For the last few weeks Kathryn's blood preasure has been dropping. This morning it is 82/52. I know this is considered low but I don't know why it would be dropping. Does anyone know if this is somehow related to her Alzheimer's? I have tried to check online but I keep getting something about Blood Presure causing Alzheimer's and can get anything else on it.
Jim I extracted this from the Cleveland Clinic website, the final sentence could be relevant. With such a low BP be extra careful about her balance and fall potential.
Certain medicines to treat depression, particularly Elavil® (amitriptyline), can cause sedation. These drugs also can react with medicines used to treat Alzheimer’s disease, including and Aricept® (donepezil), Exelon® (rivastigmine), and Razadyne® (galantamine). Some medicine used to treat hallucinations can cause sedation, confusion, and drops in blood pressure. They also can react with medicines used to treat Alzheimer’s disease.
One of the characteristic issues of the Parkinson's plus family of diseases, such as Lewy Body Dementia and Multiple System Atrophy, is problems with the autonomic nervous system. The things the body is supposed to do automatically get done less and less well. One very common effect is low blood pressure, particularly when standing up from sitting or lying down. I would think those problems would also happen as Alzheimer's damage moves into those parts of the brain.
Anchor20 indeed some meds can produce a drop in bp. but like pam says the automonic nervous system can also be affected by the disease process. we are at this point as well. dear hubands bp will be high one day and very low the next, radical fluctucations from day to day. if it goes too high i give a very low dose of bp meds, othewise i just monitor it. with it so very low, that can -as marty says cause potential syncope and falls and dizziness. maybe you could ask your dr about ways to raise it a tad if its too low? natural ways to increase are to give a glass with salt water but check with the dr. divvi
Thank you all very much. Kathryn has been taken off all of her Alzheeimer's meds now. Her Blood preasure was back up to 102/62 this morning and I am checking it everyday and keeping Hospice posted. Hopefully it will stay up where it is now or even a little higher. They said at this point there is no telling what it will do from now on and there is really nothing to do for it. They were not conderned about it as long as she was reacting normally to har day time routine. If it seemes to be affecting her balance or causing other changes they would assist as possible.