Low blood pressure after a heart attack: what to do

According to statistics, it is a heart attack that in most cases causes the death of a patient with pathology of the cardiovascular system. People who have suffered an attack very often turn to doctors with the problem of low blood pressure. This condition is caused by poor circulation in the body. Thus, after a heart attack, the coronary vessels lose their former elasticity, so the pressure must be constantly monitored, measured regularly and, in case of unforeseen situations, seek qualified medical help. Read more in this article about the dangers of low blood pressure after a heart attack, what to do, what measures to take first, and what prevention is.

General information about the disease

For every thousand men, on average, up to five are affected by myocardial infarction.
For women, the indicator is slightly lower - necrosis of the heart muscle occurs in one in a thousand representatives of the fair sex. The disease most often provokes the appearance of a blood clot in the coronary artery. In addition, among the reasons are:

arterial spasm;
arterial dissection;
entry of foreign bodies into the artery.

In some cases, stressful situations or disproportionate physical activity lead to the disease.

Low blood pressure after a heart attack

1 What to do if you have low blood pressure
2 Complications
3 Treatment
4 Conclusion

This condition is caused by poor circulation in the body. Thus, after a heart attack, the coronary vessels lose their former elasticity, so the pressure must be constantly monitored, measured regularly and, in case of unforeseen situations, seek qualified medical help.

Read more in this article about the dangers of low blood pressure after a heart attack, what to do, what measures to take first, and what prevention is.

What to do if you have low blood pressure

This condition occurs quite often, therefore, after an attack, doctors often recommend that their patients engage in intense physical activity, limit themselves from negative emotional influences, shocks, and eliminate stress factors.

If such measures do not help, then you need to call an ambulance. In order to prevent such attacks in the future, you need to follow a certain nutritional system.

Patients who have had a myocardial infarction may notice that from time to time their blood pressure drops from normal, especially in the postoperative period.

The reason for this is improper blood circulation, which is caused by narrowing of the coronary arteries, depending on the type of myocardial infarction, as well as loss of vascular elasticity. This condition is called decapitated hypertension.

Read: Nutrition after myocardial infarction

The post-infarction state of a person, even after a series of physiological and drug therapy procedures, cannot be completely identical to the patient’s condition before the heart attack.

Usually, with low pressure, a patient who has had a heart attack experiences persistent general weakness, dizziness, yawning, cold extremities, a slow or rapid heartbeat; such a prolonged condition can lead to a recurrence of the heart attack.

If low blood pressure is regular, then you need to consult your doctor; perhaps medications duplicate their properties and lower your blood pressure.

Read: Can I drink after a heart attack?

Help with low blood pressure

As is known, excessive physical and psychological stress is prohibited for patients who have suffered a myocardial infarction. Low blood pressure may indicate that the patient is not adhering to the physical activity restrictions prescribed by the doctor.

During an attack of low blood pressure, you should take a horizontal position and drink hot tea or coffee with sugar. If your blood sugar is high, you can drink medications containing ginseng extract, so the heart and circulatory system will equalize the pressure to normal.

Read: How long do you live after a heart attack?

Medicine offers several treatment options for those who have experienced myocardial infarction. But effective methods for preventing this disease have not yet been invented.

There are several methods of prevention that show greater or lesser effectiveness, which depends on a number of factors, including the individual characteristics of the human body. Usually it all comes down to a healthy lifestyle and physical activity (jogging, exercise, swimming).

During a heart attack, it is important to exclude physical and psychological stress. If the symptoms described above are present, you should consult a doctor and report your serious condition. The doctor will probably change the prescribed course of therapy.

Low blood pressure is considered to be pressure below 100/60 mm Hg. Art.

The main symptoms of low blood pressure are drowsiness, weakness, and dizziness. To increase it, you can drink a cup of strong tea or coffee.

If the described complaints persist for several days against the background of low blood pressure, that is, excluding other possible causes for the appearance of the above symptoms, such as changes in weather, colds, overwork, it is necessary to consider the issue of adjusting therapy.

You need to understand that the same symptoms can develop in patients whose blood pressure has normalized, for example to 120.80 mm Hg. Art. after long-standing figures of 170-180 mm Hg.

Art. In this case, you must understand that this condition is temporary and some time is needed for the cardiovascular system to adapt to new conditions. Unfortunately, many patients are afraid of such symptoms and believe that this pressure is low for them, as a result they stop taking medications, thereby dooming themselves to the development of complications of hypertension.

Systolic (“upper”) pressure below 60 mm Hg is considered dangerous. With such pressure, urine filtration in the kidneys stops and kidney failure may develop, not to mention a decrease in oxygen supply to the brain and heart; in such cases, an ambulance must be called.

In conclusion, it must be said that especially for young women who do not have sufficient physical activity, low blood pressure is very common. And in such cases, playing sports has a very beneficial effect on this situation. In addition, you can use preparations containing Ginseng, they tone up and can somewhat normalize blood pressure.

What to do if you have low blood pressure

The first thing to do when experiencing an attack of low blood pressure is to lie down for a while (the body should take a horizontal position), and then drink a mug of sweet coffee or tea. It is recommended to prepare a ginseng decoction. If such measures do not help, then you need to call an ambulance. In order to prevent such attacks in the future, you need to follow a certain nutritional system.

The main symptoms of low blood pressure include the following:

frequent headaches (pulsating tremors mainly in the back of the head and temples);
feeling of lethargy, fatigue, constant drowsiness;
feeling of nausea in the morning, sometimes vomiting;
disturbing chest pain (caused by decreased vascular tone).

