I'd been getting headaches, went to Drs blood pressure was 151/110 I do suffer anxiety and it's worse when at Drs, they increased my dose of propranolol and said it would help anxiety and BP...
I'm having a 24h bp monitor fitted on Monday and have had to come off the pills for a week... since coming off them my bp has been mainly stable and normal but today it has increased and decreased like mad!!!
Anyone here have anything like this and had the full blood tests and bp 24h monitor? If so, what was the cause?
I have also put on a lot of weight in a very short time due to contraception.
My BP can be much higer than yours but it never gives me headaches. You should buy yourself a BP monitor approved by NICE or the british heart foundation and take readings at home. My GP accepts my readings as does
the hypertension centre. They told me to take readings at least three times a day with and four over a ten minute period to give them.
Their theory with me is that I have BP spikes and am not truly hypertensive so that prescribed meds bring it down too much causing side effects.
I find that the 24 hour monitor puts me on edge waiting for it to start up and it gives a lot of error messages and gives up at times after several failures to get a what it thinks is true reading.
Nothing worse than sitting waiting for it to go off, BP is checked over night and I think that's were they get best readings so long as you don't stay awake all night waiting for it LOL
I have an Omron. It's over 6 years old now too. I check morning, noon and night. If it's high i rest for an hour then check again! I think I've become obsessive over it! I'm so worried I'll have a stroke or something! I'm very much on edge about the 24 hour monitor and the blood tests! I'm adamant it's due to weight, anxiety and stress.
Does your Omron also have the facility to show irregular heart beats? If you don't have atrial fibriilation with the increased risks of blood clots forming you are unlikely to have a stroke.
You need a scare like this to do something about your weight. Diet and evercise will help more than pills. I would make a start on that before going on medication also sugar and salt must go. Sad that the Christmas treats must go, they are all full of fat, sugar and salt:-)
First time I had one I decided to do a long fast walk over a local hill before going shopping. I stopped every time it went off. Got on the bus with three heavy bags of shopping and had to stand holding them as it went off. As I got to our gate I was lifting my arm over it to open it and it went off again.
Later my tower computer had a fault and I was crouched behind it unplugging leads and it went off again. Fixed the fault and was lifting the computer off the table as it went off again. Got some really good readings!
I had the 24hr Monitor fitted last year and the results reflected the fact that the monitor caused me a great deal of stress. I was very tense waiting for the discomfort of it starting up every hour. To make matters worse it several times abandoned the reading and started up again! I bought an approved model of home BP monitor and the readings are accepted by my GP.
Yes it can read irregular heartbeat! I'm quite An active person it seems to be since I have started the contraceptive jab I have just piled the weight on! I've only been on it a year and have gained 4 stone!!!
I'm trying to do as much as I can for weight! Including coming off the jab!!!
This is what happens when I go to the Drs and hospitals! I become tense and nervous! I just know this 24h monitor will be exactly the same! My home ready overall are normal to low. I've had maybe 3 at home that were high!!! I'm going to get a new monitor this w/e, see if the readings are any different!
That's a good idea. I found that with regular home readings and a few lifestyle changes I can keep my blood pressure within reasonable limits - the most important thing is the relaxation techniques I now use to stay calm and relaxed - very helpful!
There is a tape or CD that teaches a breathing system to relax the user to bring down BP. I can't remember the name now but no doubt Google will find it.