Hypotension

The dangers of Hypertension, or High Blood Pressure, are fairly generally understood, but Hypotension or Low Blood Pressure can also be accompanied by undesirable symptoms, but not always. Temporary Low Blood Pressure can be brought about by something as simple as dehydration from too much sun.
A Systolic (the pressure of blood vessels when the heart is pumping blood through the arteries) measure of less than 90 and a diastolic (when the heart is relaxed in between beats) measure of less than 60 are generally considered abnormally low readings.
Low Blood Pressure can be accompanied by the following adverse symptoms: Dizziness, an inability to concentrate, nausea, fatigue, blurry vision. Very low Blood Pressure can result in conditions of shock. Symptoms that are manifested include rapid and shallow breathing, a weak pulse, a cold and clammy skin and mental confusion. These are signs of extreme danger and medical attention should be urgently sought if the symptoms are experienced.
Many people can have what would normally be considered Low Blood Pressure without considering any adverse side effects. In such cases doctors tend to just monitor people carefully, but not take any remedial action unless some of these symptoms start to present themselves.

Treatments

Hypotension is also referred to as low blood pressure and because of the different number of things that may cause it then treatments can be varied but the majority of them do not involve medication just simple adjustments to lifestyle or techniques to assist with reducing the effects of hypotension.

Some medications can be the cause of hypotension and if this is the case then your medical practitioner may look at changing or reducing your medication to deal with your low blood pressure.

Lifestyle

Simple treatments that may be suggested to help with low blood pressure can be things like wearing support stockings as this will increase blood pressure and improve circulation or increasing the amount of salt in your diet.

As the main symptom of hypotension is dizziness then treatment takes the form of adjustments or techniques to prevent or lessen the impact of being light-headed. This can be something like drinking more non-alcoholic drinks, especially when it is hot or you are unwell and limiting alcoholic drinks or eating smaller meals at more frequent times.

Adjusting how you behave physically such as not standing still in one place for long periods of time, avoiding heavy lifting or when you are getting out of bed moving to a sitting position first and resting there for a while before standing up. Or if you are getting up out of a chair move your feet and ankles about first to get the blood pumping before you then stand. These quite basic techniques can be really helpful in getting the blood flowing around and increasing the pressure and therefore stopping the light-headedness happening from suddenly moving to an upright position.

Exercise

Overall improving your physical movement through regular exercise is a very good treatment for hypotension as any form of exercise improves blood flow and hence raises blood pressure but, it is as well to bear in mind the techniques suggested above when exercising to cut down on any bouts of dizziness.

Medication

If medications do need to be prescribed to treat hypotension then the most commonly used ones are Fludrocortisone which works in the body to promote fluid retention which in turn improves blood pressure but as this can lessen the amount of potassium in your system you will need to make sure you increase potassium in your diet. The other medication is Midodrine and this works by working on the receptors in the tiniest arteries of your body and make blood pressure increase.

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