My brother, who is rather fit (from weight training and cycling, plus, recently, kayaking) fainted yesterday. He phoned me to ask what his low blood pressure and pulse meant, and what was usual. Also, he knows that I've had dizzy spells from low blood pressure in the past (100/60). A doctor measured his vital signs at 94/62 and 58, respectively, which makes him now both bradycardic (as in, a fit person) and hypotensive. I don't think he's had problems like that in the past. Here's what apparently happened;


My brother Vegar, who is 26, just recently joined a kayaking club. He has been at a river rapids course the last few days, and yesterday morning he fainted during the morning briefing. He says they were all standing, and he felt cold and dizzy, so he thought he'd better sit down, then he fainted, suddenly. It wasn't a very hot day, I assume he'd had breakfast, and he'd had lots of water, he says. The only thing he could think of was that he was really tired from much kayaking...


My question is this, has anyone reading this had a similar experience tied to exercize? Vegar has not been kayaking long, so the intense exercize in this course is new to him. Both our mother and I have low blood pressure, our father developed hypertension after almost 60 years with no trouble whatsoever. Vegar is taking asthma drugs, I'm foggy on which ones, but that has never, I believe, been a problem in exercizing for him before now.


Health professionals, exercize buffs, anyone with an opinion, please weigh in!

You say hes drinking and eating well, but he has to make sure that hes def eating enough, and to consume more energy dense foods... Tell him to drink at least 250 - 500ml water several times a day to keep BP above 100/60

If nothing works, then it is certainly something to get looked at more... I don't personally suffer any problems from low bp, but I also don't do a lot of exercise either.

http://www.water.org.uk/home/water-.../blood-pressure

Did he see a doctor? If not he should. If he did, what did the doc say?

Did he notice any irregularity of his heart beat? If he did, he could be too low (or high) on potassium and/or salt. These are electrolytes and important in keeping the heart regular.

If he didn't have any irregularities, he could have dropped his heart rate or had a pause....both should be checked out.

BP below 100 will not always cause symptoms of dizziness, etc and rarely causes fainting. BUT, we are all different. My normal barely hits 100-104 and I've been as low as 70/50 with no symptoms at all. Obviously you're different and more sensitive.

Low blood pressure isn't necesarily bad, especially if it's over 90/ as long as you don't FEEL like it's low, dizziness, lightheadedness, etc, you'll be fine with it. But, having said that, it's important that he has this checked out. If his BP is too low, or his heart is too slow or irregular there is a reason for it.....and should be diagnosed and treated.

might he have been standing a long time with his knees locked? standing (especially in the sun) with knees locked is a recipe for fainting - nothing to help the venous return from your lower legs.
you see this with military recruits, high school band members, grooms <g>

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=820619

I support Lisa's theory. When I was in the military, we got lots of warnings about not locking our knees while standing in formation. Fainting was not uncommon.

When I switched from Curves to 24 Hour Fitness I used to get lightheaded, I assume from the more intense exercise. But it was only when I was exercising, not when I was just standing.

I've only come close to fainting once in my life, and that was when I gave blood. I felt naucious (sp) after they were finished, and while walking to the bathroom with my eyes open everything went black. I remember my eyes being open and being unable to find the knob on the door! Someone opened the door for me and laid me on the floor. I threw up and then felt better.

I used to have the about the same blood pressure but hr of 52, I used to faint now and then until I started eating more salt and staying hydrated my blood pressure came up and no fainting in 4 years. I also supplement potassium or I will start getting light-headed again. In the old days I used to get faint playing tennis and would sit with head between my knees and wait for it pass. Are they going to do any studies on his heart an echo or stress test or anything? Low blood pressure is and fainting are symptoms of mvp.

Especially with low blood pressure the blood can pool in your lower extremities, I was told the low heartrate isn't important as long as it is a sinus rhythm.

I am having this problem too...and am unclear as to the cause. Got myself a new treadmill this week, and experienced really noticeable lightheadedness after being on the treadmill...I just posted a question about this in the Beginners/Low Intensity exercise section on these forums.

Haven't fainted...but have experienced this scary lightheadedness after finishing up on the new treadmill. It's kind of freaking me out a bit.

Not sure if it's dehydration, high altitude (I'm a mile above sea level), being unfit, not having eaten beforehand etc. Have no clue as to what's causing this.

Apparently Vegar got checked out by a doctor after the incident, infact, when it happened there were to health professionals in the kayaking course (one EMT and I don't remember what the other guy was), and they were just finishing up a short first-aid lecture as part of the briefing when my poor brother involuntarily became a demonstration...

The doctor took some blood, and the results will come back in the beginning of next week. I'm sure they had all been standing with their knees locked; this was a riverside security briefing prior to setting out on the river in their kayaks. I've had dizzy spells off and on since the first time I started singing in a choir, at age twelve, and I know a lot about the locked knees thing, lol! I also donate blood, but Vegar is not allowed to, on account of being on medication for asthma.

I sometimes get woozy after a meal, especially if it's a dense one (Which most of them are these days, obviously). Since this was after breakfast that may have been part of it. I'm sure part of the problem was that Vegar was totally unprepared for this, since I don't believe he has been dizzy like this in his life before now... I know I worked out early in life that to sit down, drink water or walk around were all excellent ideas when I felt like this...


I don't know if there are any other tests scheduled. He got told to take the next day off work, and take it easy.


Thank you all for answering! I hope there's nothing at all wrong with him; my own issues with low bp are almost certainly an inherited trait from our mother, so he might just be lucky, too.