Blood pressure - anxiety

[robin321]

If anyone read my post yesterday, I had my annual checkup and was worried about my blood pressure readings. I was very nervous yesterday. My resting heart rate is normally 65. Yesterday it was 85 during the day, and up to 100 in the hr leading up to my appt. Even after the appt, it only came down slowly at night, never below 85. Today it is 73 or so. So the appt really made my anxious!

Anyway, my readings were 155, 153, 140, and 155 again. I didn't see the bottom #.

My dr wants me to take my blood pressure 3 times a week for a month. If it is still high, I might have to take medication.

The problem is that just the physical act of taking my blood pressure, even thinking about it, makes me nervous. I am thinking about buying a home monitor. I am worried it will make me obsess.

Has anyone else gone through anything like this? Does anyone have a monitor? Do you check it constantly?

As a background, I am 38. My blood test was great. I consider myself physically active. I go the gym 4x a week, running 3-5 miles at a time.
My one 'vice' is I do eat out a few times a week. I am not overweight and do not smoke.

[Fishmanpa]

Without knowing both the systolic and diastolic readings it's difficult to assess. However, based on your post and your history/lifestyle, it certainly sounds like doctor visit related anxiety based on it being well within normal limits prior to the visit.

Do what your doctor says and chart the results. What else can you do?

Positive thoughts

[Catherine S]

Yes we call it 'White Coat Syndrome' here and my doc knows this about me too. I have a home monitor and this reads almost normal when taken at home but when my doctor takes it at the surgery its always high, so he asked me to bring the monitor in and take my BP on it in front of him to check that it was working properly and lo and behold, the reading was high in the surgery even on my home monitor...160 over 90, yet at home it can be around 138/140 over 79/85 which is fairly good at my age to be honest.

There is always a chance that you will take it alot at first on a home monitor but in time you won't bother so much because the normal readings reassure you enough to forget about it more believe me. I hardly think about it now and only take it about once a month.

[robin321]

Thank you 'I still believe' and 'Fish'. I Still, I hope I am like you. It is nice to know I am not alone.

It is funny. I have an app on my phone that can tell me my heart rate. Up to 2 days ago it was 65. Yesterday it was up to 100. But even today, it is mostly around 80 and never below 75. Obviously that is my anxiety. But it is scary that it could have such a lasting effect. I think it is because I am stressed about it, which is biasing the reading. I am hoping the blood pressure is the same.

I guess I will buy a monitor tomorrow, because as Fish said, I have no choice. I could do it at the pharmacy, but my nerves will get me there. At least at home I can practice and hopefully desensitize myself.

[robin321]

Yesterday was a bad day, as was Monday. It is funny, I thought I was over my health anxiety. I see a therapist ever month or 2, and I hadn't seen her for 2 months because I felt great. Last week I finally saw her, but it was a bit of a waste because I wasn't stressed. It shows that HA is never really cured. It is just masked. The real test is when something happens.

Well I was super stressed the day of my appt (Monday), and even irratible on the weekend. Yesterday I felt in a daze. I also felt this irrational need to constantly check my heart rate. Last weekend it was 65, and I was very proud of that. This is what it has been lately. Monday it was over 100, and yesterday it was in the 80's. Of course I know that I was fueling this. I didn't suddenly develop a condition. Yet I couldn't help it, I had to keep checking, hoping it would be in the 60's again. I even got up at 4am to check!!

But today has been better. I was in a class this AM, so couldn't really check. And I feel better.

You would think I am the first person to ever have high blood pressure. It has constantly been on my mind. Do I have high blood pressure? Is it anxiety? What if it is anxiety, but I cannot treat it? What if this throws me into a depression? What if I do have it, but treatment doesn't work? What if treatment does work, but I have horrible side effects and cannot have treatment? Will I die in 10yrs?

These are the thoughts that consumed me. Going on Google to look stuff up just fed into it. And constantly checking my heart rate kept me anxious.

Today I had to pay attnetion to something else, and it did me great. I need to just take things one step at a time. I am scared about checking it, but boo hoo, right? People have worse problems, and I need to step up and actually be a man. I am afraid of the stress, but I am actually under stress now. I am living what I am fearing to avoid facing my fear? Does that make sense? No, and it shouldn't.

---------- Post added at 21:19 ---------- Previous post was at 17:58 ----------

So I went to the pharmacy. The first reading was 160 or so over 110. I was very anxious. The 2nd reading came down a bit.
I bought a home monitor. First reading was 180! Then around 155. I took several readings over 2 hrs to get used to it. My readings were as low as 122 over 78, to as high as 160 over 110. Most were in the range of 139-148, and this was when I relaxed and paid attention to something else. For a few it was consistently lower (around 138) then I got a high one and it sends my anxiety up. I think I will limit myself to using the avg of 3 or 4 readings ever few days.

[Fishmanpa]

I think as you get used to it and calm down, you'll see a downward trend :)

Positive thoughts

[Eyji1]

My blood pressure is always 10 - points higher at doctors. Well until recently. The less I think about my bloodpressure the better it is lol.

[Catherine S]

You will get used to it, and blood pressure is so sensitive to absolutely any movement we make..even housework can increase it muchly! Also, try not to worry about what might happen in 10 years time, this will only make you stressed. The baseline for BP has been set by a medical professional some years ago but one readingdoesn't fit all, nobody really knows what happens inside our bodies as we all react in different ways to outside/inside influences.
We've all read about people who eat junk and smoke loads but live to a ripe old age. My mother has been taking BP meds for over 30 years, she's 82 now and still living life, the only thing that bothers her is her arthritis! I think we worry far too much about numbers and details.

Take care :)

[robin321]

Thanks again to you both.
Today I felt much better. Almost myself.
Tonight I had some time, so I took my blood pressure. It was not an ideal time, since I had just eaten 20min before. But it is partly to get over the fear of it, and of high numbers.

Over 20min I took 12 readings (half on each arm). The first reading was 153 over 90, then it dropped to 148 147 and then 138. The low reading was 122, with several in the 130's. The average was 142 over 90.

I am pleased with this since BP is higher after eating. But mainly it was a step to overcoming the fear.

[robin321]

I took it this morning right after waking up and sort of freaking out.

As usual the first reading was high (160 over 105). It came down over 10min or so. My average top reading was 142 but I had a few in the 135-140 range.

The bottom number has me concerned though. It was always over 100. I am hoping this is cause I was talking to me kids, or cause it was on wrong. But it is freaking me out.