Hey everyone,
I am a very anxious person (generalized anxiety, not specific attacks) about my health. Always thinking about it, worrying, researching, etc. Pretty lame. I think it is because I have had some urinary symptoms (real) that so far I have had trouble getting diagnosed. Thus it started a big chain cycle where I am always paranoid about my health.
Anyway, I am 18 years old and in great shape. Play sports, lift weights, dont drink soda or eat junk food, etc. No known medical problems (save the weird urinary symptoms and mild benign tinnitus that I was born with).
So I had a recent doctors visit back in May and my blood pressure was 120/80. Not too shabby. At this point I didnt even know what blood pressure was but I knew mine was good. However now that I knew what BP was I, being anxious about my health, wanted to learn more.
So a month later I (and lots of anxious research later) I found a supermarket BP machine and got a reading of 137/80. Noticibly higher. And so throughout the summer I found several free BP machines inside supermarkets and Wal-marts and recorded my results, which were quite disturbing:
137/80
147/78
153/90
155/90
157/88
160/90
153/88
146/90
146/80
153/94
157/88
These were the readings I got over the summer.
Now it seems strange to me that I develop high BP right after I learn about what blood pressure is. Before this point my BP was always good.
I suspect that I get anxious when I test my BP myself, and that is what accounts for this elevation. My pulse often seems fast during the testing (100-115), leading me further to label anxiety as the cause. Could it be possible general stress, anxiety, and worry is behind this? Thanks.