Blood Pressure Readings

DH has white coat syndrome but I do think it's because he worries about his BP since developing hypertension in his 30s which was a shock as he has always been a Fit athlete. Now in later life the BP has become erratic and its been difficult to get him settled on additional medication. After a year of experimenting with his meds via telephone calls the GP has deigned to grant him a face to face appointment next week.

shysal

The only way I can get a low reading is to don the monitor then sit in a chair with the sun on my face. When I feel myself nodding off I press the button quickly to catch it unawares!

Must try that Shysal!

Me too. Very funny.

I think we all need to book a holiday somewhere sunny.

www.bjfm.co.uk/sunlight-lowers-blood-pressure

I always take it once a week while reading my iPad news pages, I put it on my arm read a couple of articles and take it 3 times randomly, it’s always high at first settles on the mid one and much lower on the third one. I record the middle one which is always well within range for my age.

Hetty58

Baggs:

'when you have relaxed for about ten minutes or so'

That's what I can't do!

Maybe you need to learn some relaxation techniques. They're useful anyway. Good luck!

User7777

I am hypertensive. So BP is 48 over 30 quite a lot. Nearly half dead by time ambulance arrives. Seeing cardiology a lot, wish mine was higher. Not so many hosp admissions

Gosh how scary User! DH was 250/140 when he had his stroke! GP arranged hospital and I had to take him in to AE and wait in car park for 4 hours. That was scary too. Apparently a hypertensive crisis. Fortunately DS lives near hospital so his partner fed me and gave me a hot water bottle for the car.

I can feel mine going up just reading this thread. I think it has become a phobia now. 2 years ago when I had it checked at GP's as I was in a terrible state with anxiety. It went up to 210/101. She knew it was because I was in a state of panic. She sent me home and told me to forget about it. That's what I'm trying to do.

Kate I had an episode similar to yours and my GP sent me to hospital so that I would be seen by a consultant quickly. I stayed overnight and by the morning my BP had dropped to 150/90. I then had all different heart tests done as an outpatient and the consultant prescribed three different BP tablets which I still take today 4 years later. My BP is never that low but they are satisfied to keep it in the 150/90 -
140/80 range. Like you the problem is I’m often too scared to check it in case I get those numbers again!

Last year i was hospitalised for fractured ankle and they found my BP was too low so could be the reason for my frequent falls.
So they stopped my medication, which I'd been on for years (various ones.)
Since then main improvement was no more constipation. still falling. Now my BP is creeping back up so back on meds and back to constipation. last time at GP she gave me that machine to try and I couldn't cope with it so took it back. BP going up and down like a yoyo - but I hate constipation.

I have to do mine at home on a regular basis and it is always constant, rarely changes. Unfortunately it has been too high for years and doesn't respond well to BP medication and I've been on a variety.
My cardiologist changed my meds yet again last week, to see if it would come down a bit.

My GP told me to stop talking, when he was checking it, it always causes it to rise.

I also wear a smart watch, which shows my BP. It means I don't need to think about it. I'm not sure how accurate they are, so I check now and again, using BP monitor, which has been calibrated at my GP surgery .

That's it exactly BlueSky.

Just had a random call from the Drs ‘inviting’ me for a BP check. It was totally out of the blue and all I can think is that it’s at least 3 years since it was last done and I’m now in my early 60’s so have appeared on the surgery’s ‘hit list’. I’ve booked the appt, but I too have ‘white coat syndrome’ so can now almost feel my BP rising from the anxiety before I even get there!

I'm so glad it not just me that feels this way. I worry so much about it that even looking at the machine stresses me out. I try to do everything I can to keep it down (excercise, low salt, healthy diet etc) and just hope for the best.

Me too Aveline I wish we'd never bought that pesky BP machine.

Me too, I go into a flat spin and physically tremble, if you find an answer please let me know!

The nurse gave me a BP test at the appointment for a smear it rocketed Dr wanted to send me to Hospital.

When I take my BP at home, I find an interesting book and open it in front of me, and get the cuff onto my arm ready, but before I start it up I read the book for 10 or 15 minutes. Then I look up briefly to press the start button and return to the book while the machine winds itself up to maximum pressure. If I am concentrating on the story, it takes my mind off the instrument of torture attached to my arm, so the reading is reasonable instead of going sky-high.

Does anyone think their BP has risen since having AZ vaccines? I had palps two weeks after the first jab and my BP rose. Six days ago I increased to 7.5mg and today it has gone down to 160/83 so, hoping it is now beginning to work.

If you have a machine at home, settle yourself quietly somewhere and maybe put some nice music on, do some deep slow breaths and look out the window to help relax. Take one reading, then another a few minutes later.

We bought a monitor for home use when DH was going through heart issues, and after his bypass surgery. He is stable now, but I was found to have elevated BP last year, so I take a reading now and then. I'm actually due to go to the doctor tomorrow to renew medication. I will bring my readings to him and he will test while I am there. He usually will turn down the light in the exam room, and give you a few minutes to relax before testing.

Well no surprises as mine was high- when I went this morning (couldn’t go to previous appointment as had been in contact with someone who’d tested positive the day before).
Consequence of this morning is I said I had white coat syndrome, nurse took reading- no preamble or trying to put me at my ease. Now I’ve to take my BP twice a day for 2 weeks and then drop the readings in at reception.
Assume that they’ll then be in touch if it’s still too high. I can feel it going up as I write this

The GP at my old doctors told me to do her a favour and throw my home BP machine in the bin as she said it was doing me no favours at all. Then I had a 24 hour monitor fitted and my BP readings were really good.
However we’ve now moved and had to change doctors. I recently had a text asking me to send in my current readings. I did this but also told them what the previous GP had said. They completely ignored my request for a 24 hour monitor and asked me to send more readings in, followed by a telephone appt with the pharmacist. I’m now on BP medication. ?.

Hmmm Frogs
GP surgeries and the staff within them are a postcode lottery + Clinical Commissioning Groups + Covid restrictions = illogical, inconsistent and infuriating

I do what elegran does, either read a book or write something, even writing the shopping list takes my mind off of the machine doing it’s thing.
However, I was put on BP pills at the end of last year and they have helped, last week I had to go to hospital for a procedure and my BP was fine, 3 years ago it was so high ( for the same thing) that I had to wait for over an hour ( I read a book) until it came down low enough to have the investigation, although the nurse joked that I was in the right place if I had to be hospitalised as my BP was so high.
So, although the last thing I wanted was tablets they seem to be working with no side effects.

Further to my check up- it was a bit high-I’ve been instructed to take my BP twice daily and record for 2 weeks.
Since then every reading I’ve done has gone up as I dread doing it and can feel the panic rising.
I’m of a mind to just stop taking readings and phone the surgery on Monday and tell them why. I was fine before I was ‘invited’ for a check up- wish they hadn’t bothered. Any advice ladies?