Getting dizzy on standing? Could it be low blood pressure?

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IMT11

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Every now and then, when I stand up after lying on a couch or bed, I get a sudden spell of dizziness and feel really light headed, and I have to sit down again briefly. What's odd is that this never occurs when I first get out of bed in the morning.

This is definitely something new for me, and I'm unsure whether it's from the reta itself or possibly my diet (more of an indirect factor).

I haven't really seen this discussed much, and searching didn't turn up much either.

I was wondering if any of the knowledgeable folks here had any ideas, or if there's anything I should be adding to my diet or improving to prevent it.
 
Feeling light headed can happen because of low blood pressure, though dehydration or low blood sugar are more probable causes. Perhaps your system isn't adjusted to the small amount of calories you're taking in, which might leave you slightly light headed. Try drinking electrolytes, but to be honest, if it's only mild dizziness I would just tough it out and it will go away—I went through this and it stopped once my body got used to things.
 
Orthostatic hypotension. With body fat loss, your veins and arteries get less compression. That makes BP fall sharply. I've genuinely gone down to the floor on 2 occasions, so whenever the feeling hits now, I drop into a lying position right away or move somewhere safe in case I pass out completely.
 
Ugh, after dropping a huge amount of weight I was still taking losartan at a high dose ( 75mg every day ) and the dizziness kicked in. Then one time I went down onto a table, hit a chair on the way, and landed on the floor surrounded by people. My reaction? Why is everyone down here on the floor???

That happened three weeks ago, and now I can hardly lie on my right side — I'm fairly sure a few ribs are cracked. It could have turned out much worse. Needless to say, I lowered the losartan ( 25mg daily ) and had a conversation with my dr.

Have a conversation with your dr too. That way you won't become me, or perhaps take an even nastier tumble.
 
AxlBundy said:

Orthostatic hypotension. With body fat loss, your veins and arteries get less compression. That makes BP fall sharply. I've genuinely gone down to the floor on 2 occasions, so whenever the feeling hits now, I drop into a lying position right away or move somewhere safe in case I pass out completely.
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That sounds frightening. Fortunately, I haven't taken a tumble yet, though I came alarmingly near to doing so a few days ago.

My water intake is high, but electrolytes are lacking. I'm going to start incorporating some into my everyday regimen.
 
IMT11 said:

AxlBundy said:

Orthostatic hypotension. With body fat loss, your veins and arteries get less compression. That makes BP fall sharply. I've genuinely gone down to the floor on 2 occasions, so whenever the feeling hits now, I drop into a lying position right away or move somewhere safe in case I pass out completely.
Click to expand...
That sounds frightening. Fortunately, I haven't taken a tumble yet, though I came alarmingly near to doing so a few days ago.

My water intake is high, but electrolytes are lacking. I'm going to start incorporating some into my everyday regimen.
Click to expand...
If you collapse, you black out while upright and then crumple to the floor as if you were a sack of potatoes that someone let slip — definitely not a good look
 
Gr33dyOctopus said:

IMT11 said:

AxlBundy said:

Orthostatic hypotension. With body fat loss, your veins and arteries get less compression. That makes BP fall sharply. I've genuinely gone down to the floor on 2 occasions, so whenever the feeling hits now, I drop into a lying position right away or move somewhere safe in case I pass out completely.
Click to expand...
That sounds frightening. Fortunately, I haven't taken a tumble yet, though I came alarmingly near to doing so a few days ago.

My water intake is high, but electrolytes are lacking. I'm going to start incorporating some into my everyday regimen.
Click to expand...
If you collapse, you black out while upright and then crumple to the floor as if you were a sack of potatoes that someone let slip — definitely not a good look
Click to expand...
Yeah, that would definitely throw off your whole day. I've had that same spinning, woozy feeling when I stand up, and in my case the culprit was not drinking enough. Once I started putting electrolytes in my water, things got a whole lot better. Hope you're on the mend soon
 
Once I dropped a fair amount of weight, this exact problem hit me too. My doctor and I had to cut my blood pressure medication down to half the dose to make up for it. Turned out fine for me. Fingers crossed it works out the same way for you.
 
There is 1 couch in my home that makes me feel faint nearly each time I rise from it. Only that couch, and almost never in other places. Strange, yes, but it points to a positional cause, as Axlbundy brought up. I stay away from that couch.
 
