Low Blood Pressure after Surgery – Causes and Treatment Options

Every surgery comes with its own post-surgery effects and risks, and low blood pressure is the most common among them. If any of your kin are about to have surgery and you want to make yourself aware of this common risk, then this blog is for you. Here we help you understand the basics of blood pressure, causes and also treatment options for low blood pressure cases after surgery:

Blood Pressure – High & Low Blood Pressure:

Herat pumps blood, nutrients and oxygen to the arteries and the blood pressure is the force of the pumped blood against the artery walls. This force is recorded and measures in two readings – systolic and diastolic pressure. Systolic pressure is the force of the blood against the artery walls when the heart contracts, this resting measures higher. Diastolic blood pressure is the lower number, which records the pressure of blood during the resting phase of the heart.

Regular blood pressure hovers around 120/80 and when the blood pressure is constantly recorded above 140/90, a patient is considered to have high blood pressure. Higher blood pressure can damage the arteries increasing the risk of fat-depositing on the walls which over time can increase the risk of heart stroke or attack.

Low Blood Pressure – Causes & Symptoms:

Similarly, a blood pressure reading of anything lower than 90 mm of mercury for systolic pressure or lower than 60 mm for diastolic blood pressure is normally considered a lower blood pressure. Severe dehydration or inherent medical conditions generally happen to be the cause of low blood pressure whose symptoms include fatigue, blurred vision, dizziness, fainting or lack of concentration.

So, what causes low blood pressure after surgery?

A patient’s blood pressure can drop both during and after the surgery due to anaesthesia, blood loss, or even bacterial, viral or fungal infections.

For example, anaesthetic drugs that are administered during heart surgery can drop blood pressure. However, the heart surgeon along with his team regularly monitors the drop and bring the blood pressure back to normal through IV and medications. Blood pressure can also significantly drop when a patient experiences Hypovolemic shock due to heavy blood loss during the surgery. Given this is an emergency, the low blood pressure cases are treated by restoring the blood.

Low blood pressure after surgery can also happen when the patient contracts bacterial, viral or fungal infections which can cause the blood vessels to leak the fluid. This case of low blood pressure after surgery is treated using vasopressors which tighten the blood vessels and bring the blood pressure back to normal.

In essence, low blood pressure after surgery is efficiently treated by specialists and you do not have to worry about the patient if the blood pressure drops. Also to effectively combat the drop of blood pressure after the discharge, the patients are instructed to drink more fluids, eat small and frequent meals, slightly increase the salt intake and completely avoid alcohol and caffeine. In case you kin are about to have heart surgery and you are worried about the complications it is advised to consult an expert heart surgeon to get rid of your doubts. In case you are in Hyderabad and are looking for the best cardiologist in Hyderabad for consultation, you can contact Dr Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale here: +919603040506