A bit concerned. I sent a message to my PCP and haven't heard anything back yet.

I've been having some major issues with dizziness, to the point of nearly blacking out for the past 2 weeks or so. I had blood work done on Thursday and my iron, b12, and A1c were all checked and the results came back that all are normal. Not low normal but right smack in the middle normal. My bp was 105/63 (I average between 104/60 - 108/68). Glucose was 97 and A1c was 5.0. My b12 was 717. My iron was 53. So very normal.

Does anyone else have this issue? What could this be, and how can I fix it? I make sure not to get up too fast, I get 7-9 hours of sleep per night. But this seems to happen when I get up from either laying or sitting or when I stand for too long. My blood work came in today, so I'm hoping to hear back from my doctor tomorrow since I didn't today.

Orthostatic hypotension or postural low blood pressure. Your blood pressure drops on standing or sitting up because your blood pressure is low it takes longer for the blood to get back up to your head on changing position. Hence the dizziness & narrowing of your vision (if you get that too). I get it all the time. I can even get it if I stretch up to get something from a high shelf like at damn supermarkets.

Keep hydrated, which you would be, get up slowly & then wait 10-20 seconds before moving. Some say pumping their legs or rotating their ankles before standing helps but it doesn’t for me. I was on a med for low blood pressure for a while but it didn’t help. I just live with it. Do try to grab for a table, chair, wall or even person if it happens just to ground me for those few seconds until everything stabilises. Sometimes I’ll bend over (head at waist level) so the blood gets back to my head faster.

I always had a tendency for this (low blood pressure runs in the family) so the only surprise was the frequency of it since my weight loss.

i used to get that in the early days/months of wls. it got better as time went on.

my doc called it orthostatic hypertension and is apparently a common condition during rapid weight loss and even just after a surgery (wls or not). but my blood pressure readings were always on the low side...not normal like yours.

are u eating less than normal? i do recall u just had a recent surgery...did it start after that?

p.s. at the time my doc said to add more salt to my diet...which was fine by me cuz i love salt ??‍♀️

Edited June 12, 20242 yr by ms.sss

I had this issue about a year out from surgery and had a complete workup because it could be due to many things - orthostatic hypertension, inner ear imbalance, low blood sugar, even a UTI. In my case, everything from my workup came back completely normal, so they were baffled. But a couple weeks later, I was at a retirement party and ate a piece of cake. A whole piece - not just my usual one or two forkfuls. About an hour or two later - dizzy. Very dizzy. I told my PCP. She suspected reactive hypoglycemia, sometimes known as "late dumping". She said to try eating something about every three hours - a protein. Or if a carb, then pair it with a protein. I haven't had that issue in a long time, so in my case, that was likely the culprit. It's just that my glucose level might have been normal when I was there for the workup; thus, they didn't catch it.

In your case, it could be one of those other things mentioned, too (orthostatic hypertension is pretty common - although that tends to hit pretty early out from surgery - although that could definitely be the culprit, too..)

P.S. I just re-read your post. Since it seems to be happening when you're standing, sitting, etc - then it sounds like it might be orthostatic hypertension in your case. Hopefully you'll get some answers soon!

Edited June 12, 20242 yr by catwoman7

9 hours ago, Arabesque said:

Orthostatic hypotension or postural low blood pressure. Your blood pressure drops on standing or sitting up because your blood pressure is low it takes longer for the blood to get back up to your head on changing position. Hence the dizziness & narrowing of your vision (if you get that too). I get it all the time. I can even get it if I stretch up to get something from a high shelf like at damn supermarkets.

Keep hydrated, which you would be, get up slowly & then wait 10-20 seconds before moving. Some say pumping their legs or rotating their ankles before standing helps but it doesn’t for me. I was on a med for low blood pressure for a while but it didn’t help. I just live with it. Do try to grab for a table, chair, wall or even person if it happens just to ground me for those few seconds until everything stabilises. Sometimes I’ll bend over (head at waist level) so the blood gets back to my head faster.

I always had a tendency for this (low blood pressure runs in the family) so the only surprise was the frequency of it since my weight loss.

This is exactly what happens to me. Thank you!!! I use to be on meds because my bp was high. So this is completely new to me, and frankly, it freaks me out. High bp runs in my family, so of course when I asked some of my relatives about it, they had no idea what I was talking about. They all kept saying "check your blood sugar" but those numbers were literally perfect. Thank you so much for this. I feel like this fits me to a tee.

9 hours ago, ms.sss said:

i used to get that in the early days/months of wls. it got better as time went on.

my doc called it orthostatic hypertension and is apparently a common condition during rapid weight loss and even just after a surgery (wls or not). but my blood pressure readings were always on the low side...not normal like yours.

are u eating less than normal? i do recall u just had a recent surgery...did it start after that?

p.s. at the time my doc said to add more salt to my diet...which was fine by me cuz i love salt ??‍♀️

I had a total abdominal hysterectomy 5 weeks ago, but I was never put on a special diet so I just ate what I wanted. I still eat 3 meals and 1-2 snacks per day, like always. But the Orthostatic hypotension sounds exactly right.