Had long-running (over two years) chest pain, heart pounding, weight loss, vision differences, dizziness, shortness of breath.
Was so sick with those issues I was bed bound for months.
After I started feeling a little better, overdid it and put myself back to bed for a week. Twice. With easy shit like rearranging the canned goods cabinet.
Lost a tooth. (White lie, actually. I’m scheduled to have it extracted early February.)
Still have lingering heart pounding and dizziness on a not-infrequent basis.
All from covid.
I’m fortunate to be mostly recovered. It sucks that there are so many who haven’t recovered to speak of.
Well, I can assure you I wasn’t fine when that 80/40 was measured. 120/80 is considered normal. (And that’s right about usual for me. Googling just now, I saw something about them apparently updating the guidelines to 120/70, but that’s not that different.) Elite athletes can have resting blood pressures more like 100/something, I think. But I’m no athlete. And having low blood pressure will absolutely render one light-headed, unconscious, or dead. Depending just how low it gets and how long it stays that way. It’s not a “lower is better” thing.
I mentioned passing out while watching TV. As soon as I regained consciousness and was still very light-headed, an ambulance was called for me. There were two EMTs. One distracted me while the other took my blood pressure. And took it again. And took it again. And finally asked the other EMT to check, so he took it and was like “no, I think you’re getting the right numbers, TootSweet’s BP is just low.”
When they handed me off to the ER staff at the hospital, he told them he was pretty sure that BP reading wasn’t just a bad measurement because I had a lot of “palor” (paleness) at the time.
So, it’s probably a reasonable assumption that my BP was a fair amount lower than 80/40 a few minutes before and that 80/40 was taken on the way back up. And the EMTs acted as if 80/40 was not normal or healthy.
Honestly, I largely only mentioned the 80/40 because it was the only test I was given where I got an abnormal result. An ECG, an EEG, EKGs, chest x-rays, Holter monitors, a stress test, a full brain MRI, a calcium score CT scan, multiple rounds of bloodwork (I’m probably forgetting some) – all those came back “normal” while I was having some of my worst symptoms.
I finally got a doctor who reviewed the results of all those above tests and told me “your nervous system is kindof oversensitive.” I had to ask him if he’d just given me a diagnosis of “dysautonomia” and he admittied that “that’s not an incorrect term to use for it.”
So I guess I’ve got a half-hearted diagnosis of sorts. Ha! I doubt it’s in my chart, though. (I hope you’re somewhere more civilized than the U.S… Medical costs is not at all the only problem with medical care in the U.S…) Much better than my previous doctor who told me it was anxiety. (It wasn’t/isn’t anxiety.) My previous doctor also swore he’d seen proof that COVID came from a Chinese laboratory, so there’s that.
I’m rambling, but in short, not a typo and 80/40 is not somewhere you want to be, I assure you.
Anything under 90/60 is considered low. It isn’t always an issue, but it’s not surprising they were fainting, having dizzy spells, etc. with BP that low.
120/80 is perfectly fine, 60/40 is twice less and can’t be perfectly fine, 80/40 is much closer to the latter.
Edit: can’t find anything regarding what exactly low pressure shouldn’t be. Everywhere it says “lower than 120/80” is good. Like okay 0/0 also seems healthy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I once had 80/40 or 60/40, can’t remember exact number, for a very short time. It wasn’t too pleasant and judging by the doctor reaction it wasn’t supposed to be that low. It was just after a tooth removal, just a bit of overreaction 😅
Thank you for sharing the info, I should memorise the threshold to use it when uncertain if the pressure is too low
It’s so wild to hear that people don’t know this.
I:
All from covid.
I’m fortunate to be mostly recovered. It sucks that there are so many who haven’t recovered to speak of.
That’s fucked, buddy. One can only wonder at the uncalculated costs of everyone who had it that bad.
Removed by mod
If only
starting to wonder if my heart irregularities are from COVID. I get a ridiculously strong pulse after just a 1 mile walk with my dog.
