Blood Pressure Phobia

I had the GP's attack dogs on my neck about an annual BP check (I'm a retired male) and I kept telling them that I even get would up testing it myself at home so a figure taken by an medical professional is bound to be high. Eventually they gave my a 24h wearable BP monitor to use. After the end of the test I took it to a practice nurse and she downloaded the data. So 'normal' was it she just said (jokingly) go home and don't waste my time! You're absolutely normal especially when you're asleep and don't know it's being tested.

Zombie thread.

Coincidentally Ihave had my BP taken at the surgery this morning.
It was 144 over 95
The nurse said, slightly high but just within normal for my age.
When I got home I took it with my monitor.
137 but cant remember lower reading.
Am quite ok with those.

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Gransue, another factor that is almost always overlooked in GP surgeries is the chair itself. People who are not standard height and weight are often not supported comfortably by the chair. In ours, the patient uses a slippery plastic bucket chair. I am obese so I need a lower chair else the back of my legs stops my feet resting on the floor firmly (a requisite for BP readings) and by fat bottom stops me sitting back into the chair fully thus slipping forward in the chair unless I brace myself. Not only am I anxious about the reading, but I am not physically relaxed either.

Thank you Gransue for your professional input! Nice to hear from 'the other side' so we know we are doing things correctly. My BP is finally much lower when I'm at home still hovering higher when in the surgery especially early mornings, I guess my medication hasn't kicked in properly. Plus the nurse uses my right arm and asks me questions while it's being taken!

Thank you for your explanation gransue60 I have often wondered why the machine pumps up so hard in the surgery while mine at home does it much more gently. I have asked but never really got a satisfactory answer.

I was a Practice Nurse before retirement. We had a lot of problems with the automatic monitors as the machines don’t know what level your bp is so pumps it up very high on the first reading which people found very uncomfortable!
I was taught by my colleague who also worked in bp research.
You need to sit comfortably for at least 5 minutes, have your arm well supported on a table , legs uncrossed, the correct size cuff ( a fatter arm needs a larger cuff) Ignore the first reading and take the average of the next two or the lowest. Taking a few deep breaths and breathing out slowly also helps
I used to despair seeing people in hospital waiting rooms with their arms floating in mid air having their bp taken
24 hour monitors are good for white coat syndrome. However your bp is a fluctuating entity and the levels at home need to be lower than surgery readings.
I realised early on that bp measurement is a fine art and needs to be done properly!
I sympathise with all you white coaters as I’m now the same!
Posters talking about reading a book while taking are a really good idea.

Both DH and I have white coat hypertension, even walking through the surgery door sends it up, so have home machine which has the readings reassuringly normal.

Poor friend went in for cataract op and her systolic had shot up to over 200 when the staff took it just beforehand. They couldn't go ahead with it that high, so she was sent home and told to visit her GP. BP came back to normal, it was just the thought of the op while conscious that had triggered the rise, I suspect I would be the same at the thought of someone sticking a scalpel in my eye whilst I just sat there told to keep still!

Bluesky that's interesting about the dosage of Amlodipine. I've checked and mine is 5mg.
I've been taking various BP meds since I had a mild heart attack in 2006 and each seems to have its +s and -s.

Agree it can go up if you're getting stressed about it.

When I had dd2, we were living on a construction camp in the middle of a desert. It was a good 45 min drive to the hospital for checks, and there was always a fuss about my BP, putting weight on, not putting weight on, plus I was sternly told when asking what my BP was that I didn't need to know and should not be worrying about it!

All of which would have me in a bit of a state even before I went.
So after a couple of visits like this I got our doc on the camp to take my BP before I went - write it down, sign and stamp it, to show them that it was largely the stress of the visit sending it up.

I take 3 BP medications: 8mg Perindopril, 5mg Amlodipine and 2.5mg Indapamide, luckily with no side effects and they did finally bring my readings to an acceptable level. But I cannot tolerate any higher dosage of Amlodipine, when 10mg was tried I ended up with awful palpitations.

. Glammagran wrote
"Now I've convinced myself I am developing heart disease as my heart often races in the middle of the night while I’m resting."
That happens to me as well. I hate it.
I now have the betablockers next to my bed and take one as routine during the night. Which helps.
I'm going to ask the Dr.about it next time I go.
As for BP, I do take Amlodipine and usually the reading is ok.

