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Super Contributor
Posts: 331
Registered: ‎04-01-2010
Has anyone ever had this condition? If so, how did you handle it? I have this condition since I have had chemo. Dr doesn't know what causes it. It is a here your heart rate and blood pressure suddenly drop.
Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,456
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

I used to have episodes with it.

To make a long story short, it turned out I had a hiatel hernia. The vasvagal nerve runs along the stomach. With a hiatel hernia the stomach will squeeze thru the hiatel opening and put pressure on the nerve, thus causing the symptoms you describe.

It happened to me at night most of the time. I stopped eating by 7pm and the doctor put me on Prevacid every night about an hour before bedtime.

Have you had an upper GI test?

"People with closed hearts will always feel as though they are at war with the world." ~My friend Nancy
Honored Contributor
Posts: 20,145
Registered: ‎04-28-2010

Happened with someone we know..........ER Doc explained that when and after eating, and because the body is working so hard (especially in the elderly), BP often drops. Then, along with B/P medicine after meals and at night, it's just too much. Sometimes the B/P drops so low that they faint. Sometimes the B/P meds dosages have to be cut down slightly (by doc). It's fairly common in elderly folks. Easily corrected in most/many cases. Anyway, that's what was explained to us at the time. (It was called Vasovagal Syncope.)

'More or less', 'Right or wrong', 'In general', and 'Just thinking out loud ' (as usual).