I don’t mean to be rude but a blood pressure of 80/40 is perfectly fine? Typo?
Well, I can assure you I wasn’t fine when that 80/40 was measured. 120/80 is considered normal. (And that’s right about usual for me. Googling just now, I saw something about them apparently updating the guidelines to 120/70, but that’s not that different.) Elite athletes can have resting blood pressures more like 100/something, I think. But I’m no athlete. And having low blood pressure will absolutely render one light-headed, unconscious, or dead. Depending just how low it gets and how long it stays that way. It’s not a “lower is better” thing.
I mentioned passing out while watching TV. As soon as I regained consciousness and was still very light-headed, an ambulance was called for me. There were two EMTs. One distracted me while the other took my blood pressure. And took it again. And took it again. And finally asked the other EMT to check, so he took it and was like “no, I think you’re getting the right numbers, TootSweet’s BP is just low.”
When they handed me off to the ER staff at the hospital, he told them he was pretty sure that BP reading wasn’t just a bad measurement because I had a lot of “palor” (paleness) at the time.
So, it’s probably a reasonable assumption that my BP was a fair amount lower than 80/40 a few minutes before and that 80/40 was taken on the way back up. And the EMTs acted as if 80/40 was not normal or healthy.
Honestly, I largely only mentioned the 80/40 because it was the only test I was given where I got an abnormal result. An ECG, an EEG, EKGs, chest x-rays, Holter monitors, a stress test, a full brain MRI, a calcium score CT scan, multiple rounds of bloodwork (I’m probably forgetting some) – all those came back “normal” while I was having some of my worst symptoms.
I finally got a doctor who reviewed the results of all those above tests and told me “your nervous system is kindof oversensitive.” I had to ask him if he’d just given me a diagnosis of “dysautonomia” and he admittied that “that’s not an incorrect term to use for it.”
So I guess I’ve got a half-hearted diagnosis of sorts. Ha! I doubt it’s in my chart, though. (I hope you’re somewhere more civilized than the U.S… Medical costs is not at all the only problem with medical care in the U.S…) Much better than my previous doctor who told me it was anxiety. (It wasn’t/isn’t anxiety.) My previous doctor also swore he’d seen proof that COVID came from a Chinese laboratory, so there’s that.
I’m rambling, but in short, not a typo and 80/40 is not somewhere you want to be, I assure you.
I’ve been there. It’s no bueno. I was gasping for breath because my blood wasn’t making it around my body.
Different cause though.
I had a very similar experience in 2020
I think you replied to the wrong person. You’re right 80/40 is low.
Looks to me like I replied to the right post (yours, I mean) as far as I can tell.
(My username is only highlighted pink in that screenshot because I searched my own username.)
Oh odd, I could swear you replied to someone who replied to me. No biggy.
Anything under 90/60 is considered low. It isn’t always an issue, but it’s not surprising they were fainting, having dizzy spells, etc. with BP that low.
What units is that perfectly fine in?
120/80 is perfectly fine, 60/40 is twice less and can’t be perfectly fine, 80/40 is much closer to the latter.
Edit: can’t find anything regarding what exactly low pressure shouldn’t be. Everywhere it says “lower than 120/80” is good. Like okay 0/0 also seems healthy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Mean Arterial Pressure is the actual number we use as a guideline. MAP is calculated as 1/3 of the top BP number + 2/3 of the bottom number:
https://www.mdcalc.com/calc/74/mean-arterial-pressure-map
Goal is bare minimum 60, and preferably >65. A BP of 80/40 gives you a MAP of 53, which = no bueno. Your kidneys and brain will not be happy.
Source: am critical care nurse
I once had 80/40 or 60/40, can’t remember exact number, for a very short time. It wasn’t too pleasant and judging by the doctor reaction it wasn’t supposed to be that low. It was just after a tooth removal, just a bit of overreaction 😅
Thank you for sharing the info, I should memorise the threshold to use it when uncertain if the pressure is too low