Why do I have dangerously low and dangerously high blood pressure?

Hi Larry,
I have some similiar episodes.. I was put on
HBP medication Lisinopril 10 mg in 3/25. I lost 30 lbs, then started riding my bike with my husband when it was 90+ in Arizona. I started having hard time unclipping off the pedels, and have fallen twice of the bike. I barely had energy to ride my extremities felt so heavy. These were 2 hour rides of around 20-22 miles. We both have years of riding our bikes in a bike club. So I took my BP reading and it shocked me it was 93/55, and more in the mid 90's. I would lay with my feet up in the air for hours. It would take 3-4 hours to get back to normal. The lowest BP was 85/48. which is under the safety threshold of MAP at 60. (mean arterial perfusion) I went to my reg. doc, he told me to stop the BP med and take a baby aspirin, and go see a cardio. Well that cardio visit of 15 min at the most didn't go well, he said I was doing to much to lose weight, and I needed to drink more electrolyes and eat more carbs, I had a few more episodes, but found out through google AI that my medication can overide my body's mechanism to cool the body down when its overheating. Even simple yeardwork for an hour or more would lower my BP. I now have the least strength of this medication, but barely ever take it as I continue to lose weight now 42 pounds lost. If you are on BP meds, drug inserts don't have the full information, please talk with your doctor or ask google AI some questions.
The more information you give google AI the more information it gives back, and even google AI will ask you questions as well. I will pray for you, and hope you will get some answers and get back to feeling better.

@con123 Hello, has your doctor tried getting you off your meds. 3 BP meds is alot. Your doc should be helping you to at least try to get you down to the lowest dosages. I was told once HBP is a symptom. A symptom of something else going on in your body. HBP medication can be drasically reduced, or even stopped if you take care of the root causes as to why you have HBP. Are you insulin resistant? Do you have a metabolic disorder? Is there inflammation going on in your body? There are many tests to answer these questions. For me I found out by accident through free research testing. I was considered obese, short statured, and had a little fat on my liver, and some inflammtion going on in my body. Once I found out why I have some fat on my liver, I changed everything. I have now lost 42 lbs, and am mostly off my one BP med, got it reduced to the lowest strength, and I feel so much better. I was not metabolically healthy, and I didn't want to damage my liver any further, so I changed my diet and lifestyle so much that I didn't not even have to count a calories. Intermittent fasting heals the body.
I did a heck of a lot of research as to what is insulin resistance/metabolic dysfunctions and how to become metabolically healthy.
You to can take charge, get your doc to help you, or do it on your own, it's so worth getting off meds if you can.

@larryhayes @bobbelu, if interested in self-referring or getting your doctor to submit a referral to Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, you can start here: https://mayocl.in/1mtmR63

To self-refer, you can call the Florida office or fill out the form to schedule a preferred time for the scheduler to call you. The link for the physician referral is also on the same page.

Larry, you don't need to request a specific cardiologist. The scheduler can help with matching you with the specialist right for you.

@jenatsky The Lord has truly blessed us, and I really don't have a lot to stress over. I even try to eliminate all I can that causes tress in my life. I do stay busy and always have, but now retired I don't have to, so luckily, I can do it at the pace I desire. I do understand BP will fluctuate even within hours however do you believe if you experienced such numbers as 163/109 and 90/65 in the same day, sometimes both high and lows 2 or 3 times a day it would not red flag you?

@larryhayes Larry no I wouldn’t stress over those numbers because a singular number by itself provides no benefit to a provider or to you. What healthcare professionals look for is consistency. As an example I see my pain doc every 3 months and I walk up the three flights of stairs to the office. Every time I’m there they take me in within five minutes of arriving and my BP is always elevated and they tell me so. They never give me the opportunity to sit and relax before they check it. But when I see my PCP of 18 years I’m always left waiting minimum five minutes in waiting room and at least five minutes before he comes into the room and my BP is always perfect. And his assistant never takes my BP, only him.
I’m assuming you are using an automated BP cuff but I cannot assume you’re using it correctly to insure you have accurate readings. Here is some assistance to insure you’re doing it correctly.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/in-depth/high-blood-pressure/art-20047889

@jenatsky Thank you for your encouragement and the video. I watched it and that's pretty much how my wife and I check my blood pressure. I even purchased a new machine once because I couldn't hardly believe these numbers were right. Then after still getting these type numbers I carried the new BP machine to the doctor to let them check it against theirs and it checked OK. Before I went to my first Heart Dr appointment, , I monitored it for about 5 weeks and wrote the numbers down, after being advised by a friend to do so. These High/low numbers were consistent throughout the 5 weeks. I do control it pretty good now the only way I can control it, that is being a slave to it, by letting it dictate how long I'm active and how long I'm at rest. For instance, 1) I also love to read and study. Several nights after reading about three hours my blood pressure skyrocketed. I walked a half a mile, no meds just walked and it drops back closer to a normal state. 2) I dug A ditch to set a beam in beside my driveway, and I didn't want to stop until it was finished. I was dizzy all the way to the house my blood pressure had dropped so low. I ate a pack of salt and within a few minutes it was back up. When my blood pressure goes too low which is several times a week, I have to either sit for a couple of hours and just relax or consume some sort of salty food, like potato chips and it'll go back near normal. I know it sounds crazy maybe not even true, because some doctors found it hard to accept.

@larryhayes any chance that body position has anything to do with the changes you experience when BP is low. I’m guessing your docs have performed postural hypotension studies on you? If your docs haven’t shown their concern about the fluctuation maybe you shouldn’t either?

@larryhayes
I have experienced these same BP extremes and have no answers as to why. After many work ups, the closest we’ve come to an answer is maybe some autonomic thing. Mine is more predictable whereas if I am sitting it’s high, and if I’ lie down long enough, it goes low. The medication I’m on is not enough to make it the highs come down to normal, but it’s too much to keep the floors at a safe MAP. Although our situations are not identical, they are close enough to where I understand many of the challenges you face of trying to live life that contains such extremes.

@larryhayes what have your doctors had to say about your fluctuating BP?

Hi Larry,
I have this as well and I was just diagnosed with Baroreflex failure. This can happen after trauma to the head and neck such as surgery or radiation. I have metastatic thyroid cancer and had 7 weeks of radiation. My cardiologist put me in touch with this doctor at Duke here in NC. This is also related to long covid as well … dysautonomia is the general term for it. It sometimes includes gastro intestinal issues, and cardiac issues combined and I also have issues with horrible anxiety and mast cell activation syndrome where I have sensitivity to medications, smells and sounds. Your autonomic nervous system has had some damage somewhere for most who deal with this, I hope you can find some help and relief soon.
Take care,
Char