Do Not Want: Evening Light-headedness

[netmouse]

On Monday my blood pressure clocked in at 84/56. We took it again. 96/54. Definitely lower than normal for me. The comment was that this could be due to dehydration: my blood supply has now increased by 45 to 50%; I need to drink more water.

I'm trying, I really am. In the meantime, every night since then I've started to feel positively woozy, and it's not a sensation that I particularly like. In fact, I don't like it one bit. Moving around more helps. Eating and drinking help but only a little bit. I really feel not-well in this condition. Advice is welcome.

Comments

[stfg.livejournal.com]

Hi there - I'm a lurker reading friends' friends lists and also a family practice doctor. I would recommend eating something salty, which causes you to retain fluid and raises your blood pressure.

Hope you feel better!

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

Thanks for chiming in! I usually shop and cook low sodium because my husband has high blood pressure, then add salt to taste in my own food. I'll get some more salty things just for me.

Will this make it more likely for my feet to swell up though?

[(Anonymous)]

Salt does make you retain fluid, so yes, it will make your ankles swell if you retain enough of the fluid. However, before that happens, your blood pressure will go up. It's all about finding a happy medium :)

The folks suggesting Gatorade are totally right too. It's another way of getting salt plus fluid in you. (electrolytes = salt)

[stfg.livejournal.com]

I just sent you an anonymous comment, but it was me.

[vylar-kaftan.livejournal.com]

I don't know about pregnancy, but when I get dehydrated from my medical conditions, the best way to rehydrate is Gatorade or Pedialyte. Try drinking some of those and see if they rebalance you better. Water sometimes dehydrates me more when I overdo it.

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

nod, ok, I'll try that. I know sometimes if I get dehydrated and don't eat, water just starts running through me and definitely leaves me worse off until I eat something. This might be related.

[vylar-kaftan.livejournal.com]

Yes, "running through me" is a perfect way to put it. Your body needs the electrolytes to absorb. So if the balance is off, your body can't absorb the Gatorade.

On another note, my mom eats low-sodium, and my dad used to eat that way with her. Then he got terrible leg cramps. Doctor said it was sodium deficiency(?) I forget... Anyway, doc told him to eat salty lunch meat on his sandwiches. That was plenty to fix him up.

[zoethe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a lot of people don't realize that low sodium diets are for people who have a defined problem with sodium like high blood pressure. For many of us it's a necessary nutrient. (Within reason, as will all things!)

[vylar-kaftan.livejournal.com]

I meant, can't absorb the water. I don't know why I said Gatorade. :)

Gatorade is easier to absorb when you are dehydrated. There.

[alicebentley]

I second the Gatorade comment - it's one of the only times in my life that I found the stuff tasty, but it was like my body was saying Thank You!

I was really good about drinking lots of water while pregnant, but it was the electrolite-stuffed sugar water that helped the woozies.

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

hrm. I usually can't stand the stuff, but I'll give it a try. Thanks!

[vylar-kaftan.livejournal.com]

If Gatorade tastes good, your body is telling you that you need it.

Some flavors are better than others. I like the ice lime and the orange flavors. Lemonade is pretty good. The blue flavors are nasty.

[shadowriderhope.livejournal.com]

One downside of Gatorade and similar drinks is that they're usually also very high in sugar, which really isn't needed unless your blood sugar is also low, so they can pack a lot of unnecessary calories. My favorite thing for electrolytes is made by Camelbak, called Elixir - they're basically effervescing tablets that you put into water and they make 24 oz of electrolyte replacement fluid (tasty lemon-lime flavor, too!) that doesn't contain a ton of sugar.

Bottom line, though, is to talk to your doc, though I'm sure that's what you're doing. :)

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

Cool. I went to Indigo Forest and asked for advice and ended up with some little packets made by the people who make emergen-C that look very similar and have electrolytes in them but not all the sugar. I also hit whole foods and got a couple of things to try, like their electrolyte water and Essentia, which is also electrolyte water.

Good news: no wooziness last night.

I also got some pregnancy tea at Indigo Forest, which I'd been needing anyway. :)

[zoethe.livejournal.com]

Thirding the Gatorade. Particularly if you don't have air conditioning. Drinking lots of plain water when you are perspiring can mess up your electrolytes and that's not good for you or the squirt. Lightheadedness is a symptom of low blood potassium and other minerals that are readily replaced by Gatorade.

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

So noted, thanks!

[zoethe.livejournal.com]

Also try eating bananas and peanut butter if you simply can't keep Gatorade down.

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

I already eat Bananas and peanut butter pretty frequently, especially bananas. I suspect this is more a salt issue than a potassium one.

[zoethe.livejournal.com]

Could well be, then.

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

Banana and milk smoothies?

Try to mix up your liquids avoiding the diuretics like tea.

Foods with lots of liquids in them like fruits help you absord the fluid slower.

Sodium in general raises your blood pressure I notice there is a lot in my processed breakfast cereal.

Gerosteiner wonder water +rambles

[(Anonymous)]

Gerosteiner water from Germany was a huge help with both my 'morning' sickness and low blood pressure dizziness. It is so much tastier than filtered when you are drinking a half gallon a day. The easily absorbable calcium is a plus.(yes I know that transporting water so far is horribly inefficient but it is worth it in this case.)I can not stand gatorade so that is the rehydration choice of last resort. Herbal teas did not seem to leave me as blah as just H20.If you do not mind the taste an occasional hard boiled egg with salt an hour before your lightheadedness sets in might help. Salt+ protein+ something to drink= less dizzy for me.

Before my first pregnancy I had chronic low fluid balance which led to the dizzies and graying out way too much and other fun symptoms. After several MD/DO/neurologists and a MS & lupus scare I was told to eat more lox,pickles& black olives. It worked! I learned to cook low salt because my dad had major heart issues but I did not need that diet.