Same thing happens to me as well. Whether it's dehydration, an electrolyte issue, low blood sugar, or low blood pressure, I honestly can't tell. Sorry, I'm absolutely useless here lol. Still, I feel for you—right after getting up I have to grab onto something for a few seconds.. eeks.
 
My guess would be either low BP or low sugar. As for why it doesn't occur upon waking, I figure it's because your BP drops while you sleep, so there's no large shift for you to feel, and since your body burns fat during sleep, it puts out sugar — with no activity overnight, your blood sugar wouldn't dip... This is purely speculation on my part, but I suspect it could be accurate.
 
It's possible that adrenal fatigue is the cause. If so, Ashwaganda could be beneficial.

Still, low BP seems the more probable explanation.
 
IMT11 said:

Every now and then, when I stand up after lying on a couch or bed, I get a sudden spell of dizziness and feel really light headed, and I have to sit down again briefly. What's odd is that this never occurs when I first get out of bed in the morning.

This is definitely something new for me, and I'm unsure whether it's from the reta itself or possibly my diet (more of an indirect factor).

I haven't really seen this discussed much, and searching didn't turn up much either.

I was wondering if any of the knowledgeable folks here had any ideas, or if there's anything I should be adding to my diet or improving to prevent it.
Click to expand...
get yourself a blood pressure cuff so you can keep track.

my guess is there's a 90% chance it's low blood pressure. when you look at the reading, the bottom number matters more here than the top one.

the remaining 10% could be fatigue, exercise, adrenal stuff, or something else.

if you've dropped weight recently, low bp seems pretty probable.

keep monitoring and work it out. if it is low bp, sodium can bring blood pressure up. so can stopping bp meds, if you're taking any. water helps too, but only if there's sodium with it.
 
Just remembered there's a whoop lying around in a drawer somewhere, so I'll put it back on and check whether it tells me anything useful

To be clear, I've never had low BP before and I'm not taking any BP medication, plus I've "only" dropped about 15lbs, so it's not like I've had some crazy amount of weight loss or a sudden drop that I'd expect to trigger something like this.
 
When I stoop down and then stand up fast, I notice a bit of that sensation. It's not severe enough that I faint. I've used a blood pressure cuff along with a finger device for heart rate and oxygen. Results have come back normal, with BP reading roughly 125/72, while HR varies throughout the day. Oxygen levels consistently show 99-100%. I've been consuming electrolyte fluids.
 
ambot88 said:

Feeling light headed can happen because of low blood pressure, though dehydration or low blood sugar are more probable causes. Perhaps your system isn't adjusted to the small amount of calories you're taking in, which might leave you slightly light headed. Try drinking electrolytes, but to be honest, if it's only mild dizziness I would just tough it out and it will go away—I went through this and it stopped once my body got used to things.
Click to expand...
That same thought crossed my mind. Ready bumps up both heart rate and metabolism. So these symptoms must stem from a different cause.

Bill
 
IMT11 said:

Every now and then, when I stand up after lying on a couch or bed, I get a sudden spell of dizziness and feel really light headed, and I have to sit down again briefly. What's odd is that this never occurs when I first get out of bed in the morning.

This is definitely something new for me, and I'm unsure whether it's from the reta itself or possibly my diet (more of an indirect factor).

I haven't really seen this discussed much, and searching didn't turn up much either.

I was wondering if any of the knowledgeable folks here had any ideas, or if there's anything I should be adding to my diet or improving to prevent it.
Click to expand...
To be honest, I've been going through the same thing lately. Since I'm in a deficit, Reta is cutting down my thirst, and my glycogen is run down, I found electrolytes made a big difference for me.

Even so, I do my best not to rise too fast after sitting or lying down. These days I stand up gradually, taking about 4–5 seconds rather than popping up right away the way I used to.
 
I had the same problem. Once I stopped taking one of my blood pressure medications, the dizziness disappeared. My BP remains fine with just the other pills.
 
When the lightheadedness hit me, I took my BP and the reading came back really low. That's likely the first thing worth checking off the list.

For more than 10 years I'd been taking 3 blood pressure medications. The diuretic was the first one I stopped, and roughly 2 weeks after that I also quit the calcium channel blocker. Less than 7 weeks into Reta, I'm down to a single remaining med and my BP sits at about 120/70. The PVCs disappeared too.

Now I'm waiting on my next round of blood work to find out what else reta might 'cure.' Swapping my BP pills — and maybe other meds — for a once-a-week injection is something I'm perfectly okay with for the long haul.
 
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