Everytime I go to the dr. my B/P is in the 160/90 range, she had given me B/P meds, I came home and took it and it was 122/70. I had my wrist cuff with me at the DRS. to make sure it was accurate and it was. I called the DRS. office and she said do not take the meds. just keep monitoring it, if I get three consective high readings to call. I never get three high readings.
I had a colon done and was a nervous wreck, when I got there my B/P was 128/72, they told me the highest it was, was 142/76 and that was when they took me in the room for the test.
Do you take B/P meds for white coat? I have taken my B/P at home when stressed out, it does elevate but not near as high as the DRS. office.The nurse takes it and so does the DR. I do not understand this as I do not feel nervous going to the DR. This has been going on for years with me, maybe I just should not go to the Dr.
Linda
__________________
pa235
Fibromyalgia
Myofascal pain syndrome
Costochondritis
Arthritis, cervical and thorastic
Last edited by pa235; 06-30-2005 at 03:25 PM.
Reason: I forgot the word white, I am glad you all knew what I meant.
I wouldn't take any meds if I were you. I would love to have numbers like yours. My BP readings are always higher in the doc's office, i.e. 170/100+ range, when I get home it may go down to 149/85 (which is still high) but it is always higher in the doc's office...I guess it's just conditioning from when I was a kid and I'd go to the doctor and they'd stick me in my rear end with those long needles!
I have White Coat... My readings are always higher at the doctors office and when I get home they are normal. I was put on medication last year ( Diovan). My doctor had me take my readings at home which ranged from 120/80 to 135/86. He still put me on medication. I went for a blood pressure check this morning and I took my blood pressure kit in for them to check it. The nurse took it with theirs and it was 134/78. I took it with mine and I was so nervous that it came out as 175/82. She left the room for 10 minutes and when she returned she took it again using both arms--- right arm was 126/80 and the left arm was 120/74. She took her own using my kit and she said it was close to what she usually gets. She told me to stop checking it everyday and that the Diovan was working and my blood pressure was normal. She said if I wanted to I could check it once a week but she said she wouldn't even do that...
A better question to ask is "who does't get white coat syndrome?" I would say most people suffer white coat at least some times in their lives. Too bad more doctors don't acknowledge it.
If your resting home numbers are consistantly below 140/90, you don't need medication. You have good numbers. Monitor at home occasionally, but don't worry about it unless you see your average numbers creeping up 140/90.
If you want to try to maintain good blood pressure, then get regular exercise, avoid added and heavily salted food, lose weight if you are overweight, and eat a good balanced diet.
As mgraylorn implies, proper blood pressure is measure in a completely relaxed state. If anyone can claim to be in this state in a doctor's office, I think he is in the small minority indeed.
The only person who is almost guaranteed to NEVER see your true blood pressure is your doctor!
Why does the nurse immediately take our BP's as soon as we are seated in the Doctor's examination room? Surely they know that WCS exists (do we have an acronym for that?) They are just in a hurry I guess and would not be willing to give us 10 min or so to settle down...I mean, if they know we are their high BP patients, they could just do it for us!!
I think it's a hurry-up thing...every extra patient is another $100. Perhaps there's an advantage in that it avoids the building anxiety that can ensue while waiting your turn, having to pee, wondering about THE BILL, etc.
White coat syndrome is a hard condition to break. The last time I went to the doctor's it was 156/92 I went into the Dr's office feeling sooo relaxed. Yeah right!
My average readings at home for the last 30 days is 123/82. Today was 122/85 taken while I had just finished a hell-ish day at work.
I've long ago given up...all my BP readings at the doctor's office indicate an incipient stroke...like 175/116. If indeed these were the real number's I've been walking around with for 20 years, I'd have been LONG dead!
Even in a hospital setting, relaxed in bed, I usually get under 125/80 but in a doctor's office forget it...one of these day's I'll squirt his mercury all over the ceiling.
