Crazy Blood Pressure

[Donnasunshine]

Am I nuts, or what?  I can have a normal blood pressure when not thinking about going or going to the doctors for a check up.  When I get there it goes sky high.  I went to a new shoulder doctor for a torn rotator cuff.  The other docotr never took my blood pressure.  The minute I saw that cuff, woshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, my blood pressure went to 200/104.   The took it before I left it started to come down a little, but still up.  I just think about getting it taken and it goes up.   I try to think back what would cause this.   I had a kidney transplant 40 years ago and pressure was always an issue if there was a problem with my old kidneys, maybe that is it.  When I am home it is pretty normal.

Am I the only one who reacts this way,
Donna


This discussion is related to Anxiety vs High Blood Pressure.

[Heartgrl]

That's called white coat hypertension. But even though you do have white coat hypertension..it shouldnt be that high.  Record your BP every day.

[ed34]

its just the anticipation. You should just try to relax and the doctor should put the cuff on
you and talk to you for a few minutes, giving you time to calm down first. Just start seeing the doctor as a human being like yourself, not some kind of higher being or something frightening. We all share this lump of rock flying through space, we all are
equal. Just pretend he/she is a friend sitting there pumping up the cuff, or try to think
of something really funny. I used to picture my doctors face with her hair sticking up
and her spectacles crooked where the cuff was blown up too much and exploded. It
worked every time.

[ireneo]

My BP jumps up when I go to my doctor. I get so tense even the morning of a doctor visit. She knows how I feel about coming in so I keep track of my BP at home and bring the list to her. But. . . . . my BP doesn't go that high. It will climb over 140 systolic but never hit 200. I don't think that's a healthy thing for you. Even if it's not that high all the time, there must be something going on that would cause the blood vessels to clamp down that much to raise it that high. Perhaps there are some tests they can do. At 200 systolic, don't they worry about a stroke?