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BERLIN, GERMANY. Orthostatic hypotension (low blood pressure when in the upright
position) is a common complication of a failure of the autonomic nervous system. A team
of American and German researchers now report that drinking water is an effective way of
raising the blood pressure in individuals suffering from orthostatic hypotension brought on
by autonomic failure. Their experiment involved 19 patients with severe hypotension and
11 controls. Participants were seated in a chair with their feet on the floor. Blood
pressure and heart rate were measured with an automated brachial blood pressure cuff.
After 30 minutes of baseline recording each participant drank 480 ml of tap water. About
35 minutes after drinking the water the systolic blood pressure had increased by an
average of 11 mm Hg (millimeter of mercury) in both healthy controls and autonomic
failure patients. The researchers also observed a significant increase in the blood level of
norepinephrine in the healthy individuals about 30 minutes after drinking the water. They
conclude that drinking water can provide a rapid relief of symptoms due to orthostatic
hypotension in autonomic failure patients. They warn though that drinking water can
result in dangerously high blood pressure in patients lying down (supine position). They
also conclude that water should be considered to be an active substance rather than a
placebo when blood pressure is involved.
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