Low BP after ride (ended up in hospital)

[GreenBlood]

Took a (too long and too hot) ride Sunday, and colapsed in the shower. BP was measured at 80/40 and was taken to hospital for tests. Long story short, everything is fine, I had just lost too much fluid and blood was too think. Advice was to drink more. I am 53 and did just 60km but it was hot. I drank 2 mugs of tea before the ride and 1liter of water during.
I weigh 88kg. Only been cycling for 4 years, before that, I never exercised. Never smoked.
I have felt light headed after rides before, but it passed, but not time.
Any advice on what to do after a ride to keep my BP up, or manage this situation?

[LouisN]

Don't take a (warm) shower immediately after a long ride in hot weather if you haven't hydrated properly.
Blood vessels will dilate, and pressure will drop.
Ice cold shower should keep your pressure high .
Hydrate properly, but also consume food during, and after exercice, first thing.
Are you after some weight loss magical formula ...?

Louis

[ms6073]

Any advice on what to do after a ride to keep my BP up, or manage this situation?

Hydration is always key, but in places where temperatures can top 90°F (32°C) before 10-11 in the morning, you might want to consider starting earlier. I know that in places like Palm Springs or Las Vegas, when the weather gets hot, riders typically start well before the sun rises.

[AJS914]

I passed out in the shower after a ride around 30 years ago. Woke up sitting on the floor of the shower with cold water hitting me so I must have been out for 15-20 minutes. I don't think I fell. First time I've heard of it happening to someone else.

[OnTheRivet]

Some people have naturally low blood pressure (me too) and because of that when you get fit you have to be careful about standing up too quickly. As you get fitter your heart muscle enlarges and the stroke volume goes up so your resting hear rate goes down. With low blood pressure standing up or simply moving too quickly doesn't let yor heart spool up quick enough and you can pass out. Happened to me the first time 35ish years ago when I started racing, have learned to manage it ever since.

[TidyDinosaur]

Some people have naturally low blood pressure (me too) and because of that when you get fit you have to be careful about standing up too quickly. As you get fitter your heart muscle enlarges and the stroke volume goes up so your resting hear rate goes down. With low blood pressure standing up or simply moving too quickly doesn't let yor heart spool up quick enough and you can pass out. Happened to me the first time 35ish years ago when I started racing, have learned to manage it ever since.

Do you have any tips? I started experiencing this more in the last few weeks. Dizzy when getting up too fast. Measured it a few days ago and I have a very low diastolic pressure (58). It looks like nothing to worry about if you can believe doctor Google, but it's not very great either...

[GreenBlood]

Thanks for the advice. Yes I took a shower immediately after the ride. And I remember now, it was very warm as the girlfriend had used it before me and it's not easy to lower the temperature. I don't always shower straight afterwards, it was just on this occasion I wanted to get it done before the footy on the box. Normally I make a coffee for me chum and I. I often feel lightheaded and my vision goes white, not for long. On this occasion I also had reduced hearing volume....as I slid off the toilet onto the floor! 999 said to raise my legs so the gf fetched me a stool and it wasn't long after the ambulance arrived I felt better but still weak. They popped a bolus of some drug in to pump up my bp. It was stubbornly staying low (80/40)
4 hours later was discharged. Lesson learned.

[GreenBlood]

Some people have naturally low blood pressure (me too) and because of that when you get fit you have to be careful about standing up too quickly. As you get fitter your heart muscle enlarges and the stroke volume goes up so your resting hear rate goes down. With low blood pressure standing up or simply moving too quickly doesn't let yor heart spool up quick enough and you can pass out. Happened to me the first time 35ish years ago when I started racing, have learned to manage it ever since.

Do you have any tips? I started experiencing this more in the last few weeks. Dizzy when getting up too fast. Measured it a few days ago and I have a very low diastolic pressure (58). It looks like nothing to worry about if you can believe doctor Google, but it's not very great either...

I was 24 stone (152kg 336lb) aged 48 5 years ago. I got down to 11st (72kg 154lb) about 4 years ago.walking and cycling and dieting hard achieved it. I lost my wife 2 years back and have since put a couple of stone back on (13kg 28lb). I have recently started to step up my exercise and also diet...quite hard. I'm now a month off 53.
When I was a big boy(most of my life) I had high BP and had meds for it as well as high cholesterol. I've not been on anything since the weight loss. I seem to have now gone the other way!

[LouisN]

Wow ! Impressive ! There are many things involved in metabolism change for such an important weight loss, and also the age.
I would reach for a sports physician's advice on how to deal with issues related to health, and exercice.

Louis

[AJS914]

Do you have any tips? I started experiencing this more in the last few weeks. Dizzy when getting up too fast.

This has been happening to me for years. It usually happens when my training load is high and I'm under recovered. What I've resorted to doing is to consciously get up out of a chair more slowly. I'll sit up straight and then sit on the edge of the chair for half a second and then I'll rise slowly.

I've been wondering if they could be remedied with some hydration or electrolyte product but I've never really worked on it.