MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Doctors tell Argentine president to cancels Mexico trip and rest another 24 hours

Mrs. Kirchner has suffered several incidents of hypotension

Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner cancelled her trip to Mexico City and rescheduled it for May 30 after being told by Presidential Medical Unit doctors to rest for a further 24 hours, despite showing a 'satisfactory improvement' from the turn of low blood pressure she suffered Tuesday.

Mrs. Kirchner was resting at the Presidential Residence in Olivos following Presidential Medical Unit doctors' “precautionary orders to rest, rather than travel”. Apparently the altitude of Mexico City was not recommended by the doctors.

Despite having been advised otherwise, the President was to travel Wednesday night to Mexico City for her meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and businessmen. The Argentine president was scheduled to travel accompanied by cabinet ministers, governors and a group made up of almost 200 businessmen.

On Tuesday the Argentine President was forced to cancel all her activities after suffering an episode of arterial hypotension, or low blood pressure, and was ordered to rest for 24 hours.

This was not the first time blood-pressure problems forced Fernández de Kirchner to put her harried schedule on pause. On January 26, the Argentine president also suffered low blood pressure while she was at Government House and was forced to rest in Olivos presidential residence and ordered to stay away from the intense heat approaching 40 degrees.

Her most serious health concern since becoming president took place in January 2009, when she was forced to rest for almost one week and even postpone a trip to Cuba under orders from the presidential doctor, Luis Buonomo, after suffering a severe fainting fit.

After that episode it became common for the President to joke about her low blood pressure. Concern over her health has grown since her husband and predecessor, Néstor Kirchner, died last October and she was forced to continue her duties in the government while still mourning.

Mrs. Kirchner is still visibly grieving and continues to tear up whenever she mentions her husband in public.

Hypotension, commonly known as low blood pressure, is characterized by a low level of arterial pressure. Symptoms of low blood pressure can include dizziness and fainting and can easily be treated with fluids and rest. But it can also be a sign of a more serious heart condition or even neurological disorders. If persistent, it can eventually deprive the brain, along with other organs, of vital oxygen, potentially leading to shock.