Lenin you are so funny, I should send my Dr. this site. Bet if you squrited the mercury they would make you clean it up.
Are you on meds?
My echos always show diastolic dysfuntion, either mild, moderate or marked, the last was moderate.Now I have read that if your B/P is high when the test is being done it will show this but it is because of the elevated B/P at the time. I get the test done in my Drs. office
My Dr. is very tiny, petite and pretty, you better not go to her or the mercury will fly.
Linda
__________________
pa235
Fibromyalgia
Myofascal pain syndrome
Costochondritis
Arthritis, cervical and thorastic
So happy to find I'm not the only one! 9 yrs. ago was diagnosed with HBP, 180/90 in Dr.'s office and has never gone down despite doubling medication, adding new ones in, now on three lots. When he said nothing was improving, I suggested to Dr. recently that I could take wrist readings at home for a month with husband's device. Never had the courage before as didn't want to know the horrible truth. To my amazement home readings are between 105/60 and 120/70. Dr. now has given me a 24 hr. monitor as says I'm abnormal. Instrument of torture I call it. Got it at 10.00am today, it kept kicking in every few minutes (between 3 and 8), was yelping in agony in the High Street and arm turned blue & went dead several times. Have ripped it off and abandoned it. Blood pressure now 180/90 at home due to anguish. Not in the mood to contact Dr. at the moment after 9 yrs. of un-necessary worrying that I was close to exploding. Has anyone found the 24hr. monitor to be comfortable please or am I a wimp?
Thanks for replying - is a walkman sized bag housing the monitor with a metre long black rubber tube which was threaded through my clothes leading to arm cuff and a thick waist belt to hold it all in place. Cumbersome affair like the equipment the Dr. uses. Went into Dr's quite serene but had to remove monitor in under an hour when it became so out of control and don't feel like trying it again. Put my blood pressure way up. Electronics rarely work reliably for me. Wonder if yours was a different type? or better behaved?
There is a difference between a holter monitor and a 24 hour BP monitor. The holter is electrodes attached like a EKG. The 24 hour monitor is like a BP monitor the doctor would use. I have had both and while the holter was more comfortable and the 24 hour more annoying, I didn't have any trouble with either.
I may be mistaken, but I think the holter is to look at heart rate & BP in a normal 24 period and the other is strickly for BP. Zuzu would probably know.
On the other topic of white coat. I went to the doc (cardiologist) yesterday. Just a regular check-up. My BP has been doing remarkably well over the last 3 months. I have been ave. about 123/70. Doc got 171/95, 188/99, 185/99.
I tried to explain about my white coat but he just gave me a script for yet another med.
I have made up my mind to just have my (understanding) PCP handle my HBP from now on.
Cass
Thanks, I thought there must be something more sophisticated than the monitor I got. Had it worked properly, I would have stuck with it for the 24 hrs. of course. Probably was the right one for the job but it did need to work.
We have a different system in UK. Vast majority of us get our health care free of charge under National Health Service and we are very grateful for whatever we get. I see you have an alternative in US. I googled PCP to discover it stands for the primary care practices set up in local communities. You are lucky to have a choice. Of course, if we paid for our health care, we would have choices too.
Have also noticed sufferers mentioning that they are varying doses, balancing their own medications. That is not an option here. What the doctors say goes. They are placed on a pedestal, much like clergy and lawyers and we aren't expected to question their decisions (much).
A Government initiative here has laid down that everybody with HBP must be closely monitored and readings brought down to their acceptable level. This is to help avoid the immense cost of treatment for stroke patients. So if our readings are over the Government's decreed minimum, we are constantly being reeled back in and medications increased.
If a practice doesn't follow the guide lines and their results don't achieve a certain percentage, I believe they lose part of their annual funding. Same applies to certain other checks for women. Nothing else specific for men at present! I get this info. from a neighbour whose best friend is a doctor. Most people wouldn't realise this is the case. It means that it isn't possible to avoid going to the surgery and keep renewing prescriptions any more.
