Low Blood Pressure Treatment

 
If you have low blood pressure, or hypotension, it's important to work with your doctor. Usually, low blood pressure is caused by some other disorder that needs treatment.

Here are some of the most common.

Dehydration can occur for a number of reasons. If you exercise too much or too long without water breaks, your fluid levels will drop. At a certain point, your blood pressure will drop with it. Make sure you stay well hydrated when exercising. 

Stomach flu, or gastroenteritis, is another cause of dehydration that's easily overlooked. Diarrhea and vomiting rob your body of fluids. If you have the stomach flu (also commonly called "stomach virus") be especially careful standing up too quickly because of a condition called orthostatic hypotension. This condition, also called postural hypotension, occurs when blood drains from your brain as you stand up. Symptoms are dizziness and lightheadedness. You could easily faint and fall, injuring yourself.

Heart rate problems require your doctor's help. A low heart rate is a common cause of hypotension.  When your heart doesn't pump fast enough, your organs and tissues don't get enough of the oxygen and nutrients they need. Bradycardia is the medical term for a low heart rate.

Low blood pressure can also be caused by other heart trouble like valve problems, heart attack and heart failure. Once again, if you have any of these health challenges, you're probably already be working on low blood pressure as part of the treatment.

If you are taking medications, you may also need to work with your doctor on alternatives or dosage adjustments. A number of medications are connected to low blood pressure, especially diuretics. The same is true for alpha blockers, which are typically used to treat high blood pressure and prostate problems. Another class of medications, known as beta blockers may also bring blood pressure down. Beta blockers are commonly used for hypertension, migraines and glaucoma.

Drugs for Parkinson's disease, depression and erectile dysfunction may also cause low blood pressure. Talk to your doctor.

Certain medications are believed to help prevent orthostatic hypotension. These include fludrocortisone and midodrine. But there's no drug on the market at the moment that is specifically designed as a treatment for low blood pressure. This is because low blood pressure is usually caused by some other disorder. To increase blood pressure, you have to treat the underlying cause.

Disorders that affect your endocrine system often cause low blood pressure. These typically include both hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid) and hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid). In addition to thyroid problems, hypotension can be brought on by Addison's disease, hypoglycemia and diabetes.

This is another instance where you'll need your doctor's help to treat your low blood pressure.

Self help low blood pressure treatment

Happily, there are also a number of lifestyle options and home remedies available that help prevent your blood pressure from dropping too low. You can do these yourself.

Make sure you're getting enough vitamin B-12 and folate. Without these, you may develop anemia, which lowers blood pressure.

Also make sure your diet includes enough salt. This is counterintuitive for most people because they've heard for years that salt is bad for blood pressure. It's true that too much salt causes high blood pressure. But it's also true that too little salt causes low blood pressure. Learn to strike a healthy balance.

If you don't like table salt, try flavoring your food with soy sauce, which is loaded with sodium.

It also helps to keep down your alcohol consumption. Alcohol dehydrates you, even if you only drink in moderation.

Finally, you might try wearing compression stockings. These prevent blood from pooling in your legs, thereby promoting circulation and normal blood pressure.

Our article on low blood pressure causes gives you more information on types of medications that are likely to lower blood pressure. Also see our article on orthostatic hypertension.