Glammagran, try magnesium and potassium supplements. Not everyone has the same reason for their palpitations of course, but mine is always settled by a few days of supplements.

Mine was very high at the Drs this morning. I mentioned white coat syndrome, She gave me a monitor to bring home for a week and of course tonight it’s spot on perfect

My gp (not go)

My bp is usually around 135/85 typically - not low as it was when I was young but not really high either. However I do have an unusually high pulse rate which is often well over 100bpm but not all the time. This showed up on a 24 heart rate monitor with ectopic beats and I was prescribed beta blockers which gave me awful headaches and made me feel generally unwell. I tried others to no avail. When I stopped go just shrugged and didn’t suggest anything else. Now I've convinced myself I am developing heart disease as my heart often races in the middle of the night while I’m resting.

I think those monitors are good and give you a good Idea what your pressure is but do not become obsessed and check to often it wont help. Use it sensibly. Good luck

Most important thing.
Rest 5 mins b4 taking
Use right size cuff
Use left arm
Have connection wires pointing down arm
Record dont fret
If raised wait 10 mins, rest
Consistently high readings see Dr
Read heart n stroke website great info.

I discovered by chance that I had "white coat hypertension". In other words, my blood pressure shot up at the surgery, so my medication was changed and I had a lecture about this that and the other. Then I was told to get my own monitor, cost £25, best money I ever spent!
I sat on my bed, watching Sewing Quarter (I'm a sewing addict!) Put the machine on my arm, and turned it on. First test was very high, but I sat quietly, and redid the test several times in 10 minutes. (The instructions say to sit down and wait 10 minutes). The results were dramatic, after the fourth test my BP was well within the normal range!

I have very high blood pressure (180/95 and that's after taking 102.5 mg of pills daily) and have found that doctors use a stethoscope to hear your heartbeat before releasing the pump to define your BP - the ones you use on your upper arm at home, often don't do this , so you end up going Ah Ah Ah before a reading (sure to raise your BP)
Then there are the units that go on your wrist - they don't seem to squeeze so tightly and are more user friendly - even my I-pad has BP apps I can download and just use the pressure of my finger on the pad ( it's almost always perfect on the I-pad), then finally - a lot of the 'fit' wrist watches claim to give you a blood pressure reading - not sure how they work without squeezing your wrist - so in conclusion it would seem that having your BP done at the doctors is possible the most accurate method

Yes, really useful thread, BlueSky. I'm 60, 5'4", 8st 10lb, with what I thought was a healthy diet and exercise regime. But, I was hospitalised a couple of weeks ago with BP of 173/110! Have been put on Amlodipine 5mg which doesn't seem to be doing much to bring my numbers down, so I may ask for the dosage to be changed. I'm really shocked, as I've not had a BP problem previously.

Last week I had a 24 hour ecg monitor. I had a funny turn which I had been telling my GP about for the last 3 years but each time I had a halter monitor nothing showed up accept ectopic beats which are not life threatening. When I went back with the monitor this time and told them I had had an horrendous attack of one of my funny turns they downloaded the result straight away and when I saw the GP turns out it was like Angina and my blood pressure taken that morning was like 198/110 from what I could see when glancing at the monitor although she did take it a couple of times. As the GP was young and a locum I was told she would ring me after my own GP had seen the reading, an hour later I was told to collect a prescription for another BP tablet and a statin as well as folic acid and advised they were fast tracking me to see a heart specialist within the next 2 weeks and I was also given a spray for under the tongue as well. All very frightening and no wonder my BP was high. At least they caught it this time on the monitor and hopefully I will get a proper diagnosis and treatment. This is a very helpful thread by the way.

I have white coat syndrome but has more to do with the automatic BP monitors they now use. I had a fall and cut my head, so had to go to hospital. While there the BP monitor they put me on was so tight when inflated that I was nearly climbing off the bed , it was so painful. So since then, every time I have one of them put on me, I can feel my BP go up! Thank fully, one of the GPs uses one of the old manual monitors on request, which don't bother me so much!
At home I have one that goes on my wrist - GP reckons it is as good as the one on the arm.

I only need to think about my BP to feel it shooting up. Yet most of the time I am ok. I remember a former GP shouting at me ‘Get your BP under control!’....and banging his hand on his desk. That was the start of it for me.