Back to Back blood pressure reading

Don't know.  I've seen doctors take several in a row.  Myself, I seldom do a retest in less than an hour.

Many BP monitor instructions say to wait at least 5 minutes between testings to have the vascular system adjust back from the previous cuffing.

I thought the perceived wisdom was to wait 2 mins between readings. That's what my GP tells me to do. It is usually lower the second time but not always.

Quite often I get a huge drop between the 2 - as much as 20 systolic - in which case I take a third and if it is closer to the second reading then I discard the first. The GP is fine with that.

You are probably right to blame it on anxiety. The doctor I see at a hypertension centre tells me to take three or four readings over a ten minute period. If three are similar to each other to believe them but not if there is a wide disparity. Though in my case I have AF and that can confuse the monitor although my one has a flashing heart sign to indicate that.

I am registered with a University of Dundee hypertension trial (very large over 50,000 people) for which I have to send them my blood pressure reading every 3 months. They say I need to do 3 readings each 2 minutes apart so that is what I always do when taking my blood pressure. It is true that my 2nd and 3rd are always a bit lower which like you I have always put down to tension when taking the first.  It actually is important that you do not take them back to back but at least e minutes between each reading. I do not believe what you have read about back to back reading causing the blood vessels to contract - is that based on readings done by doctors as part of a clinical trial or is it just one persons opinion?

The comments May be right if you take the BP readings literally back to back. That is why GPs and nurses recommend sitting quietly 2-3 minutes between readings.