Suddenly standing up and seeing black in front of your eyes, is it anemia or low blood pressure? How to deal with it? The doctor explains it clearly

Many people may have experienced this situation: when sitting, especially squatting, and suddenly standing up, their vision becomes black, and sometimes they even fall down. This situation is especially common in women or the elderly.

Some say it is anemia, others say it is low blood pressure. What is going on? How can we avoid it?

1. It is generally not anemia, but anemia will aggravate this condition

The early symptoms of anemia may include dizziness, often accompanied by palpitations, fatigue, drowsiness, pale complexion, etc. The dizziness caused by anemia is often persistent, not just when you stand up from squatting. However, if you also have blacking out before your eyes when you stand up, then combined with anemia, this blacking out before your eyes will be aggravated.

If you suspect anemia, it is easy to check. A routine blood test can confirm whether you have anemia.

Second, the most common cause is orthostatic hypotension

The most common cause of blacking out or dizziness when standing up from squatting is low blood pressure, which is called orthostatic hypotension.

Orthostatic hypotension, simply put, is a clinical syndrome in which the systolic blood pressure continues to drop by at least 20 mmHg, or the diastolic blood pressure continues to drop by at least 10 mmHg within the first 3 minutes when you move from a lying position to a standing position, or suddenly stand up from squatting. Symptoms may or may not appear.

When we squat, especially for a long time, more blood will be stored in the lower limbs. Relatively speaking, more blood in the body is concentrated in our lower body. Our head is at the highest point, and the brain itself requires the most blood and oxygen. When we stand up suddenly, the heart's blood and oxygen supply must quickly supply blood to the brain in order to meet normal brain work. However, due to various reasons, such as arteriosclerosis in the elderly, which leads to low blood pressure, the blood pressure is too low to quickly supply blood to the brain, and the brain will experience transient cerebral ischemia and hypoxia, which manifests as black spots in front of the eyes, or even dizziness and falls.

Orthostatic hypotension may occur at any age, but it is more likely to occur with age, accounting for about 20% of the elderly, and even up to 50% of the elderly with multiple diseases and frail bodies. Orthostatic hypotension is the second leading cause of syncope, accounting for about 15% of all syncope patients.

3. What are the common causes of orthostatic hypotension?

This condition is more likely to occur in the elderly, mainly because the elasticity of their blood vessels decreases, and the stress resistance and regulation abilities of the entire body are also reduced.

Common specific reasons include adverse drug reactions. Drugs for the treatment of prostate disease have antihypertensive effects, which can easily cause postural hypotension. For example, vasodilators such as nitroglycerin, diuretics, antidepressants, etc. may cause orthostatic hypotension. For example, insufficient water in the body, drinking too little water, excessive sweating, bleeding, etc. can also cause orthostatic hypotension. There are also some diseases, such as long-term bed rest, fever, heart failure, pericarditis, etc., which can also cause orthostatic hypotension.

There are also some neurological diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, multiple system atrophy, dementia, Parkinson's disease, etc.; some other diseases such as cerebrovascular accident, brain tumors, etc. may also cause orthostatic hypotension.

There are also some young people, especially women, who do not have any diseases or the above-mentioned factors, but are physically weak and lack exercise. They may also experience black spots in front of their eyes when they squat for a long time and then stand up suddenly.

How to treat or alleviate this condition

For very serious cases such as fainting, it is necessary to determine whether cardiopulmonary resuscitation is needed. Generally, there will be no cardiac arrest and cardiopulmonary resuscitation is not required. After waking up the patient, give him/her light saline and send him/her to the emergency room if necessary.

If this situation occurs repeatedly, the first thing to do to ensure safety is that no matter whether you are old or young, or have any disease, you must move slowly. When getting up from a lying, squatting or sitting position, you must do it slowly. Only by moving slowly can you avoid blacking out again.

At the same time, if you experience black spots in front of your eyes, you must squat down immediately. On the one hand, this will relieve the black spots in front of your eyes, and on the other hand, it will prevent the injury from getting worse after falling.

Of course, different reasons require treatment based on the cause. If it is clear orthostatic hypotension, it is recommended to eat small meals frequently, not drink alcohol, reduce large amounts of carbohydrates in the diet, and ensure adequate water intake every day.

If anemia is present, correct it as soon as possible. If it recurs and cannot be avoided through movement adjustments, go to the hospital and receive necessary drug treatment.

Many young people who do not have any disease may experience similar situations. Generally, no special treatment is required. They can just strengthen exercise, improve vascular tolerance, and adjust vascular adaptability and stress resistance to reduce the occurrence of this situation.

In short, if you suddenly stand up from squatting and your vision becomes black, the vast majority of the time it is due to orthostatic hypotension, but the causes of orthostatic hypotension are different. First, you must eliminate the cause. If the cause cannot be eliminated, the best way is to get up slowly, and slower, to avoid blacking out and avoid danger.

Young people who do not have any disease should exercise more to reduce or avoid this situation!