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High Blood Pressure only when visiting our Doctor. Any one?

Posted , 19 users are following.

Guest
Guest

My wife has this problem, visit Doctor blood pressure goes up.

Take blood pressure at home and pressure stays down.

After half a dozen visits to Doctors, each with recorded high pressure, Doctor has put her on pills.

Yet 99.999% of the time she is OK.

Has any one else had this experiance?

Is there a way to avoid taking these pills?

It seems illogical to me that a Doctor can say, OK I beleive your tests are true, but I must protect myself, I cannot do nothing, faced with the evidence of our own blood pressure tests.

3 likes, 37 replies

37 Replies

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  • katie.k.
    katie.k.

    Posted

    Hi there

    This is known as 'white coat syndrome' ...... my husband suffers from it. The minute a doctor or nurse takes his BP the reading shoots up :roll:

    When he takes his BP on our machine at home it is usually fine! He was initially put on medication but the side effects were awful. He then had a 24 hour BP monitor and the overall result was within the correct BP range ..... medication then ceased! Thank goodness.

    So maybe this is the next course of action for your wife.

    Good luck

  • Gerry_the_neck
    Gerry_the_neck

    Posted

    Hi,

    I totally agree with Katie.K. This was my experience (except I didn't have such bad side effects from medication). I had to wear the BP machine over weekend and then they told me my readings were fine. It seems common that BP rises when being tested at surgery.

  • Briflo
    Briflo

    Posted

    I suffer from \"white coat syndrome\" so does my wife. Before I go to Dr for annual check up for type 2 Diabetes I take my BP four times throughout a day and record reading, then I show them to the practitioner (nurse or Dr)

    My BP is normally 135/76 when resting, which isn't bad at 71. My wife was put on medication because one reading was high, according to a computor< she thought she was dying with the sider effect of Remipril

  • Guest
    Guest

    Posted

    Hi, I am having exactly this problem at the moment! Was tested for everything possible last year and my Doctor diagnosed \"white coat syndrome\" Have just been to join a gym and explained this but surprise surprise my blood pressure showed up high when they tested it as part of a fitness assessment. Another doctor at my practice now says he doesn't accept the original doctor's diagnosis and will put me on diuretics for the rest of my life! My blood pressure at home is, and always has been, perfectly normal!
  • Guest
    Guest

    Posted

    I also have high readings when in the doctor's surgery. I have been taking blood pressure medication for 6 years based on original readings taken in the surgery so now I have no way of knowing if my bp really is high... When I measure it at home it is low.

    In the end I changed my gp to a more sympathetic one and got agreement that I would monitor my own bp at home using a validated monitor. She says she will accept my readings and not try to insist that I have the measurement done by her, as it was causing me so much stress.

  • Guest
    Guest

    Posted

    I am just going through the same problems.....but I may have identified a reason.At the surgery they use an electronic digital readout.....when I have it taken at home the nurse uses the old fashioned manual type.I have had this done 3 times & by different nurses & the readings are marginally high for my age.....but as soon as I am connected to the digital one the reading is far too high.

    e.g doctors 170 / 100 at home 148 / 90.

    I am questioning how accurate these electronic monitors are because I am not convinced they as accurate as they are made out to be.or maybe

    its to get us all on these pills......???

    I think my blood pressure rises each time I even think about blood pressure. :oops: :?

    • helen_07568
      helen_07568 Guest

      Posted

      Hi there 

      I know this is an old discussion but did  you get this  sorted  bp meds and things did you get the 24 hour monitor

  • Gerry_the_neck
    Gerry_the_neck

    Posted

    It would be interesting to know if there is a connection between the manufacturers of the digital readers and the makers of Simvastatin, which seems to be the drug they are distributing left and right. You may have a point.

    Gerry

  • Topcat55
    Topcat55 Guest

    Posted

    I feel the same way your wife do. I go to the doctor for and blood pressure check and the young tech that take my vitals tells me that my blood pressure is very high. I don't understand I have my blood pressure check any where else and my blood pressure is ok. I refuse to take any more rx I think I need to go to and blood pressure Doctor.
  • Portacrean
    Portacrean Guest

    Posted

    Yes. My bp does the same thing when I go to the doctor. Don't think he believes me though. As long as it goes back down when I get home I'm ok with it. I expect it to go up at the doctors office , I guess. Maybe that's why it goes up.
    • jac15040
      jac15040 Portacrean

      Posted

      My bp goes insane when I'm at a doctors office...perfectly normal any other time.  The Dr. instantly questions me about high blood pressure, I explain how I stress when I get to the Dr.s office.  (normal for me around 114/70)  When I'm at the Dr.'s office it goes into crisis mode.  The whole idea of going to the Dr. stresses me out.
  • Bob37393
    Bob37393 Guest

    Posted

    This is known in the medical profession as White Coat Syndrome.

