My mum’s blood pressure is at crazy levels- dropping from extremely high to extremely low. She just passed out today and knocked her head going down. The paramedics said they had never seen a blood pressure drop like it. Any advice from anyone on how you manage this in uour daily life? My mum is not keen on using a walking frame to get around the house. Is there any kind of high tech alarm that she can wear to let my dad (or anyone else know) that her blood pressure is in a dangerous place?
Any ideas for coping with this on a day to day basis is much appreciated. Thank you
Thank you very much. Yes- the doctors try to monitor as much as they can (and tweak mum’s medication). She has had Parkinsons for 16 years so you can imagine, it gets more and more complicated. She tries to eat the right foods to prevent passing out.
Anyone else in this same situation? Any tips to prevent constant falls other than sitting in a chair all day (which she obviously wants to avoid)!
Very sorry to hear about your mum’s condition. Please remember our Helpline is always available to offer advice and support, and they may be best placed to respond to your query. You can reach them via email at [email protected], or call free on 0808 800 0303. Lines are open Monday to Friday from 9am to 7pm, and on Saturday from 10am-2pm.
Thank you. Yes- I know there are no easy solutions if the doctors are only able to tweak medication. My mum does try to drink water and increase salt levels etc and be careful on rising etc.
It becomes increasingly challenging for my mum and dad as she is clinging on to independence and wanting to do things herself/ get up to do the dishes/ sort out the laundry etc.
There is always the danger of falls. It’s striking a balance in having some quality of life/ being able to do things and managing the risk of falls.
I just wondered how other people manage at this stage with the constant risk of falls and if there were any tips on how they dealt with it? Whether there were certain products that proved best? Ant kind of special monitoring alarms that they wore? How they mentally and emotionally coped with this situation when the doctors appear to be at a loss as to what to do next and it is more a ‘coping’ with the situation as best you can. Thank you
My husband suffers in the same way; he has Parkinson’s and Autonomic Dysfunction. He has pretty normal blood pressure when seated but when he stands, the blood pressure plummets - it’s called orthostatic hypotension. This can result in dizziness, disorientation and falls. There are strategies he’s been given for dealing with this - mainly not to move too quickly from one position to the next, to move his feet whilst seated to increase circulation, to drink PLENTY of water, and to increase his salt intake. Good luck
My husband suffers from this.
It has been diagnosed as autonomic neuropathy…loss of control of his blood pressure.
His BP can reach 26O/160…and can drop in minutes to 60/30.
Régime consists of wearing compression stockings 24 hours a day and a tight abdominal binder when standing to stop sudden drop in BP.
He also takes a Captopril tablet at 10 to lower his BP for 8 hours at night as it rises horrifically at night.
He must not lie down at lower than 45 degrees as that causes a huge rise.
He is in a nursing home now but this plan keeps falls to a minimum.
It took a neurologist and a cardiac specialist working together to come up with this plan and so far it has made a big difference.
Reasearch autonomic neuropathy…and hope this helps!
Xx
Hello
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. That is very interesting. What is the tight binding around the body? My mum has a colostomy bag so I wonder if this would still be possible?
