Blood Pressure

I just had a single lead pacemaker placed for bradycardia. My preop pulse was consistently in the mid to low 30's. I am 68 yrs of age and have exercised heavily all of my life (running, triathlons etc.) . I noticed immediately after it was placed a dramatic spike in my BP. I have never taken any BP meds in my life. I asked the cardiologist about it prior to being discharged and he said he had placed over 2500 of them and never seen it alter BP.He said not to worry about and he would check it at my post op visit next week. My BP after my first post-op walk was 163/103!! I went into the ER and they started me on Norvasc 10 mg which has brought it back to normal. Has anyone else out there in pacemaker land had this experience???

3 Comments

No info in bio

by Theknotguy - 2016-01-09 03:01:53

You don't say when you got your PM. No info in your bio so no help there either.

Same as BetsyQ I had higher BP post PM. For once in my life I was getting a regular, strong heartbeat. Body wasn't accustomed to that. They also had me checking my BP twice a day which was a mistake. You start fixating on the numbers. Got so upset about the BP numbers that I talked myself into the hospital. No one dies from embarrassment but I sure felt stupid when the ER doctor explained the facts of life to me. When I got back home I got rid of the BP stuff. Within a few weeks the BP settled down as the body adjusted.

Since yours got so high, you may want to continue to check it. You may have a secondary problem. Just because you haven't had high BP before doesn't mean you can't get it now.

Hope everything else goes well for you.

Heart rate and blood pressure

by Selwyn - 2016-01-09 04:01:47

BP = CO X PR

CO= HR X SV so, BP= HR X CO X SV X PR

Off the top of my head this is what I remember of the physiology

BP is blood pressure
CO is cardiac output
PR is peripheral resistance.
HR is heart rate
SV is stroke volume of the heart

ie. if your heart rate increases your blood pressure increases unless peripheral resistance is reduced.
Peripheral resistance relates to the narrowing or expansion of the hole the blood is pumped through, and the viscosity of the blood.

If your heart rate is low, your blood pressure is low ( beta blocking drugs lower blood pressure in this way), other things being equal, and vice versa.


Selwyn

Yes

by BetsyQ - 2016-01-09 07:01:19

I had my pm implanted in July 2015. I have always had very low BP. 90/50 was normal and 80/40 was not unusual. After surgery, for several months, it fluctuated up and down reaching 165/106 at one time. Now I'm back to my normal low numbers. I was never given medication for it and was told the spiking was probably from the stress of the surgery and a rather difficult recovery. I had ended up in the hospital for several days post implant for some complications. My advice would be to give it time and make sure to check it frequently to make sure the medication doesn't lower it too much.

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