I’ve noticed when my BP is closer to normal, my pulse also goes down to normal. I was thinking tachycardia but it looks like I can control it with raising BP.

That is good to hear.

Makes for a pretty good 5 second buzz.

I saw an urologist today. He said the fact that I had COVID so close to my blood test was good info. Apparently two new papers were released that mentioned COVID and elevated PSA. So instead of MRIs or biopsies, he’d rather that I have another blood test and a follow up.

Good to hear. Urologists are now using more than the PSA to determine whether to do a biopsy.
The PSA tends to overpredict cancer.

I was diagnosed with hypotension right after my major surgery. I'd lost 30 lbs in a short period and my BP was something like 90/45 on a good day. Yep, got dizzy when standing quickly but no issue sitting or laying. I gained gained back some weight, drank a gal of water a day and it returned to normal in a couple of months. Sounds like what you have is different than that as you've been dealing with it for some time. Hope your new meds give you some relief with out the side effects a lot of BP related drugs bring.

Postural hypotension is definitely a long-covid symptom. Since you are recently recovered, it is quite possible that is the cause. One of my daughters is about 20 months post covid and has the same issue. She did the whole wearable heart monitor thing, sees a cardiologist, etc. The autonomic system isn't reacting to correct the blood pressure properly.

If your blood pressure is ok except in the transition from prone to standing, it doesn't make sense to me to increase fluid retention all the time.

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
Postural hypotension is definitely a long-covid symptom. Since you are recently recovered, it is quite possible that is the cause. One of my daughters is about 20 months post covid and has the same issue. She did the whole wearable heart monitor thing, sees a cardiologist, etc. The autonomic system isn't reacting to correct the blood pressure properly.

If your blood pressure is ok except in the transition from prone to standing, it doesn't make sense to me to increase fluid retention all the time.

Any advice? I feel fine but my BP is starting to go above 120/80.

quote:

Originally posted by Karpteach:
My wife has low blood pressure. Period
It’s sometimes called POTTs Syndrome. It is more dangerous than high blood pressure. She takes Midodrine 10 mg. and Salt Stick tabs to keep her pressure stable 90/70. It’s gotten as low 60/50. She’s been hospitalized many times. You need to see a cardiologist and do a tilt table test. Email me if you want more info.

POTS is an acronym for Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Both my wife and I had it as young kids, and both of my kids have/had it.

Symptoms can vary from minor to severe. In both my wife's case, and my case, as young kids, when we would stand up from a resting position, we would nearly pass out. Resting Blood Pressure was close to normal.

In severe cases, it may not be possible to go to school or work, but as far as I am aware, this is very rare.

When my son had it, when he woke up to go to the bathroom, he actually did pass out briefly, and crumpled on the floor. This happened three times.

My daughter's symptoms were somewhat worse, although she never passed out.

POTS is basically the body's inability to adjust blood pressure based on your body's position. When suddenly standing up from a resting position, the blood would pool in your legs, leave your head (due to gravity) and you could pass out.

It is generally treated by cardiologists. It can be diagnosed by placing the patient on a tilt table, where the patient lays down on a table that repeatedly goes from 180 degrees to 90 degrees. My son actually passed out during this test.

Note: POTS is not recognized as a legitimate condition by some cardiologists. My kid's cardiologist is a known expert in the condition. When looking for a doctor, specifically ask if he treat POTS patients.

Interestingly, male children seem to grow out of it in late teens and early 20's. Female children take longer.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:

Any advice? I feel fine but my BP is starting to go above 120/80.

My daughter says her diagnosis includes "vagas nerve disfunction" as well as the postural hypotension and autonomic system disorder. She gets occasional tachycardia, though that is reducing in frequency.

At this time she is not on any meds that I know of. She does see a cardiologist regularly, and is plugged into the long-Covid medical community.

She does make transitions to standing quite slowly, and that seems to be good enough for the fainting issue from low blood pressure.

I think you need better diagnosis than just postural hypotension. It could be vagas nerve, it could be autonomic, which could be from covid. There are some therapies to combat cardiovascular inflammation from the covid which include the cheap ivermectin. My daughter wore the heart monitor for several weeks and downloaded the data to her cardiologist. I know she's had a lot of expensive tests etc, but in the end her symptoms are pretty typical for long covid.

You might find a doc who is familiar with long covid who could do a blood test for the markers, and perhaps treat simply and cheaply.

I called the doctor to ask how to wean off of this steroid. He said I can just stop taking it as long as my BP remains normal. I stopped the fludrocortisone yesterday.

Feeling normal.

quote:

Well, I’m not worrying yet but my PSA is a little elevated (4.79).

My PSA came back today. Free is 0.5 and total is down to 2.5.

BTW, my pulse has been around 72 and BP back to normal.

Good to to hear!

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Good to to hear!

The urologist has mentioned that he read something recently released papers that said that COVID can raise PSA. My PSA is lower than it was in 2019. Looks like I’m going to be ok.

I've suffered with this for the last 4 years. I've had quite a few falls, including just getting out of a car. One time I was wearing my blood pressure thingy when it happened. My BP was 60/25. I actually suffer from high blood pressure. Not real high, kinda at the low range. I don't take any high blood pressure meds. Now I'm just careful getting up.

When I diagnosed and treated this, treatment depended on severity of symptoms. Passing out: usually would start with fludrocortisone + increased salt intake + sleeping with head of bed elevated; also advised if you feel dizzy, tighten up butt muscles to avoid pooling of blood in legs.
If just dizzy getting up: two cups of bouillon (high salt) per day + increase fluids; if no response then fludrocortisone or midodrine.

Note that fludrocortisone is a mineralocorticoid; it is not a glucocorticoid, which is the steroid that increases blood sugar, causes acne, facial swelling and a lot of problems.