Feeling Lightheaded Due To Low BP. On Cholesterol Medication. Need To Go To ER?

Posted on Wed, 11 Jul 2012

Question: When my 79 year old mother woke up this morning she was very lightheaded (had to hold on to stuff to move around). She took her BP and it was 190/109. She is in perfect health, takes only cholesterol meds and Januvia. Her normal BP is 124/78. Her BP dropped throughout the day getting to 133/85 by 7:00 p.m. but by 10:00 p.m. It had started to climb back ip to 160/101. She is still somewhat lightheaded but not nearly as bad as this morning. Dr. Told her to just track her BP. At what point is it advisable to go to the ER. My mother is never sick and very active so I rather concerned about this.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Praveen Tayal (2 hours later)

Hello.
Thanks for writing to us.
The rise of blood pressure in the evenings daily is worrisome.
A blood pressure reading of more than 170/ 110 is worrisome and needs an emergency attention to lower the blood pressure. You also need to monitor her for any other symptoms like chest pain, vomiting, headache, blurring of vision, epistaxis- bleeding from nose, etc in which case an immediate medical attention is needed.
Such high BP can lead to complications as stroke,neuropathy,heart issues etc.

In such a case she needs to be under observation and requires continuous monitoring of Blood pressure along with investigations as Blood test, ECG,stress test.
Some general measures she can follow to keep her blood pressure under control are;

1. Minimise salt intake to around 2 to 3 grams per day.
2. Exercise regularly.
3. Do relaxing exercises like yoga and breathing exercises.

Hope this answers your query. I will be glad to answer the follow up queries that you have.
Please accept my answer in case you do not have further queries.
Wishing you good health.
Regards.
Dr. Praveen Tayal.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar