There are much fewer people with low blood pressure on our planet than hypertensive people (according to some estimates - about 15%). Their problems are not discussed loudly, and government programs are not created for their treatment. It is believed that hypotensive people do not have any special problems.

It seems to the average person that raising low blood pressure is easy - eat and drink whatever your heart desires, and more of it, and you will have normal blood pressure. But, of course, everything is not so simple, and increased nutrition alone cannot solve the problem. But the problem really exists if it becomes a frequent cause of disability (even if temporary). Symptoms of this condition sometimes not only cause discomfort, but also threaten a person’s life.

Medicine is increasingly abandoning strictly limited boundaries regarding blood pressure and calling for a careful study of the individual characteristics of the patient.

Standard blood pressure values ​​are 120 to 80 mmHg. Art. are no longer an unconditional indicator of health, the emphasis today is on a person’s well-being, for example, whether they have low blood pressure.

1. In medical terms, blood pressure is considered low if it is below 100 mm systolic and 70 mm diastolic.
2. The diagnosis is usually made when the readings are below 90 to 60.
3. A pressure of 70 over 50 is usually accompanied by fainting.
4. Indicators 50 to 35 mm Hg. Art. are critical and pose a threat to human life, since at such values ​​a person usually falls into a coma.

If, against the background of uncritically reduced blood pressure values, signs of low blood pressure do not appear, we can assume that such a condition for a person is a variant of the physiological norm. That is, he is certainly hypotensive, but his hypotension is most likely non-pathological (for example, congenital) in nature.

What happens to the vessels - do they expand or narrow?

The human circulatory system can be (albeit roughly) compared to a complex pipeline through which fluid (blood) constantly circulates. The walls of this “pipeline” are quite elastic and tend to contract and expand. This property in the circulatory system is called vascular tone, and with increased tone, vessels tend to narrow, and with decreased tone, they tend to expand or relax.

What happens with low blood pressure - do blood vessels dilate or contract? Let's imagine a tightly inflated balloon.

1. Even a slight compression of the walls of this ball can lead to an “explosion” - because with compression, the air pressure inside the ball increases.
2. The same thing happens with blood vessels - when compressed, the blood pressure inside them increases.
3. And when the vascular walls expand, the pressure of the blood in them weakens - everything is logical here.

By the way, this is why in past centuries it was customary to treat high blood pressure with bloodletting - in this way the volume of circulating blood was reduced and the pressure dropped. It would be natural to assume that frequent bleeding can provoke low blood pressure. And the symptoms of low blood pressure depend mostly on the cause that provoked the decrease.

Symptoms and signs

Having become familiar with the changes in the body with low blood pressure and what happens to the blood vessels at this time, let’s consider how the patient himself feels with low blood pressure, what symptoms indicate the development of hypotension. For a better understanding of the extensive list of symptoms, we will divide them into groups.

General condition and sensations

The course of hypotension cannot have exactly the same symptoms for everyone. The individual characteristics of each organism, concomitant or background diseases, and the influence of external factors are important here. Based on which symptoms are most common, we can name the most characteristic signs of hypotension in general health:

• fast fatiguability;
• drowsiness;
• slowness;
• emotionlessness;
• passive life position, sometimes - lack of motivation for life.

A melancholic state is typical for people who lead a sedentary lifestyle, engage in mental work, and rarely spend time in the fresh air. The vascular tone of hypotensive patients needs training and strengthening, which can be achieved through hardening procedures, regular morning exercises, and other feasible physical activities.

How and where does your head hurt?

The most common symptom of hypotension is headache. But this symptom is also characteristic of other diseases, including those directly opposite. That is, if a person has a headache with low blood pressure, and a person takes a pill with an antihypertensive effect on the advice of friends, a hypotensive crisis may occur to him. But this does not mean that if you teach him where his head hurts when his blood pressure is low, he will be able to determine for himself that his blood pressure is low.

Without measuring blood pressure, you should not take any pills that affect vascular tone or circulating blood volume (for example, diuretics).

From medical experience, it is known that patients with hypotension describe differently how a headache occurs with low blood pressure:

• For some, the pain throbs in their temples;
• others talk about the localization of pain in the left or right side of the head (this symptom is characteristic of migraines);
• still others describe the symptom as a comprehensive and pressing pain from all sides.

It is not advisable to rely only on the indicated symptoms and determine blood pressure based on how you feel at low blood pressure; the most reasonable thing is to measure blood pressure.

Dizziness

With low blood pressure, a symptom such as dizziness is also observed. It can occur either in the morning or in the middle of the day, especially if a person finds himself in a cramped and stuffy space (in transport, a cramped corridor of a clinic, etc.).