Also our doctors went out to the Far East last year to help following the tsunami. Makes you feel a trivial nuisance just being at the surgery at all when you think what they must have experienced.
Am doing half hourly checks to take back in with me in the absence of monitor readings and just discussing the issue here has put BP up 20 points both sides. That'll be difficult to explain. 'I was just criticizing the British health system on the internet and it affected my readings' won't go down well.
Believe me, being in the U.S. non-system of health Care isn't all roses. For the 40 million people who cannot afford to buy private health care or whose employer provides it (a dwindling number) any health problem is usually handled by staying at home and resting.
More precisely PCP usuallymeans PRIMARY CARE PROVIDER...this is usually a general practitioner who has a contract with an HMO , or Health Maintenance Organization, one of many for-profit insurers. Although you get to choose among several PCP's unless you live in a very rural area, once you've chosen him, only he can determine what further specialists you can see (referral.)
Otherwise you must pay out of pocket and insurance generally covers NOTHING. (Seeing a doctor for a cold at your own expense will typically run about 70 Pounds!)
There are VERY expensive plans with high deductibles that allow you to choose to see ANYONE however you might be looking at costs approaching 700 pounds a month and VERY up.
Since I buy my own HMO insurance at $550 month, I would very much value replacing the U.S. system with a system of universal care with a single payer. Believe me the UK doesn't have a monopoly on tin-god practitioners, the only difference is that in the states they drize Mazeratis and live in 24 room palaces!
On the 24 hour BP tester, my only experience was during recovery from surgery. THe damn thing inflated every 15 minutes and NEVER failed to awaken me.
Has anyone else found them difficult to sleep with?
I really SHOULD have one done so that can shove the printout into one of my doctor's lower available orifices...he's one of the jerks who pays lip service to white coat but in his heart of hearts believes that those who claim it are neurotic!
From my info, a friend who was a medical assistant the drug companies pay Drs. high prices of gifts and vacations for pushing their drugs. I just read in our morning paper that b/p and satins are the biggest selling drugs and most people on them do not need them
I do not have a HMO, but the horror stories I have heard I am so glad I do not. My ins. actually is great, their only request is that you take generic drugs when aviable which I have no problem with.
My question still was not answered. If you have white coat syndrome are you on b/p meds?
As far as I am conerned we are just an insurance number!!! in the medical feild.
Linda
__________________
pa235
Fibromyalgia
Myofascal pain syndrome
Costochondritis
Arthritis, cervical and thorastic
I have to agree with Lenin about the healh care problems in the US. I am fortunate to have excellent health care that is also free (because my husband is retired USMC). I do have to pay $3. for generic meds and $9 for brands, per 90 day supply. We have excellent doctors to choose from and refferals to specialist of our choice.
However, the majority of US citizens struggle with this problem lifelong, especially the elderly.
I would like to see a universal healthcare system here but I am doubtful it will ever happen.
Stef - I am intrigued by your system. You say one must obey the doc or what? Like in my case with the cardiologist wanting me to take an ACEI, ARB, beta blocker, diuretic, vasodialator, and clonidine. I tried all those (except the newest one, the vasodialator) and ended up with a BP of 84/49.
When I reported this to him I was told to take them anyway. I suppose he either didn't believe me or my BP monitor. I went to my PCP and he agreed that I was over medicated so he suggested I try only the ACEI, beta blocker, diuretic, and clonidine as needed. That was 3 months ago and my BP has been great during that time. But I kept my appointment with the specialist anyway and the White coat reared it's ugly head and you all know the rest.
It's obvious it's anxiety related. Why don't doctors admit that this is real.
If a person can't change docs and they must lower ther pressure to a specific number they could die from BP that is too low at home.
That is scary!!
Cass
I went into the Dr's office feeling sooo relaxed. Yeah right! 
