Blood Pressure Help

[Ccitis]

I just signed up to this site, it has helped me alot in the past! I deal with Panic Disorder, and health anxiety. The panic is usually brought on by a health concern. It comes in waves and has been bad lately. Today I was at an Oral Surgeon appointment, and they took my blood pressure.One of my big issues lately has been fear of heart issues. This results in a fast heart rate because I focus in on it and it gets worse. It usually comes down when I try to relax or get distracted.

Anyways, the oral surgeon took my BP and they were alarmed. I was basically having a panic attack, I could feel my heart racing and I was very anxious. I get like that with the dentist or the doctor. My BP was 173/93. Very high. Doctor Google says its a medical emergency. Well, they did say I should go see my doctor but did not send me to the ER. I have calmed down now a few hours later. I did stop at the drugstore to test it again and it was very high. I was quite panicked. Can this happen from a panic attack? How urgently dangerous is this. I feel ok, but I am worried that this is going to dwell in my mind and make me crazy. Any help is appreciated!

[MyNameIsTerry]

Some perspective from Blood Pressure UK's site:

http://www.bloodpressureuk.org/BloodPressureandyou/Thebasics/Whatisnormal

Most adults in the UK have blood pressure readings in the range from 120 over 80 (120/80) to 140 over 90 (140/90). If your blood pressure is within this range, you should be taking steps to bring it down or to stop it rising any further.

AND

You probably have high blood pressure (hypertension) if your blood pressure readings are consistently 140 over 90, or higher, over a number of weeks.

AND

However, a single high reading does not necessarily mean you have high blood pressure. Many things can affect your blood pressure through the day, so your doctor will take a number of blood pressure readings to see that it stays high over time.

There are loads of BP threads on here just like yours. BP rises due to stress as well as diet. Anxiety/Panic as we all know is a lot of stress, enough to be producing all our symptoms. Therefore our BP is going to be higher in these situations where our anxiety/panic levels are increased. One typical scenario is White Coat Syndrome, as you likely experienced as you even said such visits make you anxious.

This is why doctors do tests over time because isolated tests need to take into account these factors and doctors end up not knowing whether it's the stress in that one visit or whether BP is more consistently higher and masked by the comorbidity of something like an anxiety disorder.

The best thing to do would be to talk to your GP about it. If that medical professional had any doubts you would have been in an emergency room. So, they are flagging a potential issue because Hypertension needs to be controlled, if you have it, to reduce risk factors for certain more serious conditions.

Google may say it's a medical emergency but look at more credible information, like the above link, where they don't say that at all. It is a flag to a doctor, but they may find it's isolated because of the pressure you felt under as opposed to something like Hypertension. But even if it is, all it means if some tests and then likely a medication that you take once a day that keeps you BP within normal range (I got picked up for Hypertension in February, the reality is I just take a pill once a day and that's it).

[Ccitis]

Thank you Terry. This was helpful. I will setup an appointment with my GP and deal with it. I think I need to deal with the anxiety too, enough is enough.