PLEASE help me figure out the cause of this weakness/lightheadedness I have!

lector606

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Hi guys, first off, sorry for the long post, thanks for clicking, here I go:

My blood pressure has always been somewhat low - around 105/60 when I take it walking around, pulse about 50. Resting my HR is about 40, and my blood pressure is slightly lower.

Recently I've been getting REALLY dizzy/weak sometimes, notably about 2-3 hours after I finish workouts. This is to the point where I can't really bring myself to do anything but sit down and breath deeply. At work the other day I was really dizzy so I checked my BP and it was 90/48. Way too low right? Some info about me:

- Daily training, athlete, lots of sweating, often AM/PM workouts. Not unusual to have cardio 2-3x a day
- Moderate salt intake (this is one of my concerns... do I need it upped big time if im sweating lots?).
- diet - oats, whey, peanut butter, kashi golean cereal, cottage cheese, chicken, whole wheat pasta, bananas (at least 2 daily), TONS of other fruits and veggies, flax, muscle milk, lean ground beef
- Supplements: omega 3 (10 caps daily, 400mg epa 200 dha/capsule) vit c, multi, NAC, zma at night. Caffeine and ephedrine somewhat regularly
-gallon of water daily
-7-8 hours of sleep the majority of nights

Here's the thing. On the day at work in question where I felt MESSED up I had done a 90 minute workout about 5 hours prior, taken my multi and some garlic+omega 3, then gone off to work. At no point this day had I had any caffeine, ephedrine, or other stims. I received this garlic supplement from a company rep for free (kyolic extra strength once a day) and I think my problems started roughly when I started taking it. I discontinued the garlic 2-3 days ago and I've since felt a bit better, but I still feel dizzy/weak about 2-3 hours post workout. Ironically, after checking my BP, I went and got a coffee, and felt noticeably better.

Some ideas I had:

- Maybe the garlic lowered my BP a little too much? In conjunction with omega 3 is it possible it thinned my blood excessively?
- Stim use catching up with me? Seems unlikely because I feel better when I have them, and I can function fine energy wise without them
- Electrolyte deficiency? I ordered some Poseidon, I REALLY hope it helps.
- Just overtrained? But I doubt this is the sole cause.

Anyone got any ideas? I should mention that once I start exercising, I feel better, and I'm experiencing no irregularities in heartbeat, so I don't think it's a heart problem. I went and saw my doctor Monday, she talked to me for a while, asked me about symptoms, checked my BP and said it was probably nothing to worry about and I just ran myself down. I got some blood drawn though to check thyroid and a couple other things just in case.

I really appreciate any suggestions someone can offer. Sorry for the long post. I probably left a bunch of important details out so if anything seems unclear just tell me.
 
Vitruvian

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What kind of meal are you consuming post-workout?
 
Vitruvian

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Also, if you cannot get a sufficient answer through the responses here, please send a PM to strategicmove with a link to this thread. Strat is one of our reps... and IMO one of the most knowledgeable and helpful members of AM.com.
 
goslamacamel

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I'll be honest, all I read of that post were the cardiac numbers and the word dizziness. You need thicker blood or higher blood sugar to fix this problem because your heart and blood vessels are used to delivering nutrients in a state of elevated oxygen requirement. Instinctively I'd say increase electrolytes, add more salt to some things and get plenty of potassium. Eating more saturated fats and keeping higher blood sugar (i.e. more carbs distributed throughout main meals) might help a lot also. More water won't do much unless you have the proportional electrolyte intake to go with it.
 
lector606

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I'll be honest, all I read of that post were the cardiac numbers and the word dizziness. You need thicker blood or higher blood sugar to fix this problem because your heart and blood vessels are used to delivering nutrients in a state of elevated oxygen requirement. Instinctively I'd say increase electrolytes, add more salt to some things and get plenty of potassium. Eating more saturated fats and keeping higher blood sugar (i.e. more carbs distributed throughout main meals) might help a lot also. More water won't do much unless you have the proportional electrolyte intake to go with it.
Thank you so much, this reply is very helpful. I noticed actually that once when I felt this way I grabbed a container of salsa and just started eating spoonfuls of it and it made me feel much better. I also noticed that when I had a glass of red wine at my GF's parents' house I felt like ****. Makes sense right?
 
swole210

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I recently devoloped the same exact thing which you have just described! I also suspected my BP might be too low, as those are the typical signs of low blood pressure. I have beeen working to get my BP to my lower levels, and just trying to be more heart healty in general. I started to notice these low BP side effects, about 2 weeks after I started using Cycle Support. I asked my younger sister to take my blood pressure a few nights ago, and she took it a couple of times because" Man bro, your blood pressure is pretty low!". I then figured that the CS was being VERY effective on me, and perhaps Idon't need to take a full dose. I stopped taking it for a few days, and am feeling much better with regards to the light headedness and weak feeling. I do not want to stop taking the CS, as obviously it is a very effective supp, so I will just experiment with just 1/2 of one dose per day, so that is just half a scopp per day, vice the 2 full scopps per day. I would go out on a limd and say that the same has happend to you, with regards to a supp lowering your BP further than it allready was. On a side note, your normal BP is muchh lower than my normal BP, so when I get to your normal BP, I will have the bad side effects of low BP. You however, need to get down to very low numbers to start feeling the effects. In other words, there really is not a "SET" BP level for every one. A person can normally have low BP without having any negative side effects becaus it is how their body runs. A person like that, would have to get down to very low numbers( ones that would be otherwise very dangerous for someone else) in order tostart feeling negative side effects. The whole thing with the coffee has me thinking, because I read somewhere that some of the treatments for low BP are stimulants, such as Ephedrine, and I would assume caffeine as well.
 

