I’ve been suffering from anxiety and depression for over 20 years now. Took Prozac, Paxil, Xanax, Lexapro, Wellbutrin and Xanax over the years. A few years ago I had a DOT physical and my BP was a little over 140/90 so they wouldn’t give me the card until I saw my doctor. He put me on BP meds, 25mg of Metoprolol. This last year I was in lexapro and Wellbutrin but stopped taking them because I was tired of feeling like I needed them. I’ve been off them for months now but recently my anxiety has been out of control. I went to my doctor 2 months ago and was extremely anxious. I always tell them when I get into the exam room that my heart is racing. The nurse continues to take my BP and says it’s normal high being my heart is racing. She then checks my pulse and tells me it’s really beating fast. Then tells me she’s getting the doctor. Now I’m completely freaked out. He comes in and says he wants to run a ECG. Freaks me out even more. My pulse raced to 179. He then says it’s way too high and needs to consult with a cardiologist to get his opinion on what I should do. Comes back and says I have 2 options, go to the ER and they can give me a shot to get it back down or go to the cardiologist office and he can run a few tests. I told him they once I leave I know for sure it will return to normal. And sure enough it did. It’s anxiety/panic and I’ve been suffering over the years with it. I’ve also had severl tests done in the past and they all came out normal. I’ve ran 5 full marathons in the past 3 years so I think I’m pretty healthy. Has anyone else gone through this experience? Did you find way to help the anxiety when seeing your doc?
Sorry about the long post. It’s nice to know I’m not alone and it definitely wasn’t easy to open up about my illness, if you can call it that.
It’s called white coat syndrome, it happens so many people when they go to the doctor. If you are really concerned you could ask them for a holter monitor which I wear for three days, during these days u do everything u would normally do even go to the doctor it ll record all the activity which should prove white coat syndrome
i know what mean. my heart rate shoots up in the doctors even when i dont have appointment( im there wity my wife or my father etc...). my heart rate thunders up to 140 bpm. i was told i had coat syndrome. it always slows down when i leave the surgery. it scareed me at first but to me its normal now. i do breathing exercises while im in the doctors to try and slow my bpm down. i always sweat aswell in the doctors to the point my t shirt is soaking wet.
You sound like you have a very good doctor, very thorough before even saying it's anxiety with a high pulse/heart rate. Even though this is consistent with panic/anxiety a doctor cannot automatically say it's anxiety, like all do, your doctor did the right thing.
Relaxation techniques is what you need to learn and don't over think the symptoms, especially if you know they are anxiety related, easier said than done I know but it does work, one thing to keep in mind is panic/anxiety is always uncomfortable but never hurts.
Everyone's BP and heart rate shoots up when in doctors surgery or hospitals, most aren't aware of it, that's why doctors allow for slight increases, those that are more sensitive like anxious people will feel their heart rate go up and in your case sweat.
White coat syndrome is well known, a reading of 140 is high but not hitting the roof.
You mention you are healthy and run marathons. My Blood Pressure is about 120/83 and I cannot run a Marathon, although my age must have something to do with it, as has my disability.
Be confident in your abilities and stop worrying, you are doing fine
You have excellent blood pressure, regardless of age and disabilities you can't argue with that reading. That is text book qualities. 140/80 is Ok , this is where health problems can raise it to this , but it's nothing to worry about, anything over 150 needs to be very seriously looked at, 140 definitely needs to be looked at but it's reasonably within range depending on age and health, as I have already mentioned.
I get that 140 or above is high and can lead to health problems. But my pulse only gets that high during times of high stress like going to the doctors. When I’m at home and in comfortable environments my pulse never gets that high. The other day I was nervous to check my BP, yup anxiety 😊, my pulse was 120 and BP was fine. It always comes down after I relax. I took a reading this morning and my BP was 123/74 and pulse 54. I’ve done some research online and found that some people with anxiety that had an attack their pulse shot up to 200. Im just glad there are other ppl out there that experience the same things as me and I’m not alone.