“Blood pressure/heart?”
I'm 69 years old, I'm overweight, and have had asthma all my life and COPD since 1999.
My heart has been fluttering and at times I have a heartbeat sensation in my left ear. BP in my left arm is always low. Blood pressure on my left arm has been low like 94/63 and even lower, while the BP in my right arm is like 136/54 and higher. Now my BP is 87/57 in my left arm and 151/63 in my right arm. Should I take my hydrochlorothiazide 12.5 mg or my losartan 50 mg? I saw my Primary Care Doctor yesterday late afternoon and she said it was probably from taking a doze pack and Amoxicillin about a week and a half ago. She said to take my D3 (which has been low) and she said to drink plenty of fluids and continue my supplements, Vitamin C, D3, Magnesium 500, Potassium 99, and my meds. I take Losartan 2 a day 50 mg. If I have a lot of mucus build up and fluid I take the 12.5 mg Hydrochlorothiazide, instead of the Losartan. (I take only when needed, Baclophen, Busprisone, Famotidine, and P plopmeclizine).
I take Albuterol and Ipratropium mixed in nebulizer, 4 times daily. Combivent Inhaler 3 times daily. Proair and Qvar inhalers when needed. I have Vertigo and COPD - since 1999. I have hypertension. I was on Life Support, in June it will be 2 years ago. I'm on Prednisone and Amoxicillin about every week, week and a half for flare-ups. I need to know if I should take a BP pill and should I continue the supplements since my heart is like fluttering and the heartbeat is in my ear? I don't believe I actually had this happening to me until I started the Doze pack and the supplements around a week, week and a half ago. Thank you for your help. I appreciate it so much. God bless and I'm looking for a new Primary Doctor. I don't feel like she helped me yesterday. I have been really short of breath when I walk, which is a part of the flare-ups usually so, I don't know if it could be from something else or not. All the Dr. did was take an EKG which she says was fine.
My heart has been fluttering and at times I have a heartbeat sensation in my left ear. BP in my left arm is always low. Blood pressure on my left arm has been low like 94/63 and even lower, while the BP in my right arm is like 136/54 and higher. Now my BP is 87/57 in my left arm and 151/63 in my right arm. Should I take my hydrochlorothiazide 12.5 mg or my losartan 50 mg? I saw my Primary Care Doctor yesterday late afternoon and she said it was probably from taking a doze pack and Amoxicillin about a week and a half ago. She said to take my D3 (which has been low) and she said to drink plenty of fluids and continue my supplements, Vitamin C, D3, Magnesium 500, Potassium 99, and my meds. I take Losartan 2 a day 50 mg. If I have a lot of mucus build up and fluid I take the 12.5 mg Hydrochlorothiazide, instead of the Losartan. (I take only when needed, Baclophen, Busprisone, Famotidine, and P plopmeclizine).
I take Albuterol and Ipratropium mixed in nebulizer, 4 times daily. Combivent Inhaler 3 times daily. Proair and Qvar inhalers when needed. I have Vertigo and COPD - since 1999. I have hypertension. I was on Life Support, in June it will be 2 years ago. I'm on Prednisone and Amoxicillin about every week, week and a half for flare-ups. I need to know if I should take a BP pill and should I continue the supplements since my heart is like fluttering and the heartbeat is in my ear? I don't believe I actually had this happening to me until I started the Doze pack and the supplements around a week, week and a half ago. Thank you for your help. I appreciate it so much. God bless and I'm looking for a new Primary Doctor. I don't feel like she helped me yesterday. I have been really short of breath when I walk, which is a part of the flare-ups usually so, I don't know if it could be from something else or not. All the Dr. did was take an EKG which she says was fine.
Female | 69 years old
Complaint duration: Week/ week and a half.
Medications: Listed in letter
Conditions: Copd, Asthma , Vertogo, Arthritus, Hypertension
2 Answers
Two things: the palpitations or flutters you are experiencing. Have you had an EKG recently? I’m wondering if this is an arrhythmia such as atrial fibrillation. Or they may be related to the albuterol. I know you probably don’t smoke or take a lot of caffeine but if you do please cut back on those.
The other thing was the BP discrepancy in both arms: it could be atherosclerotic disease in which case you should have further workup to make sure you aren’t high risk for atherosclerotic heart disease or stroke. There is also a condition called subclavian steal syndrome where you could see a wide difference in BP except usually it would be associated with neurological symptoms such as dizziness, vertigo. In any case please find yourself a good PCP and make sure you get risk stratified for heart disease. Good luck and take care.
The other thing was the BP discrepancy in both arms: it could be atherosclerotic disease in which case you should have further workup to make sure you aren’t high risk for atherosclerotic heart disease or stroke. There is also a condition called subclavian steal syndrome where you could see a wide difference in BP except usually it would be associated with neurological symptoms such as dizziness, vertigo. In any case please find yourself a good PCP and make sure you get risk stratified for heart disease. Good luck and take care.
All the conditions that you have should be taken care of by a pneumologist as well internal medicine specialist that can follow up on all your chronic conditions for blood pressure. I will recommend to continue taking hot medications as recommended and do a blood pressure monitoring 2 times a day for a week and register it to see your blood pressure pattern.
