Orthostatic hypotension after surgery: what to know

After an operation, your circulation may be adjusting to bed rest, reduced movement, fluid loss, pain, or medicines that lower blood pressure. When you rise, blood can briefly collect in your legs before the body tightens the blood vessels and keeps enough blood moving to the brain. You may feel light-headed, weak, blurred vision, or unsteady. These symptoms describe a response to standing; they do not by themselves identify the cause.

A recent procedure, illness, or change in medicines can make the symptom more noticeable. Tell the surgical team or your GP what happens, when it began, and whether it improves after sitting or lying down.

Before standing, sit on the edge of the bed and move your feet or ankles. Rise with support, pause, and walk only when you feel steady. Keep pathways clear and avoid carrying hot drinks or using stairs alone if you feel faint. Follow the fluid, eating, and activity advice given for your operation; do not add salt, stop a prescribed medicine, or increase fluids without checking first.

Record episodes alongside meals, pain, medicines, and activity. A clinician may review your recovery, examine you, and compare blood pressure while lying or sitting with readings after standing. A [GP Consultation](/treatments/consultations-and-assessment/gp-consultation/) can help arrange this assessment. For symptom information, see [Dizziness](/symptoms/dizziness/).

Contact your surgical team or a clinician promptly if faintness keeps returning, you actually faint, you cannot stand safely, or symptoms are worsening. Seek urgent help for chest pain, severe breathlessness, new confusion, marked weakness, a new speech or movement problem, heavy bleeding, or an inability to keep fluids down. If you fall and hit your head, arrange urgent assessment even if you feel better afterward.

Ask which medicines may contribute, whether your wound and fluid intake are progressing as expected, whether you need lying-and-standing blood pressure checks, and which activity limits apply during recovery.