in the low 80's and it should have been around 135 for that part of my ride.
I've asked several doctors about it including a cardiologist. And you most certainly should get checked out too. However in my case they couldn't find anything wrong and just said to let them know if it happens again. Thankfully that hasn't.
You do hydrate adequately on your rides don't you?
One time and only one time when I just was starting to get addicted to the high cardio rush some of us get with cycling, I noticed my vision was a little blurry and feeling light headed during a ride, but on my way home and close to the house. My HR was only in the low 80's and it should have been around 135 for that part of my ride.
I've asked several doctors about it including a cardiologist. And you most certainly should get checked out too. However in my case they couldn't find anything wrong and just said to let them know if it happens again. Thankfully that hasn't.
You do hydrate adequately on your rides don't you?
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Any chance you were dehydrated? With less circulating volume when dehydrated, pressure drops. Usually this is accompanied by an increase in heart rate to maintain cardiac output, but many blood pressure medications also limit heart rate and can suppress that effect. As a result, you can become symptomatic (dizzy, weak).
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You told us you ride between 90 - 240miles per week.
Was it a high mileage week?
You felt better and returned to normal after eating and drinking.....
Probably dehydrated.
Possibly close to bonking.
Was it hotter than normal? Hillier?
see the doctor, of course.
Was it a high mileage week?
You felt better and returned to normal after eating and drinking.....
Probably dehydrated.
Possibly close to bonking.
Was it hotter than normal? Hillier?
see the doctor, of course.
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Vintage, modern, e-road. It is a big cycling universe.
#14
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At 5:55 PM, no doc I know of except in hospitals and ERs are easily available. At 9:55 PM, as I write, I recommend looking up info on the med(s) you take to get a sense of side effects. I'd consider dehydration as a reason and make sure I drank enough water, and I'd add calling my doc tomorrow AM on my to-do list.
I'd also tell myself it's probably something simple - but I'd make the call in the AM.
I'd also tell myself it's probably something simple - but I'd make the call in the AM.
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Hi, I am 49 y.o, and doing 3-4 rides a week that ranges between 30 - 60 miles per ride .. I did experience 2 occasions of significant drop in my blood pressure (BP) towards the end of the ride. It was too hard that I could hardly lift my neck on the last few miles on the ride. At home, my BP was around 88/55 .. very low! I was dizzy. After eating, drinking and resting, it started climbing back up. I do take blood pressure pills .. I am thinking I might need a lower dose, but I also read about the post exercise hypotension as a condition widely observed. Appreciate any opinions that can help prevent or reduce this problem .. Thanks
This is not medical advice, but many doctors are not used to folks riding 3 hours. Talking to your doctor is good advice. They give good opinions. Use your brain. They guess a lot and what many do for rides is out of scope for their training or patients. You may know more about your body than the pros do.
If you check your BP and SPO2 (cheap pulse oximeter) and morning resting HR you will get a lot of information that a single visit to a pro can not have. Talking to a doctor and also measuring BP (as you did) morning resting HR and SPO2 can't hurt.
#16
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I've had similar experience since taking blood pressure pills a couple of years ago which only occurred on post-running or post-cycling days where the drop was so drastic I exhibited the same effects as you did. As you probably already know there's a great variety of BP medication, my GP had me try several different ones over the course of several months, and now settled on one that doesn't result in that much of a drop - post-ride usually 100/80 range. I'm 56 btw.
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