18 Mar 2019

 A renowned Gaborone-based cardiologist, Professor Kiran Bhagat says people with low blood pressure have minimum chances of getting stroke and heart diseases.

He said an interview recently that some people have a blood pressure level that was naturally low (hypotension) saying there were usually no specific reasons or causes to that.

“The lower your blood pressure is, the lower your risk of stroke or heart disease,” said Prof. Bhagat. Having a low blood pressure he said was not a cause for concern. However, he said in a few cases, having a low blood pressure could cause problems and might end up needing the services of a doctor.

Prof. Bhagat said there were times when blood pressure could drop where one may feel faint or dizzy. This situation, he observed could be life-threatening and therefore patients needed to get to health facilities. He explained that low blood pressure was a reading of 90/60 mmHg or less.

“Most of the doctors would consider chronically low blood pressure as dangerous if it causes noticeable signs and symptoms such as dizziness or lightheadedness, nausea, fainting and dehydration or unusual thirst, lack of concentration, blurred vision, pale skin, fatigue, depression to mention a few,” he said. He advised people to consult health facilities if they had low blood pressure and were showing symptoms such as dizziness adding that if the cause could be found, the doctor would be able to recommend treatment to ease the symptoms.

He pointed out that medication to increase blood pressure was rarely needed because simple lifestyle measures or treating the underlying cause was usually effective.

He advised people with low blood pressure to be cautious, saying to ease low blood pressure symptoms, one could increase the amount of water they drink, eat small frequent meals adding that lying down or sitting still for a while after eating could also help.

Also, he advised people with such a condition not to drink too much alcohol, caffeinated drinks at night and not to sit or stand for long periods.

He said most people were likely to develop low blood pressure as they got older adding that it could also be caused by pregnancy, severe blood loss from injury that could reduce blood in the body, some medical conditions such as diabetes and some types of medication. ENDS