bignative22

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I recently devoloped the same exact thing which you have just described! I also suspected my BP might be too low, as those are the typical signs of low blood pressure. I have beeen working to get my BP to my lower levels, and just trying to be more heart healty in general. I started to notice these low BP side effects, about 2 weeks after I started using Cycle Support. I asked my younger sister to take my blood pressure a few nights ago, and she took it a couple of times because" Man bro, your blood pressure is pretty low!". I then figured that the CS was being VERY effective on me, and perhaps Idon't need to take a full dose. I stopped taking it for a few days, and am feeling much better with regards to the light headedness and weak feeling. I do not want to stop taking the CS, as obviously it is a very effective supp, so I will just experiment with just 1/2 of one dose per day, so that is just half a scopp per day, vice the 2 full scopps per day. I would go out on a limd and say that the same has happend to you, with regards to a supp lowering your BP further than it allready was. On a side note, your normal BP is muchh lower than my normal BP, so when I get to your normal BP, I will have the bad side effects of low BP. You however, need to get down to very low numbers to start feeling the effects. In other words, there really is not a "SET" BP level for every one. A person can normally have low BP without having any negative side effects becaus it is how their body runs. A person like that, would have to get down to very low numbers( ones that would be otherwise very dangerous for someone else) in order tostart feeling negative side effects. The whole thing with the coffee has me thinking, because I read somewhere that some of the treatments for low BP are stimulants, such as Ephedrine, and I would assume caffeine as well.
edited,dumb comment, sry
 

krazy

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Well hey... ya got a damn nice six pack, right? :p

Anyways, had your adrenals checked? Sounds like your body cant keep up for some reason.
 
John Smeton

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every body responds to differenht stuff in a different way. could be the caff/ephed. iD GO TO THE DOCTOR.
 

rcaz01

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Could be something as simple as allergies this time of year as well. I usually get light headed from time to time if my carb intake is very low which was already suggested.

If you can't nail down a cause and if it still doesn't go away you may want to have bloodwork done to see if you have some specific defficiency. That is probably the only way to know for sure.
 
SamBoz19

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Agreed!

Also, if you cannot get a sufficient answer through the responses here, please send a PM to strategicmove with a link to this thread. Strat is one of our reps... and IMO one of the most knowledgeable and helpful members of AM.com.
^^^^This is why I and some other members refer to him as the stragepedia...:D.
 
SamBoz19

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Water Intake?

I'm thinking your problem could be a variable of things, but not necessarily one thing in particular. You mention sweating a lot...if your water intake is not really high this could be a definite cause because your body could be telling you its dehydrated...lightheadedness is a common side effect from insufficient water intake. However, on the flip side if your not getting enough sodium that could also be the problem because your body is not retaining enough water to function properly. Those are the obvious problems that I can point out that may be a problem. As was already mentioned...you could just need to eat more to get more fuel for your metabolism because otherwise your blood sugar could be too low and obviously that can lead to an array of problems. Whatever it is I hope you get yourself taken care of and back healthy and kicking ass in the gym!
 
FitJac

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All great advice - had the same problem about two months ago, went and got a blood panel done and the MD. had no clue what was wrong and said everything was fine. Went to a naturopathic dr. who looked at my test results and determined after some extensive study that it was a sort of b12 deficiency due to lack of absorption which caused a particular type of anemia. Naturopath's dig deep to find the cause of a health condition and work with your body to fix it...highly recommend you go and check it out. Your health is too important to guess.
 
goslamacamel

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Thank you so much, this reply is very helpful. I noticed actually that once when I felt this way I grabbed a container of salsa and just started eating spoonfuls of it and it made me feel much better. I also noticed that when I had a glass of red wine at my GF's parents' house I felt like ****. Makes sense right?
The salsa makes perfect sense. But I would have expected red wine to help a little. It's not very volatile, so it doesn't thin your blood much at all - especially at 1 glass worth. It does have polyphenols which should help vein elasticity which I expect would help your body get blood everywhere faster.

Whatever you can think of to increase blood volume would surely help. From an exercise standpoint, I think sprint-type workouts can help increase blood volume.
 
heebs10

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^^^^This is , why I and some other members refer to him as the stragepedia...:D.
this is true, hes not a man hes a machine, a very knowledgeable one. imo, the most knowledgeable on AM that i have come across.
 
heebs10

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you could be diluting the already low amount of electrolytes when your drinking a gallon every day. you might be going hypo after your workouts, hows your carb intake post-WO? the stims are upping your very low bp probably close to a more normal range.
 
Big BAMA

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you could be diluting the already low amount of electrolytes when your drinking a gallon every day. you might be going hypo after your workouts, hows your carb intake post-WO? the stims are upping your very low bp probably close to a more normal range.
I agree It sounds like you are getting hypoglycemic. Thus when you ate you started to feel better. What did you Dr say about this?
 
lector606

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Just an update guys

I upped my salt considerably, and I've felt 100% fine for the last few days. I guess I must have just been really deficient...

I just take a couple of tablespoons of salsa if I've got a meal with low salt, and I've kept my water intake the same or a little higher. No problems whatsoever. Sometimes I can feel it 'coming on' a little bit but then I just have some cottage cheese or salsa or something else salty and a bit of h20 and it fades.

Moral of the story is EAT YOUR SALT if you are sweating a lot. I am doing ok now even with 2 hour training sessions a couple of times daily and all I did was up my salt.
 
heebs10

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good to hear bro. your two hour training sessions are definitely paying off as far as looks go.
 
lector606

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good to hear bro. your two hour training sessions are definitely paying off as far as looks go.
Thanks very much man, I work hard :)

I am a lot smaller in person though.. just very body-photogenic
 

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