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CAUSES & REMEDIES FOR LOW BLOOD PRESSURE

By Tess Thompson

The blood pressure in the body must remain within the normal range and any violation can result in problems caused by high or low blood pressure. While hypertension or high blood pressure may lead to a stroke or a heart disease, hypotension, an abnormally low blood pressure, can potentially lead to shock and low blood perfusion into organs or tissues.

Blood pressure generally refers to systemic arterial blood pressure, the pressure applied by blood on walls of the large arteries that carry blood to other parts of the body. While the pressure is a result of the blood pumping from the veins back into the arteries, the fluctuations in pressure are mainly due to the pulsating nature of the cardiac output.

Like the physics of all fluid systems it is difficult to understand how the circulatory system in the body is affected. A number of factors can influence the blood pressure in the body and result in lower levels.

* Abnormally slow or fast heart rates.
* Less volume of blood in the body.
* Inefficiency of the heart to pump blood.
* Resistance due to narrowing of blood vessels.
* Thickness of the blood.
* Dehydration due to excessive sweating or chronic diarrhea and vomiting.

The above factors are of great importance for an individual’s autonomic nervous system. On the micro level, however, individual blood pressure depends on the complex system of split second autonomic responses - reflexes, hormonal releases and body systems.

Some other factors that can lead to a low blood pressure include:

* Septicemia, presence of pus-forming bacteria or their toxins in the blood or tissues.
* Excessive bleeding due to internal or external injuries.
* Toxic doses of high blood pressure medications .
* Hormonal abnormalities.
* Sometimes blood pressure drops due to the gravity factor, known as orthostatic or postural hypotension: for example while standing from a sitting position.

The involuntary autonomic nervous system response quickly constricts the veins below the heart to increase their heart rate to counterbalance the gravity effect that causes postural hypotension. Replenishing and maintaining a healthy intake of fluids normally takes care of drop in blood pressure due to dehydration or blood loss. Profuse blooding needs to be treated separately.

Attending the underlying cause usually restores the blood pressure to normal. Septicemia is treated with antibiotics and intravenous fluids. A low heart rate is normally due to a drug affect. The doctor will change the class of the drug or the dosage to check the dropped pressure. Abnormally high heart rate may be due to muscular twitching without coordination or ventricular. Both require oral medications or invasive techniques.

Like natural remedies for high blood pressure there are natural remedies for low blood pressure too. Homeopathy has constitutional and specific remedies made form natural substances that can provide a long term solutions for maintaining blood pressure. A healthy constitution is better equipped to respond quickly and helps in maintaining blood pressure within normal ranges.

References:
http://goldbamboo.com/topic-t2660-a1-6Low_Blood_Pressure.html
http://www.medicinenet.com/low_blood_pressure/page6.htm
http://www.bpassoc.org.uk/information/low_blood_pressure.htm
http://www.hpathy.com/diseases/blood-low-pressure-symptoms-treatment.asp
http://highbloodpressure.about.com/od/lowbloodpressure/f/low-bp-causes.htm?once=true&