The body of a person contains a network of various blood vessels, which consists of veins, arteries, and capillaries. The heart pumps out blood in arteries to carry blood in the entire body. Blood pressure thus constitutes the force of blood or pressure to push against the arteries’ walls.
How Common Is Orthostatic Hypotension Or Is It A Rare Disease?
Orthostatic hypotension involves the condition, where the drop in one’s blood pressure goes beyond 20mm Hg mercury in the systolic blood pressure. Besides, the condition makes diastolic blood pressure to go down beyond 10mm HG or mercury within only 3 minutes on standing from sitting position. Alternatively, a person deals with orthostatic hypotension experiences a significant drop in both diastolic and systolic blood pressure within only a few minutes he or she reaches to supine i.e. face-up position from lying down. Also, orthostatic hypotension problems may take place in many ways.
However, the positive thing is that most of the conditions are rare. Especially, neurogenic type of orthostatic hypotension is a rare subtype and it takes place because of underlying neurologic disorders, which affect only a part of a person’s autonomic nervous system. Here, the autonomic nerve is a part of a person’s nervous system, which regulates specific involuntary physical functions. These are blood pressure, heart rate, sweating, bladder and bowel controls.
On the other side, if a person has problems related to inner ears, he or she experiences orthostatic hypotension or orthostatic dizziness. According to the statistics, dizziness symptoms in these people may range from only 4.4% to 5.8%.(3)(4)
Doctors mainly write blood pressure as two different numbers i.e. 120mm mercury and 80mm mercury. Here, 120mm is the systolic pressure i.e. the pressure of your arteries, whenever your heart beats and fills with blood. On the other side, 80mm is the diastolic pressure i.e. the pressure of your arteries, whenever your heart rests between the two heartbeats. If a person suffers from orthostatic hypotension, his or her blood pressure falls whenever the person stands up quickly, as hypotension refers to the condition of low blood pressure.(1)
Symptoms Of Orthostatic Hypotension
Whenever your brain fails to get enough blood supply, it starts shutting down. Common symptoms, in this case, include confusion, lightheadedness, fainting, nausea or passing out. Also, an infected person may suffer from blurred vision, weakness, tremulousness and shaking. Most of the time, symptoms resolve in no time as the body adjusts to a standing position slowly. However, in some of the cases, a patient has to lie down or sit quickly to avoid falling or passing out.(2)
Conclusion
To conclude, we should say that most of the types of orthostatic hypotension are rare problems. However, if a person has inner ear disturbances, orthostatic hypotension or orthostatic dizziness in him/her becomes common.
Also Read:
- What is Postural Hypotension & How is it Treated?
- What Is Hypotension?|Conditions That Can Result In Hypotension
- What Neurological Disorders Cause Low Blood Pressure?
- Can You Get Lightheaded From High Blood Pressure?
- Best Exercises Or Activities For Orthostatic Hypotension
- Home Remedies For Orthostatic Hypotension & Is It A Disability?