Panicking over my high blood pressure!

[Howanxious]

Hi guys! I need your help! Last friday I was in the cardiologist to have a regular checkup because i'm going to start gym (I'm 21, healthy, thin, don't smoke, don't drink and so on) and to my surprise when he took my BP it was... 150/80!!!!! Yes, I was a little anxious like always when I'm in a doctor's office (because of my HA) but that was totally inusual for me. He told me to keep an eye on it and check my BP two times a day during one week and then bring the readings to him. My GF has knowleadge about blood pressure measure so she manually took it today: my lowest reading was 135/60 and the others were always 140/70-80... It ISNT GOOD for a 21 years old man. I admit that now I can't totally relax when anyone it's going to take my BP but now i'm doubting if it's really some kind of white coat syndrome or if i'm a pre-hypertensive patient :(
Anybody had experienced something similar? Please!

[MyNameIsTerry]

Because you are anxious about it I expect every reading is flawed. When I had my blood pressure checks recently they were initially higher than expected (but I had just been walking) so I worked on my breathing to relax my body and they took another reading. So, you could try calming your breathing because that will lower blood pressure to give a reading less influenced by anxiety.

If your doctor wants to determine if you have high blood pressure and rule out white coat syndrome they just use the 24hr ambulatory test where you wear a monitor.

[Fishmanpa]

Does your doctor know you suffer from HA? Telling you to check twice a day just poured gasoline on the fire IMO.

I have to do the same thing but I have heart disease and needed to monitor due a medication adjustment. You're supposed to get real comfortable for ten minutes or so, then take it two times, five minutes apart, taking the lower reading as most accurate.

IMO, you're basically getting white coat syndrome and you're the doctor! If you have to do this per doctor's orders, do as I explained above. See if it makes a difference. Those instructions came with the BP unit and echoed my cardiologist's instructions.

Positive thoughts

[Howanxious]

Does your doctor know you suffer from HA? Telling you to check twice a day just poured gasoline on the fire IMO.

I have to do the same thing but I have heart disease and needed to monitor due a medication adjustment. You're supposed to get real comfortable for ten minutes or so, then take it two times, five minutes apart, taking the lower reading as most accurate.

IMO, you're basically getting white coat syndrome and you're the doctor! If you have to do this per doctor's orders, do as I explained above. See if it makes a difference. Those instructions came with the BP unit and echoed my cardiologist's instructions.

Positive thoughts

My dr doesn't really know about my HA, but he noticed that I was nervous in his office that day, so he wanted to have some 'home readings' to see what's happening. Today it was 130/60, I think that's much better but I think that I could be way more relaxed. I'll try again the next time.

Because you are anxious about it I expect every reading is flawed. When I had my blood pressure checks recently they were initially higher than expected (but I had just been walking) so I worked on my breathing to relax my body and they took another reading. So, you could try calming your breathing because that will lower blood pressure to give a reading less influenced by anxiety.

If your doctor wants to determine if you have high blood pressure and rule out white coat syndrome they just use the 24hr ambulatory test where you wear a monitor.

Yes, I'm working on that but in the moment that I see the cuff my anxiety starts to go up and It's pretty hard to stay calm. Today I was more relaxed and we got better readings.

[MyNameIsTerry]

What I'm wondering about is why you are having a routine appointment with a cardiologist? Was it a private appointment or do you have a condition? If the latter, I would be talking to the cardiologist about what this means or doesn't mean for a pre existing condition.

Wear the cuff loose for longer periods (don't cut the blood off, obviously) so you learn to habituate to the initial rush of anxiety.

I would tell them about your HA's impact on this so they can decide whether it's relevant or not. Hypertension in the <40's is uncommon so they perform additional testing other than what someone my age has (I was diagnosed with it a few months ago).

[Howanxious]

What I'm wondering about is why you are having a routine appointment with a cardiologist? Was it a private appointment or do you have a condition? If the latter, I would be talking to the cardiologist about what this means or doesn't mean for a pre existing condition.

Wear the cuff loose for longer periods (don't cut the blood off, obviously) so you learn to habituate to the initial rush of anxiety.

I would tell them about your HA's impact on this so they can decide whether it's relevant or not. Hypertension in the <40's is uncommon so they perform additional testing other than what someone my age has (I was diagnosed with it a few months ago).

No, absolutely not, I don't have any heart condition. Like I said, I'm generally healthy and I've made an appointment with him because in a month I'm going to start exercising in a gym and I just wanted to know if everything is in it's place because I don't exercise a lot and this will be some intensive training.

[Sleepy]

I definitely have white coat syndrome. On a routine gap visit my bp was high, so I was told to come back and use their "self-service" bp monitor. So this time there wasn’t even a white coat there but my obsessive brain went to work. The first reading was horrendous. I did deep breathing and took my time. I did six readings in total. Each time it got better and by the sixth one it was normal.

