My blood pressure is 101/66 and is normally around 118/74. How long is it safe to use Nitro, and what are the risks associated with low BP? I feel dizzy and have a headache, but I can tolerate that if there are no serious side effects.
Thanks,
Jennie

The systolic (101) is just a wee bit too low, but not dangerously low unless you have some medical condition whereby you could not tolerate it that low.
My BP tends to run on the low side, 66 as a diastolic reading really is not bad at all.
There is a good difference between the two, so you should be quite safe.
I am not certain of any specific risks of low BP, but yours doesn't really seem low enough to be a problem. I have researched low BP before and actually found little information...

Thanks, Kim. That is quite a relief!
Jennie

yeah i think as long as your top number is above 100 but not over like 140 then you should be okay as long as your lower number is between 65-90 but remains stable and constant.
i know my other half has a resting heart rate of like 47 - which is like dead to me :-)
as kim said, a lower number in the 60s may actually be pretty good :-)

It is important to remember that you need distance between the two numbers. A person who is dying will likely have a BP reading of, say, 60/40. I have to believe, my old buddy Gareth, that a reading like 100/90 would also be quite dangerous, but also probably extremely rare. In this case, (Jennie's) there is about as much variation in the two numbers (101/66) as there is a "quote" normal reading of 120/70. Which is great!

I couldn't handle nitroglycerin; my doctor gave me an extremely high percentage (I think it was 2% rather than 0.2%), and I just felt like passing out when I used it. I would be able to feel my heart beating in different parts of my body and My head would be hurting so I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything. I'd just put it on and run to bed and hope to fall asleep before the headache came.
That's why I switched over to diltiazem, the effects have been MUCH less severe. I've never got a headache with it. I just don't know which one is more effective, though.