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.
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
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.
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
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!
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.
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: :?
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Thank you so much. I didn't know the difference between the systolic and diastolic was the pulse rate. Never to old to learn.
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.
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.