white coat syndrome

Can someone please help me overcome my cronic whitecoat syndrome as its ruining my life really is i have reverted to taking citalipram just because i cant stop thinkin of bloody horrible blood pressue please i beg i need help

Cathy crumble xx:ohmy:

Do you take it at home or only at the doctor's?

What is it that worries you?

What are the readings like?

I cant take it at home now i panic too much so i gave my machine to my ex. when i moved in to my house 3 months ago i change doctors and i was terrified to go and see the health visitor but i explaind to him and he was lovely when i got there he took it and it was 135 /80 and he was happy and said come back in 12 months and i was happy as i was then taking my citalipram so i had it all into perspective but i suddenly stoped my cits at easter then all the fear and phobia of bp came back so i went back to gp who put me back on 20mg for a wk i was bad so put me on 30mg 4wks ago am stil panicy so went gp yesterday and while there i sed take my bp sorry i did and it was 138/100 but she said it was coz i was in the surgary and i was anxious the problem is i know when i am calm it's ok i have just made it into a magor phobia and i cant be rational about it so now i am waiting for my gp to ring me today to ask her if i can go upto 40mg. The reason i went to gp yesterday was i am feeling very sick so she gave me antacids i know its citalipram that makes me feel sick, as i was like this when i went on them last september. And that was when i had my bp first done. it was border line then i am sorry i went never been the same person since sooooooo down and miserable .

Cathy xx

If the readings are ok then there is no need to worry really.

Even if it was high you could go on blood pressure medication but I don't think that is the case with you as the readings are not that bad.

There must be a reason you are obsessed with your blood pressure though??

I am on 5mg of amlodipine for my bp as its a long story but i have been in an abusive mariage i am now seperated but i lost my job last november i was in hospital last september with bad water infection was in a car crash in march 2010 thats when my bp was noted when i went in hospital after crash so thy told me to get it checked at gp so i hung on coz didnt what to go then i plucked up courage and went last august it was borderline and nurse sed come back in a month and that when i had bad water infection and ended up in hospital for 3 days which mad my bp go up so i aske for a bp tablet and i have been on it ever since i really dont think i need it i just cant relax. I have had a bad time the last couple of years maybe i am just focusing on the bp i read claire weekes book and she says it free floating anxiety but thats no good i just need to put this into perspective i am soo anxious now. I think i fear a stroke or something bad happening I just dont know how to handle this bp thing please if you have any advice

Cathy xx

Personally I think you would benefit from some form of counselling or CBT to help with this.

Your doctor would be able to refer you for this and it could very well help.

You do need to get on top of this though as all the worrying and stress is not good for your mind or your body.

I have just had a phone consultation from one of the gps and she wants to see me next wed when she is in and she has said for me to up my citalipram to 40mg and shes refering me to have some help with excercise and told me when i come in to have my bp taken to take a diazipan just to relax me I dont take them but I was given them only 2 wks supply and i think she realized how anxsious i am so she going to try and help me and she also said my bp is not that high and she has about 50% of people who have white coat and some have really high bp so I will try my best to put this into perspective xx

Cathy x

I found it helpful to do some deep breathing/ listen to music while getting my BP measured.

I don't think those readings are high and the fact you were written off for 12 months is confirmation of that.

Hi white coat syndrome is really common but to be honest I don't think you have it, your readings are no where near high enough to be classified as high.
I have white coat syndrome and mine can be much higher than yours with a rapid HR to go with it
My Doc's don't even take it anymore because I was given a monitor to use at home and when I'm relaxed it's a perfectly good reading.
So please don't let this be the sum of your existence or you will find your quality of life is zero.

White coat syndrome is a very common occurrence in the medical environment. The best thing to do is to take you’re blood pressure at home or at work where you are relaxed. That would give you the most accurate reading. Or a 24 hour holter Monitor could be a good idea. It’s a blood pressure monitor that you wear for 24 hours at home and do you’re usual daily activities and at the end you just bring it back to the doctors office.