Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
Anxiety vs High Blood Pressure
This forum is for questions and support regarding heart issues such as: Angina, Angioplasty, Arrhythmia, Bypass Surgery, Cardiomyopathy, Coronary Artery Disease, Defibrillator, Heart Attack, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Mitral Valve, Pacemaker, PAD, Stenosis, Stress Tests
Anxiety vs High Blood Pressure
by Bushkey, Apr 07, 2002 12:00AM
Good morning, my question is this - when I go to the Dr. my BP is always high, anywhere from 170/99 to 180/100 - has been for years. I am presently on Lopressor 50 2x a day & Diovan 80mg 1x daily. I do monitor myself at home on a regular basis and it is always low.. morning 123/68 evening 99/52 or lower.. I bring these readings to my Dr. along with my BP Machine,( my machine is exactly what his says) what is going on!!! How can I control this "White Coat"? Sometimes I feel overmedicated.. very tired every afternoon, fall asleep on the couch as soon as I sit in the evening, and have so many dreams at night. Can just the anxiety of a Dr's office do this to me? Is White Coat dangerous? I appreciate your time. Thank you
Doctor's Answer
by CCF-M.D.-CRC, Apr 09, 2002 12:00AM
Dear bushkey,
Well, you are having high blood pressure. I guess the question is how much of the day are you spending having high blood pressure. I think the best test for you to ask your doctor about getting is called a 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitor. This is a small machine that you wear for 24 hours which checks your blood pressure at regular intervals. It will help to reveal how much time your blood pressure is low, normal and high. If it is low or normal most of the time then perhaps your medications can be reduced. However, if it reads high a good percentage of the time then perhaps you need to try some different medications.
Well, you are having high blood pressure. I guess the question is how much of the day are you spending having high blood pressure. I think the best test for you to ask your doctor about getting is called a 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitor. This is a small machine that you wear for 24 hours which checks your blood pressure at regular intervals. It will help to reveal how much time your blood pressure is low, normal and high. If it is low or normal most of the time then perhaps your medications can be reduced. However, if it reads high a good percentage of the time then perhaps you need to try some different medications.
You sound like me. Everytime I go to the doc my pressure is usually between 180/100 to as high as 220/110. It has been this way for many, many years but at home it always was around 130/85.
This last time in prep for a stress test the docs refused to do the test as my BP was much too high. They put me on atenolol which made me feel awful, dizzy on rising, tired, drymouth and a real low pulse rate (42-52). My BP was always around 105/65 with lows of 82/52. I have 3 different BP machines and they all read about the same. Like you, when I leave to the docs office my BP is low and at his office it skyrockets ( at that time my machines show high just as his). I finally found a dose which is better for me at 10mg spaced at 8hr increments seem to maintain my BP at 110/70 and is acceptable. Dreams are still vivid.
I really can't get a good answer from the docs cause all they see is super high BP when I visit the office.
If you find out anything please feel free to contact me at ***@****
Thanks
Frank
My white coat hypertension became mostly generalized hypertension this past year. I was put on an ACE inhibitor, which is not the same thing as atenolol. it has done the trick w/o leaving me feeling wierd. At home my BP's were pretty much ok, but I started checking my BP at work it was high. My doc is one who believes in treating white coat hypertension.
Some docs put you on a 24 hour BP monitoring device to see what your BP is during a regular day.
My mother had white coat hypertension for many years, then one day had a hypertensive crisis out of the blue, and had a stroke.