Re: Warning Signs

Posted By Dee on April 02, 1999 at 15:48:12:

In Reply to: Warning Signs posted by Gerald on April 02, 1999 at 14:23:02:






Hi.  I am a fairly healthy 28 year old male.  In the last 2 days, I have been experiencing incredible pain in my left arm that just seemed to start out of nowhere, particularly sharp in the fold of my elbow and in my bicep.  It has also been felt to a lesser degree in my right arm.  It was so uncomfortable, I went to the emergency room thinking I had sprained my arm somehow.  They immediately hooked me up to an EKG (first time ever) and took my blood pressure.  EKG was normal, blood pressure was 146/86.  They diagnosed a pinched nerve in my arm and sent me home.  My question is, at my annual physical the week before, my blood pressure was 110/70.  Can blood pressure fluctuate that much from one moment to the next?  I understand that there are other factors like stress or physical activity involved, but I exercise fairly regularly with few, if any difficulties but my blood pressure has never, to the best of my knowledge, ever been higher than 120/80.  I had just come off medication to combat a sinus infection.  Could the medication have caused my blood pressure to elevate or is it worth some other tests to make sure?  I feel a little ridiculous asking but being hooked up to an EKG kind of rattled me.
Thanks!




Hi Gerald,
I am not a doctor, so I will let him/her answer your question.  I have been to the ER a few times in the past year and a half because of a heart arrhythmia and have high blood pressure when being in there, when in fact my blood pressure runs normally on the lower side.  In my case, it is the whole idea of being in the ER and the fact that I'm scared of what is happening at the time.  The nurse has told me that an increase in blood pressure during an ER visit is very common.  Again, this is just my personal experience and to let you know that it happens to me when I go there.  I've also been there for a non-cardiac related issue and the same thing happened so...
Perhaps monitoring it for a while will give you a good pattern of how your blood pressure runs on a daily basis.
Dee