How Is Hypotension Treated?

Treatment depends on the type of hypotension you have and how severe your signs and symptoms are. The goals of treatment are to relieve signs and symptoms and manage any underlying condition(s) causing the hypotension.

Your response to treatment depends on your age, overall health, and strength. It also depends on how easily you can stop, start, or change medicines.

In a healthy person, low blood pressure without signs or symptoms usually needs no treatment.

If you have signs or symptoms of low blood pressure, you should sit or lie down right away. Put your feet above the level of your heart. If your symptoms don’t go away quickly, you should seek medical care right away.

Orthostatic Hypotension

There are a number of treatments for orthostatic hypotension. If you have this type of low blood pressure, your doctor may advise making lifestyle changes such as:

• Drinking plenty of fluids, like water
• Drinking little or no alcohol
• Standing up slowly
• Not crossing your legs while sitting
• Gradually sitting up for longer periods if you’ve been immobile (not able to move around much) for a long time due to a medical condition
• Eating small, low-carbohydrate meals if you have postprandial hypotension (a form of orthostatic hypotension)

Talk to your doctor about using compression stockings. These stockings apply pressure to your lower legs. They help move blood throughout your body.

If medicine is causing your low blood pressure, your doctor may change the medicine or adjust the dose you take.

Several medicines also are used to treat orthostatic hypotension. These medicines, which raise blood pressure, include fludrocortisone and midodrine.

Neurally Mediated Hypotension

If you have neurally mediated hypotension (NMH), you may need to make lifestyle changes. These may include:

• Avoiding situations that trigger symptoms. For example, don’t stand for long periods. Try to avoid unpleasant, upsetting, or scary situations.
  
• Drinking plenty of fluids, like water.
• Increasing your salt intake (as your doctor advises).
• Learning to recognize symptoms that occur before fainting and taking action to raise blood pressure. For example, sitting down and putting your head between your knees can help raise blood pressure.

If medicine is causing your low blood pressure, your doctor may change the medicine or adjust the dose you take. He or she also may prescribe a medicine to treat NMH.

Children who have NHM often outgrow it.

Treating Severe Hypotension Linked to Shock

Shock is a life-threatening emergency. People who have shock usually need to be treated in a hospital or by emergency medical personnel. If a person has signs or symptoms of shock, someone should call 9–1–1 right away.

The goals of treating shock are to:

• Restore blood flow to the organs as quickly as possible to prevent organ damage
• Find and reverse the cause of shock

Special fluid or blood injected into the bloodstream is often used to restore blood flow to the organs. Medicines can be used to raise blood pressure or make the heartbeat stronger. Depending on the cause of the shock, other treatments, such as antibiotics or surgery, may be needed.