Increase in blood pressure

Hello
I’m new and on 11/30 I had pacemaker surgery for treatment for a long history with Bradycardia. Since my surgery my blood pressure has rose to an average of 140/110. In the past it was 110/65. Has anyone experienced this? I do take blood pressure medications on a daily basis.

Thanks,
Greg

8 Comments

Increase in blood pressure

by gvanscoot - 2010-12-04 08:12:07

Frank/Pookie thanks for your responses. I agree the reading at the doctors office is often misleading and they will even tell you that. I purchased a machine back when I was diagnosed with Bradycardia. On a daily basis I would check my vitals.

Thanks Again,
Greg

Increase in blood pressure

by gvanscoot - 2010-12-04 08:12:59

Smitty,

Thanks for your feedback. I had a visit with my PCP this morning she indicated this was normal in the first few weeks. What a relief ! I'm amazed that every time I do a test my heart rate is exactly 60 BPM. Now we are getting some where after dealing with this for many years. Thanks again and hope we can chat again.

Greg

Blood Pressure Readings

by Pookie - 2010-12-04 12:12:07

Frank has a point. Sometimes our BP will rise and the doctor's call it "white coat syndrome"....meaning we get a little nervous when we see a doctor in their white jackets.

Funny.....in my Neurologists office (not in my Cardiologist's office) there is this HUGE poster on how to take blood pressure properly and the first thing on this poster is: the patient is to sit comfortably and very quiet for 5 minutes before they take your BP. Also the height & positioning of your arm is important, and like Frank said, some nurses take it right over your sleeve!!!!!!! Obviously if it is taken incorrectly, your readings are going to be off.

I bought my father a really good Blood Pressure machine so he can take it at home and I had my family doctor check it out...and she said it was very accurate. With the machine came a booklet and it goes over the PROPER way in which it should be done and I certainly agree with Frank....most of the time the medical staff is in such a rush....that how can it possibly be correct.

Do a little research and next time you will see exactly how it should be done properly.

take care,
Pookie

Increased BP

by ElectricFrank - 2010-12-04 12:12:12

Speeding up the heart pumps more blood and can increase BP.Are you measuring your BP yourself or depending on the doctors office to do it. Their readings are generally on the high side and not very reliable. A nurse rushes you through checking your weight, hurrying to the examining room, answering questions, and then taking BP through a shirt sleeve. The whole procedure is useless.

frank

BP Increase

by SMITTY - 2010-12-04 12:12:45

Greg,

I don't take my BP very often so I don't know if mine went up with my PM implant or not. But like Frank said, if the PM increased your heart rate it increased you blood flow so it stands to reason your BP will go up. I know increasing flow through the same blood vessels is the same as increasing any liquid flow thorough a pipe, it you will increase pressure in that pipe.

However, from what I have heard people say, you may find that the BP will return to something more like what you are used to seeing after a few weeks. I have seen people talk about theirs doing this and the only thing I can think of to account for this is some blood vessels stretch, or increase in size a little to accommodate the increased blood flow.

Reading the comments on your question got me to thinking about just what are these numbers we are reading as blood pressure. Now I know it was the pressure it takes to stop blood flow, or the pressure at which blood will start to flow again through the blood vessel being monitored, expressed in MM Hg (millimeters of Mercury). If you are like me you have always thought of pressure in terms of lbs. per sq. in. (PSI). Of course tAhe one we are most familiar with is tire pressure which is most often in the 30 psi range. So I decided to see if our BP was expressed as psi what would our numbers be.

What I found is a BP of 120/70 MM Hg would be 2.3/1.35 psi, or for a BP reading of 200/100 (MM Hg) the reading would be 3.87/1.93 (psi). I guess using MM Hg to tell us our BP allows more emphasis to be placed on the BP reading. At least I think a BP of 200/100 would get my attention quicker than one of 3.87/1.93.

Smitty

PS: See what a dull Saturday morning can get you.

Learning our BP Pattterns

by ElectricFrank - 2010-12-05 01:12:29

I have one of the Omron finger type BP instruments. The docs don't like them and consider them inaccurate, but the only source of error is in the position of the arm. The actual instrument uses the same technology as the arm band type.

The advantage of the finger type is the convenience. I keep it on a small table next to my recliner. I would guess I take my BP at least 10 times during the day. Any time I sit down in the recliner I easily slip it on and push the button. It's interesting to take several readings about a minute or two apart after being active on the phone or working around the house. Also, how I respond to a tense TV program, or coming in from having a glass of wine in the hot tub.

Sometimes I put on the stand next to my bed so I can check BP while still laying flat after awakening. (If you try this don't be alarmed by a high reading).

I don't bother to write down the readings. I just use it to understand the changes over time.

fun,

frank

Good one Smitty

by ElectricFrank - 2010-12-05 01:12:31

The reason for the use of the mm reading is that for years the only instruments around were the mercury type so mm of mercury became the standard.

There are several errors that are rarely considered in taking BP.

1. The manual measurement is dependent on the person taking the BP finding the point where the sound first appears for systolic and disappears for diastolic. Using the stethoscope through heavy clothing muffles the sound so the first sound will be heard later (giving a lower systolic), and will disappear sooner (giving a higher diastolic) Taking the reading in a noisy environment will have the same effect, and both effects are additive.

2. The rate of deflation of the cuff will affect the repeatability of the readings. Typically they deflate the cuff at around 4-5 mm/sec. Since the sound can only be heard at the time of a heart beat and a HR of 60 is 1 beat/sec, the cuff pressure is changing 4-5mm between beats giving a potential error of 4-5 mm. It would seem like the problem would be solved by lowering the cuff pressure slower, but the occluded blood vessels cause the arm to swell introducing another error.

3. In many people BP rises considerably in a cold environment. Most medical settings are kept quite cold. I wonder how many patients are being treated for non existent hypertension because of this.

4. Nurses are notorious for pumping the cuff up to 250mm or higher in all patients. For some folk this creates a painful pressure on the arm. Pain will quickly raise BP.

hope I didn't get too technical,

frank

Higher blood pressure after implant

by themonk - 2018-09-13 20:50:04

Like Greg, my blood pressure has increased dramatically since my implant 3 days ago and it has me worried.  I usually have about 125/75 and it has been as high as 190/110 in the last 24 hours and about 150/90 average over the 3 days.  The pacer increased my beats from about 45 to 60 and is pacing my heart 85% of the time at night.  Don't know what is normal and neither the doctor or Medtronic expert told me what to expect afterwards.  Concerned, but there is no going back to living without a pacemaker.

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