High BP = Low Pulse; High Pulse = Low BP???

[Lisa J]

I am near the end of my last trimester and have been diagnosed with PIH (Pregnancy Induced Hypertension). My directions are to stay in bed with my feet up to get my blood pressure down.

I have been tracking my bp and pulse for over a week now and have noticed that at night when my bp should be at its lowest it is up around 150 - 160 over 90 - 98 and my pulse is 63 - 75. My bp finally goes down when I get up and move around. As long as I am lightly to moderately active during the day my bp stays around 120 - 130 over 70 - 80, but my pulse is 80 - 110. As my pulse goes up, the bp goes down and vise-versa.

This goes directly against everything the doctor and nurses swear should be happening, and I can't seem to find anything similar in books or on the net.

Has anyone experienced or heard of this phenomenon? If so, I'd be very interesed in knowing what might be going on with my body. THANKS!

[DMGW]

I have noticed this before too. I can't explain it either. Anyone else?l

[Rick7799]

Same here. I think it's a normal thing because I have read it on this board more than once. For a lot of people blood pressure is highest upon awakening. I know it is for me. I can be borderline in the morning and 110/70 in the evening. I have noticed the same thing with the heart rate but I don't know the reason for that. Perhaps someone else on this board can answer that.

[Tamsin]

I seem to be one of the only few who have true stress-induced hypertension. My pulse rate and BP are beautiful in the AM. It's only when I start to "live life" that my numbers increase. But it does make perfect sense to me.

[BabyCatcher]

I am a nurse, and with my postpartum patients I start worrying about what their blood pressure is doing when they start getting tachycardic....I almost ALWAYS see a significant drop in blood pressure (to which I start watching to make sure they are not bleeding too much).

The relationship between blood pressure and heart rate should be inverse, meaning that as BP drops, HR increases in order to maintain a constant cardiac output. For example, in patients who are bleeding out (less blood=less pressure being exerted by it=less cardiac output per beat), they have a compensatory rise in heart rate as a means of trying to maintain their cardiac outputs (which is the volume of blood pumped per minute....if the volume per beat decreases, the number of beats must increase to maintain that output). That works for awhile until of course, the heart CAN'T beat any faster...which is why replacing fluids is necessary.

I'm sure I made that relationship about clear as mud, huh?