Also, the main symptoms of low blood pressure after a heart attack include weather dependence and psychological problems. The person becomes irritable, is bothered by constant mood swings, and has memory problems. Against this background, the patient often develops depression.

The patient's condition may deteriorate sharply due to a sudden change in weather conditions. Magnetic storms also have a strong impact on health. As noted earlier, the patient after a heart attack is in a state of constant fatigue. Thus, by the end of the working day, even if the work is not exhausting and does not involve heavy loads, a person feels very exhausted mentally and physically.

Less noticeable symptoms of low blood pressure include a persistent feeling of lack of air, which manifests itself in the fact that a person yawns very often. Hypotension also affects the limbs. They often go numb and show increased sensitivity to low temperatures.

How to suspect?

A heart attack with low pressure is accompanied by sternal pain, the duration of which is from a quarter to a third of an hour. The sensations do not go away even if the patient takes nitroglycerin. Many said that they were haunted by the fear of death.

In some cases, the pain seems to be bursting from the inside, while others say that the sensations are squeezing. In any case, the pain is burning and acute. The pain radiates to the jaw, arms, and neck. In some cases, the epigastric part is affected. But sometimes there is no pain at all. This happens in almost a quarter of all cases known to medicine.

What is the pressure during myocardial infarction?

Many patients who have had a myocardial infarction notice a frequent decrease in blood pressure after it. This condition is especially often observed after any interventions on the myocardium.

The main reason that patients experience low blood pressure after a heart attack is impaired blood circulation caused by pathological narrowing of the coronary vessels and loss of their elasticity.

In the language of specialists, such a condition sounds like decapitated hypertension.

Attention! A frequent decrease in blood pressure is fraught with enlargement of the heart, arrhythmic disorders, increased swelling of the legs, and renal failure.

The twenty-fourth annual meeting of the Scientific Association of Hypertension suggested that low blood pressure increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. The study was based on data examining the positive effects of aggressively lowering LDL cholesterol.

To summarize the above, we can say that during a heart attack:

at first the pressure is higher than normal;
on days 2-3 it decreases to levels below normal;
remains low for a long period (all life).

A repeated sharp increase in pressure may indicate a secondary heart attack.

If you have a blood pressure of 140/90 or higher, then the risk of developing the disease is significantly higher than in people whose blood pressure is within the normal human norm.

If your daily blood pressure is below normal or within normal limits, readings exceeding 140/90 may already indicate a myocardial infarction.

So, what is the pressure during a heart attack? From 140/90 and above.

Complications

Low blood pressure is very dangerous if systolic pressure drops below sixty millimeters of mercury. This is an alarm bell because in most cases it leads to a sudden loss of consciousness. This condition is explained by the fact that after a heart attack, blood vessels lose their former elasticity, and this negatively affects blood circulation, and therefore the required dose of oxygen does not reach the brain.

Low blood pressure can also affect kidney function. Over time, they cease to perform one of the most important functions - filtering urine, and then they may stop working altogether.

Against the background of hypotension, the patient often experiences an enlarged heart. In addition, patients often complain that their limbs are swollen and their normal heart rhythm is disturbed. This condition is extremely dangerous, so a person should immediately consult a doctor to bring the body’s condition back to normal.

To prevent low blood pressure, most experts advise their patients to undergo a course of treatment sessions in a pressure chamber. Thus, the level of oxygen and blood pressure in the body quickly normalizes, and the patient’s immunity gradually strengthens.

What's first?

In most cases, in the first stages of development, the pressure during a heart attack in women rises to 140, but soon changes to low. The indicators show a sharp decrease on the second or third day of a heart attack, but never reach normal values. The most common diagnosis is pathologically low blood pressure.

If studies have shown a large-focal infarction, the pressure decreases sharply due to the fact that the resistance system in the vascular system is disrupted. In addition, disruptions in the functioning of the cardiohemodynamic system are observed.

What should you pay attention to?

Pressure during a heart attack is not the only sign that allows you to suspect the disease. In addition, doctors recommend urgently seeking specialized help if you notice:

noise in ears;
lack of air;
rapid heartbeat;
shortness of breath;
spots, double vision;
pulsates in temples;
face is burning.

But if all the listed symptoms are present, and the pressure is normal, it is too early to calm down. It is likely that peripheral pressure and cardiac output balance blood pressure, however, myocardial infarction exists. Don’t delay seeing a doctor: it’s always better to be overcautious than undersafe.

Treatment

Currently, there are quite a large number of methods for treating symptoms of post-infarction conditions. Therapy will directly depend on the patient’s method and living/working conditions.

First of all, doctors recommend gradually reducing stress, both physical and psychological. If daily work is too exhausting and in the past has led to severe stress and overwork, then the doctor will most likely recommend transferring to another position (less exhausting) or changing your occupation altogether.

As noted earlier, during attacks a person must independently help himself: take a horizontal position and try to relax. Sweet tea and coffee will help bring your blood pressure back to normal.

In the case when a patient exhibits symptoms of a post-infarction condition constantly, this means that he does not follow certain instructions from the attending physician.

Doctors recommend regularly measuring and monitoring your blood pressure. Too frequent and systematic decrease indicates that a second attack is already close.

Modern treatment methods involve the use of blood ozonation procedures. Such therapy is carried out only with the permission of the attending physician and consists of introducing saline solutions containing ozone into the body through droppers.

This technique can achieve normalization of metabolic processes in the body, cleanse it of waste, toxins and other harmful substances, and also strengthen the immune system. In addition, such a procedure promotes overall health and serves as an excellent prevention of colds. After the procedures, there is a noticeable improvement in the psycho-emotional state. The patient becomes less irritable, and against this background he is less and less tormented by insomnia and stress.