blood pressure & pulse?

[GoingNowhere]

I went to donate blood again today and was turned away for the first time because of a slightly low hemoglobin count. I've been 6 times before without issues, so today was a first. Anyhow, what worried me more was that the nurse took my blood pressure and it came out to 80/60. She said it was the lowest she'd ever seen for someone coming to donate blood. Anyhow, because my hemoglobin was too low on the first try, another nurse came in to retake my hemoglobin. I asked her to recheck my blood pressure as well and she told me that she was getting a value of ~90/60. Either way, it's lower than it's ever been. It's typically low-normal, but still within the "normal" range. Today when I got home, I looked at the blood pressure chart and I'm borderline for hypotension.

I get orthostatic hypotension sometimes when I stand up (my vision goes black for a second or two), but I've never passed out because of it.

My pulse was 58 at the blood clinic. I just took it again myself and got 58 again.


Anybody else here have chronically low blood pressure?

 

[~Jessie~]

My blood pressure is low, but not hypotension low. It's normally 90/60.

I've never donated blood because I ALWAYS have terrible experiences having blood drawn. My veins are tiny, and it takes forever for them to even get a small amount of blood from me.

I've talked to my doctor a couple of times about my blood pressure, and they always say that nothing can be done unless there are symptoms.

I'm not sure what my pulse is, though. I'll have to check it later.

 

[~Jessie~]

I just took my pulse and it's 62.

 

[Kilter]

Pulse can be anywhere from 50-100 depending - the better in shape you are and if you're calm, it'll be lower, if you aren't in good shape and or are running it goes up. Adapts to what's needed.

If your BP is low and you have issues, get it checked out and make sure all is well. Not sure what the low BP issues are if any.

I have high BP - as in it was 205/150 or so at one point in the doctor's office. I felt fine, was active and hiking all weekend before finding out there was a concern. I got sent home, but my family doctor was mad they didn't admit me at the time or give me medication on the spot.

Now adjusting to it and it's normal, but I'm on a high dose of stuff with side effects. And thanks to having more tests, know that my kidneys are working fine, that most of the other organs are fine, but I have fatty liver syndrome - not a huge issue if it goes away but it's the start of worse issues if it doesn't. And gallstones.

Hoping as I finish loosing weight the liver resolves, my meds can go down and the gallstones behave.

 

[stardogs]

My regular BP is around 106/60, pulse around 60s-70s. My doctors have never been concerned. My dad's BP is close to mine, but his resting HR is in the 50s - doctors think it's awesome. The lower your resting pulse the better usually - my dad's is similar to that of a marathon runner apparently.

 

[xpaeanx]

If you are having issues with it, go to your doctor. If you are not having issues, next time you are in there just ask him about it.

I have low blood pressure and I prefer it to high blood pressure. lol. plus, when I am feeling a little too tired or sluggish, 1 cup of coffee helps increase my BP and keeps me awake. lol.

 

[Doberluv]

As long as you're not having issues, like fainting or dizziness, weakness etc, low blood pressure and pulse is good.

 

[milos_mommy]

Yep, my blood pressure normally runs about 90/60, but pretty frequently drops even lower (80s/60).

I've fainted a few times because of it. Drinking tons and tons of water and eating some salt helps.

I think some of you checking your pulse at home are probably not doing it totally accurately (it's hard to do!). Between 60-100 is normal, I don't know about 50s, I know that's considered normal range but don't know if it's dangerous.

My pulse is usually somewhere around the 70s - I just checked it with a (possibly fairly inaccurate) heart rate monitor, and it was 80.

 

[GoingNowhere]

interesting! Yeah, I'm tired pretty frequently, even with regular amounts of sleep, but I was already aware that I don't drink nearly enough water. It's changing that that is proving to be the hard part. Otherwise, I feel pretty good I guess upping my water consumption would be a good place to start

I've never had a problem checking my pulse on my own. Using the throat or wrist gives a pretty good "beat" of the pulse. Set a timer and count the beats! It's what the nurses at the donation centers do as well, so it can't be too inaccurate.

 

[CharlieDog]

Mine is normally low. I'm frequently 105/60. My resting heart rate is anywhere from 65 to 85 or so. Just depends on how much caffeine I've had though. I can't give blood because I don't weigh enough for my height. They won't take it, lol.

 

[Red.Apricot]

Mine is very low--80/60 isn't uncommon. I do faint when I stand up frequently, and it sucks. I'd talk to your doctor about it.

 

[milos_mommy]

Mine is normally low. I'm frequently 105/60.

That's considered low?!?!? I thought that was like, perfect. I get really excited when my blood pressure is around there.

 

[Doberluv]

120/80 is considered an average normal. But there's a range. And it fluctuates throughout the day or over longer periods. So, you can't really just take in once in a great while. You have to take it often to see a trend. If the trend for you is to have say...110/70 or thereabouts, then it goes up to 130/90 or so and stays like that for a long time, it's something to watch, although that is still close to average normal for most people. If someone is always at 130/90, it might not mean a red flag that it's going to go up even more into the pre-hypertension range. Of course, that's all within reason. Hi blood pressure is high blood pressure no matter what someone normally is....if it's too high. Higher than around 140/90 and it's getting up there.

I got dehydrated last year....or that's the suspicion anyhow. And mine dropped to 60/ something. I forget now exactly. I passed out and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. It was so low that they said if it had dropped about 10 points, I would have gone into a coma because I had almost no blood pressure at all. I felt like crap. IV fluids and an hour or so later, I was fine. I was checked for stroke and had an MRI because they weren't sure why this happened. But it was most likely a combination of things, dehydration being the most likely influential cause.

But if your blood pressure is rather low....110 or 100 over whatever (usually about 40 points) and you don't have any symptoms, that's a good thing. It means your heart isn't working so hard and your arteries are not being over taxed by all that pressure etc. I usually have much lower when I'm consistently exercising a lot and when I'm at a decent weight. Smoking also makes it go higher.