🎯Three Content Types · One Force Field
Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. Track personal progress in your Course and Skills Lab.
📘 Learn It Content type
Concepts to absorb.
🛠 Live It Content type
Daily skills and habits.
📣 Share It Content type
Teach, advocate, carry forward.
🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares
Read each square. Deeper detail lives in the Prepared Patient Orthostatic Hypotension course.
What OH Actually Is
Blood pressure drops when you stand. Brain doesn't get enough blood briefly — dizziness or faint.
Learn ItCommon Causes
Meds (BP, prostate, Parkinson's), dehydration, autonomic conditions, deconditioning.
Learn ItSpot the Red Flags
Fall with head injury · loss of consciousness · confusion after fall · chest pain.
Learn ItTriggers
Hot showers, big meals, dehydration, standing fast, new BP-lowering meds.
Learn ItKnow Your Numbers
BP sitting + standing. Drop of 20 systolic or 10 diastolic = OH.
Learn ItMed Review
Many cases are medication-induced. Review every new pill with your team.
Live ItHydration + Salt
Often increased fluids and salt help — unless you have heart failure.
Live ItSlow Position Changes
Sit a beat, ankle pumps, then stand. Hold something stable.
Live ItMake Every Visit Count
Bring sitting + standing BP log and a list of all meds + supplements.
Live ItYour Care Team
PCP + sometimes neurologist (autonomic) + cardiologist.
Live ItTelehealth
Med review by telehealth works well.
Live ItInsurance & Cost
Compression stockings often need a Rx for insurance coverage.
Live ItCompression & Binders
Stockings or abdominal binders help some patients.
Live ItTeach & Mentor
Falls are devastating in older adults. Share what you've learned.
Share ItAdvocate
Push for medication review at every visit — OH is often missable.
Share ItResearch & Trials
Newer drugs (droxidopa, midodrine), autonomic testing advances.
Share ItThree things to learn before you actually need them.
This is the teaching. Workflow lives in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers in your Course.
Which door do I use?
Orthostatic hypotension is mostly a fall-prevention story. The ladder is about pattern + falls.
Handle at home
- Usual brief dizziness on standing that passes in seconds
- Following hydration and salt plan
- Compression stockings if prescribed
Log it. Stand up slowly, sit a beat before standing.
Call the office / message the portal
- More frequent dizziness episodes
- Skipped or doubled a BP med
- New medication from another doctor that may interact
- Falls without major injury
Same day. Medication-induced OH is common and fixable.
Urgent / Acute care
- Near-faint or brief faint without injury
- Falls with bruising
- Persistent dizziness even when sitting
- New leg weakness or numbness on standing
Urgent care. Especially if a fall happened.
ER NOW / call 911
- Fall with head injury — especially on a blood thinner
- Loss of consciousness lasting more than a few seconds
- Confusion after a fall
- Chest pain or shortness of breath
- Inability to stand at all
Call 911. Don’t move someone with a possible spine or head injury.
How to describe a new symptom in 30 seconds
Six questions clinicians listen for every time.
What is it?
Plain words.
How bad?
0-10.
When did it start?
Time + what you were doing.
What made it worse?
Movement · food · meds.
What helped?
Even a little.
What else was new?
Fever · med · supplement · stress. The forgotten detail often shifts the diagnosis.
“Lightheadedness on standing has been worse this week, a 5, worse in the morning, came on after my BP med got increased, water in the morning before standing helps a little, and I’ve been drinking less because of the heat.”
Questions worth asking
Four for every patient, every condition, every visit:
- “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
- “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
- “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
- “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”
Questions specifically for Orthostatic Hypotension:
- “Could one of my medications be causing this — especially BP, prostate, or Parkinson’s meds?”
- “Am I dehydrated — and how much salt and fluid is right for me?”
- “Are compression stockings or abdominal binders right for me?”
- “Should I have autonomic testing if symptoms are severe?”
- “What’s our fall-prevention plan at home?”