Coffee pills and Low Blood Pressure?!
Question:
Coffee pills and Low Blood Pressure?
So I have very low blood pressure and so find myself craving sweets a lot and feeling dizzy if I stand for long periods of time. I am not a big fan of drinking coffee since it is too acidic for my stomach but was wondering if I should resort to taking coffee pills? Are these helpful or harmful and how many should I take if I do choose to take them to bring up my blood pressure? Thanks!!!!!!
Answers:
I haven't heard of taking coffee pills for raising low blood pressure… which doesn't mean it isn't being done. There are studies that demonstrate coffee's (and caffeine's) hypertensive effect. The scariest thing I read on caffeine today was a report on caffeine-induced cardiac problems, sometimes leading to death [study listed below as 'cardiac danger']. And I had the misfortune of having to take care of a friend who was overdosing on caffeine pills once; scary stuff. Stay clear of that crap.
My recommendation would be to eat Panda natural black licorice, particularly if you're craving sweets. Licorice contains glycyrrhetinic acid, a natural blood pressure raiser. How much to eat? Maybe eat a bite-sized piece every 15 minutes until you get the blood pressure you're looking for.
However, hypotension is a physiological state, not a disease. Before you go tinkering with your blood chemistry to "treat" hypotension, you should check for underlying causes:
- low blood volume, which could be because of insufficient fluid intake (drink your water!) or fluid loss through diarrhea or vomiting
- decreased cardiac output, sometimes related to irregular heart rhythm
- excessive vasodilation, due to a nervous system problem, medication side effect, sepsis infection or high blood acidity (low ph)
So, I would personally start with the water-drinking thing, it being the cheapest and easiest place to start. Then, I'd go to licorice, if I had ruled out the other causes. Treat the disease, not the symptom.