    For those whose sympathetic system fires up more quickly than their parasympathetic system their fight-or-flight syndrome is readily activated in response to stress through fear.

    In a doctor's surgery it's a bit like being strapped to a chair awaiting the torture of a tourniquet being applied to your limb to completely cut off the blood supply to your whole arm - to some people that is a bit frightening.

    Furthermore this invasive procedure to your anatomy is in medical terms an assault on your cardio-vascular system - this makes the measurement of taking your resting BP even worse,

    Your BP needs to be taken in a resting state which few people are likely to achieve during a 10 minute GP appointment.

     

    • Portacrean
      Portacrean Bob37393

      Posted

      Happens everytime I go to the doctor. Feel great when I go in and depressed when I leave. What I can't figure out is my b/p might be 148/84. I go walking for 30 minutes and it's down to 119/75. Stays like that for about 4 or 5 hours. Next day just starts all over again.
    • Bob37393
      Bob37393 Portacrean

      Posted

      A BP reading of 148mm Hg systolic is Hypertension stage 1 and is nowhere near a crisis or an emergency. 84mm Hg Diastolic is the range of Pre-hypertension which means that your Pulse pressure is a bit on the high side given your systolic of 148mm Hg  but nothing to worry about.

      I would say you were displaying a perfectly normal response to seeing your doctor.

       

  • Bob37393
    Bob37393 Guest

    Posted

    As an addendum to my earlier comment on Pulse Pressure it seems that when it is greater than 60 mm Hg there is in increased incidence of adverse cardiovascular events especially in the older population.
    • Portacrean
      Portacrean Bob37393

      Posted

      What do you mean. Greater than 60. Are you talking about diastolic or heart rate? I'm 70yrs old . BP average is 125/80 heart rate between 60-80. 
    • Bob37393
      Bob37393 Portacrean

      Posted

      Pulse pressure is the difference between the systolic and diastolic pressure readings. It is measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg). It represents the force that the heart generates each time it contracts. If resting blood pressure is (systolic-diastolic) 120-80 millimeters of mercury (mmHg), pulse pressure is 40.
    • Portacrean
      Portacrean Bob37393

      Posted

      Thank you so much. I didn't know the difference between the systolic and diastolic was the pulse rate. Never to old to learn.
    • Bob37393
      Bob37393 Portacrean

      Posted

      The use of pulse in relation to two heart parameters is a bit confusing.

      Just to clarify the difference:

      Pulse rate is the number of beats per minute of your heart which you can feel yourself at your wrist  whilst

      Pulse pressure is your systolic blood pressure minus your diastolic blood pressure values (in mmHg-a pressure measurement) taken by a health professional using a sphygmomanometer.

      Unfortunately their numerical values are very similar.

    • Portacrean
      Portacrean Bob37393

      Posted

      Thank you!! That does clear it up . I understand it now. I've always taken my pulse at the wrist. Having a lot of problems lately with my bp. Not sure why. It's always been in a really good range , until now. It fluctuates a lot.
    • Bob37393
      Bob37393 Portacrean

      Posted

      Looking at medical publications on variability of BP, it is recognised that there are so many factors involved in determining BP from measurement to measurement that it is difficult to draw any significant conclusions about its meaning.

      By the way, you might well get significantly different BP readings if you take them quickly one after another - it's a cardio-vascular adaptation effect.

    • Portacrean
      Portacrean Bob37393

      Posted

      I have a lot of anxiety. I worry constantly about what's causing pain in my abdomen, I worry about pain in my rib cage I'm depressed over wife passing worry about the I.R.S. You name it and I worry. Last year everything was fine. This year nothing seems to be fine. But all this has affected my blood pressure dramaticially. Have had heart desease since 2004. My doc says everything is fine. But I know the blood pressure is not controlled. Fluctuates way too much. I mean from 115/75 to 160/84 in minutes. Just from the thinking about what's causing the pain and all my other thoughts. Just dawned on me , I don't guess I really have a question..venting , I guess , Sorry.
    • Bob37393
      Bob37393 Portacrean

      Posted

      There are strict rules about taking blood pressure properly because your blood pressure naturally goes up and down due to stresses on your body including anxiety.

      The other stressors could be due to medications that you may be taking.

      The BP readings you quote are not indicative of any crisis or emergency.

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