When I went back to the gp a couple of years later the same thing happened, so they put me on a 24hr monitor. It came back normal.

I don’t worry now when a reading is high. I’ve got a home monitor and I don’t go near it, because I know what i’m like, once I start I’ll be on it all the time. For the same reason I won’t get a Fitbit.

[Shadowhawk]

I definitely have white coat syndrome. On a routine gap visit my bp was high, so I was told to come back and use their "self-service" bp monitor. So this time there wasn’t even a white coat there but my obsessive brain went to work. The first reading was horrendous. I did deep breathing and took my time. I did six readings in total. Each time it got better and by the sixth one it was normal.

When I went back to the gp a couple of years later the same thing happened, so they put me on a 24hr monitor. It came back normal.

I don’t worry now when a reading is high. I’ve got a home monitor and I don’t go near it, because I know what i’m like, once I start I’ll be on it all the time. For the same reason I won’t get a Fitbit.

I am the EXACT same way (and have even proven it to the docs when they give me a chance.. focused breathing, calm and quiet, and i go down. Not a perfect range, but not where i was either). Sadly, thanks to my anxiety, i am also bad about home monitoring, and always have to take several readings as my anxiety spikes me there too.

For what its worth, i am now on a BP med, but more likely due to "minor" heart wall thickening i had (most likely caused by my untreated apnea). Also, while it IS something genuine to worry about, it is also readily treatable, even without meds.. Focus on more exercise, less salt intake, and more relaxing, and you WILL bring it down if it is a problem.

BTW - i know what you mean about the fitbit - its why i turned off the heart rate monitor on my Garmin. At least right now, I freakout too easily about my heartrate (when i really relax, it can dip at 58-60, which makes me worry.... i figure an out of shape guy cant have a good resting heart rate... silly, i know).

[Howanxious]

I definitely have white coat syndrome. On a routine gap visit my bp was high, so I was told to come back and use their "self-service" bp monitor. So this time there wasn’t even a white coat there but my obsessive brain went to work. The first reading was horrendous. I did deep breathing and took my time. I did six readings in total. Each time it got better and by the sixth one it was normal.

When I went back to the gp a couple of years later the same thing happened, so they put me on a 24hr monitor. It came back normal.

I don’t worry now when a reading is high. I’ve got a home monitor and I don’t go near it, because I know what i’m like, once I start I’ll be on it all the time. For the same reason I won’t get a Fitbit.

That's exactly how I feel! It's REALLY hard to relax when the cuff it's in my arm, I have to take numerous readings to have a good one when my mind and my adrenaline gives me a break haha. Today it was 130/70-60 again when I was more relaxed by the way. Maybe my cardiologist will put me on a 24hr test to be sure...

I take a beta blocker for mildly elevated blood pressure, as well as tachycardia. I started it in July 2015. At every doctor visit since then, my BP in the office has run about 117/78. That is, until late last year. The provider I was seeing left (she was a PA, not MD), and I saw a new provider (same office) for the first time. My BP was 140/90, or something close to that. Weird, never had that problem before!

I saw her again a few months later for a refill. Same thing, BP still elevated. She recommended that I buy a BP cuff and check it at home a few times a week. If all is well, I can just check once a week. And eventually, I can just check if I really need to. All of my home readings are no more than ~130/85, on average, but that's without a full ten minutes of rest beforehand. I can run up the stairs and check it two minutes later and it's still that low. So now I don't check it except a couple times per month.

I saw my doc again a couple weeks ago. My first BP reading was about 140/85, when the nurse checked it. The doc came in a short time later and checked it again - 128/75. The difference? She didn't wear her white coat this time! Strange, huh? :-D

It's almost funny lol. I don't care about the white coat, it even happens when my GF it's checking my BP at home, it's horrible. The fear of getting a bad reading spikes my anxiety and I have to wait til I'm mildly relaxed to have a 130 reading.

[bin tenn]

I take a beta blocker for mildly elevated blood pressure, as well as tachycardia. I started it in July 2015. At every doctor visit since then, my BP in the office has run about 117/78. That is, until late last year. The provider I was seeing left (she was a PA, not MD), and I saw a new provider (same office) for the first time. My BP was 140/90, or something close to that. Weird, never had that problem before!

I saw her again a few months later for a refill. Same thing, BP still elevated. She recommended that I buy a BP cuff and check it at home a few times a week. If all is well, I can just check once a week. And eventually, I can just check if I really need to. All of my home readings are no more than ~130/85, on average, but that's without a full ten minutes of rest beforehand. I can run up the stairs and check it two minutes later and it's still that low. So now I don't check it except a couple times per month.

I saw my doc again a couple weeks ago. My first BP reading was about 140/85, when the nurse checked it. The doc came in a short time later and checked it again - 128/75. The difference? She didn't wear her white coat this time! Strange, huh? :-D