Dizziness with low blood pressure is a very characteristic and unsafe symptom. If you feel dizzy from low blood pressure, then you are not far from fainting, so if you notice such a symptom, you should stop, take a comfortable and safe position (sit down) and tilt your head closer to your knees.

Nausea

Hypotonic patients often complain that their headaches are accompanied by a symptom such as nausea, which is caused by a sharp decrease in blood supply to the brain and, as a consequence, irritation of the vestibular apparatus. This explains nausea with low blood pressure and dizziness. Such symptoms are most typical for weather-dependent people, athletes, hypotensive people with unstable psyches.

Vomit

Rarely, nausea with low blood pressure can result in vomiting. Patients describe this symptom as some relief; in any case, many noticed the disappearance of the headache after the gag reflex. Vomiting with low blood pressure is not a very common symptom, but it is still a characteristic sign of hypotension.

Is temperature possible?

Hypotension, as a factor of weakened blood circulation, most often leads to decreased body temperature. If a person has a high temperature and low blood pressure, then this symptom may indicate very serious situations:

• bacterial or viral infection;
• intoxication (for example, heavy metal poisoning);
• development of inflammatory processes in internal organs.

Could it be a stroke?

Stably low blood pressure is not a safety factor in terms of vascular accidents. Symptoms of low blood pressure, rather, warn a person against excessive stress, which can cause a sharp rise in blood pressure. Yes, this also happens with hypotensive people, and the indicators of 180 to 100 will be catastrophic for them, that is, figures quite familiar to hypertensive patients. An increase in blood pressure in hypotensive patients is usually a short-term symptom; it can be provoked by:

• physical or emotional fatigue;
• stress;
• excessive use of hypertensive drugs.

Hypotensive patients are at risk of developing ischemic stroke. Can you have a stroke with low blood pressure? In some cases it may:

• due to increased thrombus formation caused by blood clotting disorders;
• in old age, most often due to the development of orthostatic hypotension, which occurs with a sudden change in body position (for example, from sitting to standing).

It does not hurt for hypotensive patients to learn about all these risks and try not to provoke such conditions in themselves.

Blood pressure readings

Do you get nosebleeds?

Does low blood pressure cause nosebleeds? In rare cases, such a symptom occurs. This may happen due to:

• stressful situations;
• extreme heat;
• staying in a room with dry air for a long time, for example, during the heating season;
• excessive physical activity.

Nosebleeds may not necessarily be associated with blood pressure. Sometimes this symptom is a sign of weakness of the nasal capillaries, increased permeability of their walls, or structural features of the nasal septum.

Low blood pressure during menstruation

Shortly before the start of menstruation, the female body begins to actively prepare for the possible fertilization of the egg and its further implantation into the body of the uterus. In this regard, the amount of a special hormone - progesterone, which is responsible for these processes, increases in the blood of girls and women.

The inner layer of the uterine body is lined with endometrium, which will loosen and be rejected if conception does not occur. The active construction of new cells requires increased blood circulation, which progesterone provides by dilating blood vessels. This may partly explain the low blood pressure during menstruation observed in many girls. In addition, low blood pressure during the period of regulation can also be provoked by women themselves if:

• trying to reduce the pain of menstruation with drugs with antispasmodic effects, most of which have a hypotensive effect;
• do not limit themselves in physical activity, continuing to go to training or dancing even on “critical days”, which contributes to increased bleeding;
• ignore the symptoms of gynecological pathologies that affect the intensity of menstruation (fibroids, endometriosis, etc.);
• they eat irrationally, causing a deficiency of proteins, fats and vitamins, as well as microelements such as iron, which also contributes to increased bleeding.

The fact that heavy bleeding provokes a drop in blood pressure has been said more than once.

In order not to add unnecessary symptoms to an already not very rosy state during menstruation, women should remember a few simple rules:

• to escape from pain not with antispasmodics, but with analgesics or NSAIDs (for example, Ibuprofen);
• eat well;
• keep the level of iron in the blood under control and, if necessary, take preparations of this microelement;
• If you have heavy and painful periods, take a weekend or a day off and try to spend most of this time lying on your stomach.

Sudden changes in pressure associated with the menstrual cycle are often accompanied by dizziness, nausea, vomiting and darkening of the eyes, which creates a risk of fainting. Therefore, following the above rules will help avoid the development of health-threatening symptoms.

Useful video

From the following video you can learn useful information on how to choose the right tonometer for measuring blood pressure:

Conclusion

1. Pressure below 100 to 70 mmHg is considered low.
2. Symptoms of low blood pressure can manifest themselves in different ways and depend on the causes that triggered them.
3. If low blood pressure occurs with pronounced symptoms, the hypotensive person should learn not to provoke a sharp drop in blood pressure.
4. You should not try to independently determine the fact of low blood pressure based on symptoms and self-medicate on this basis. If you have low blood pressure that causes discomfort, you should consult a doctor.