Originally Posted by
GeorgeBMac
Yes, heart rate and blood pressure are linked. But then blood pressure is linked to a number of things: blood volume, constriction of the arteries from angiotensin II, stimultion from the peripheral nervous system, etc, etc, etc,,,
And, conversely, low blood pressure can trigger a more rapid heart beat as the heart struggles to perfuse the rest of the organs in the body. It is often seen in cases of blood loss... The pressure drops and the heart speeeds up trying to compensate for it.
And, actually, although it typically increases blood pressure (as a compensation for low pressure) a fast heart rate CAN actually decrease blood pressure because, if it is beating fast enough, the ventricals of the heart do not have time to completely fill with blood before they contract, so the heart simply isn't pumping enough blood.
You're condition (rapid heart rate / low blood pressure) is interesting... Perhaps you & your doctors should be trying to understand what is causing that to happen rather than simply treating the sympton without a full understanding of the cause(s) of that symptom.
... Or perhaps you doctor has done that and simply not communicated it to you?
In any case, I support your hesitancy to treat something that is not causing a problem without a having a clear understanding of it.
Thanks for that detailed response, George, especially the explanation about the ventricles. That was kinda what I was guessing — my heart doesn't work as efficiently at high speed (if the monitor at Wally's is correct, which I kinda question.)
I should have been more clear in my original post though, while my doctor did want to put me on beta-blockers to reduce my heart rate, and at the time my BP may have tested a bit high, that was late one winter when I had not been exercising at all for some months. Since then, that doctor has I think passed away and I have dropped about thirty or forty pounds. And while my resting heart rate is just as high as ever, at least my BP is normal once my pulse drops to 100. So perhaps I wouldn't qualify as a candidate for beta-blockers right now anyway. (Kind of a moot point though, as a study publicized this past week indicated no benefits in taking B-Bs to those who had not recently suffered a heart attack.) Have not yet discussed my latest discovery with a GP, but will do so at my next appointment.