Problem while taking blood pressure. - High & Low Blood Pressure Message Board

db851 · 02-22-2008, 10:11 AM

I hope I can explain this right. Has anybody ever had strange symptoms while taking your blood pressure. While at home, I use a machine that tightens up, like normal, but when its at its tightest pressure my heart feels like it beats irregularly, like the pressure of the cuff is doing something to it. It goes away when I'm done taking the reading and I have no other symptoms, other than one time my heart started racing soon afterwards. Does this sound like anything anybody has ever heard of? Like some type of condition, or is it more of an anxiety thing or what?

Thanks in advance!

marantz1935 · 02-22-2008, 11:32 AM

Hi,

I don't know if this answers your question, but some of us get what we call 'cuff anxiety'. I for one got it bad in the begining, but not as much now. I've been taking lots of readings at home and this has helped remove some of the fear. Hope this helps.

Marantz.

tamuprof45 · 02-22-2008, 11:49 AM

You have cuff anxiety. I know, because you described my symptoms precisely.

Stage 1: The second the cuff inflator starts, you feel your heart speed up, and of course the pulse reading that appears is way higher than what you know your pulse to be. In my case, my pulse is around 65, and the BP machine would read 112-120 usually.

Stage 2: As the cuff deflates, your mind starts racing, panicking about what the numbers are going to be. The anxiety drives your BP up, and voila, the BP reading is higher than you like. Typically, anxiety will increase your BP 20-40 points, but can drive it way, WAY higher. I had a spike up to 176 systolic once.

Stage 3: You start getting depressed and obsessing about "getting good numbers," which starts the vicious cycle of testing and re-testing and re-testing over and over and over. And ironically, this itself could lead to sustained high blood pressure if you don't break the cycle. It took a psychiatrist, a cardiologist, and my regular doctor's intervention to break mine. It was a horrible way to live.

I wish you all the best luck with your's, and please remember cuff anxiety can be beaten.

tamurof45

flowergirl2day · 02-22-2008, 01:15 PM

Hi,
tamuprof has had personal experience with this type of anxiety and has excellent advice. White coat hypertension is also the main reason most BP measurements taken in a doctor's office are inaccurate.

When you take your blood pressure using a home (oscillometric) monitor, this is usually what happens:
the cuff around your arm inflates to a pressure ABOVE the systolic pressure in your brachial artery. At this point the blood flow is zero. The cuff pressure is then reduced to a level below diastolic over thirty seconds. It is at these times (zero blood flow or below diastolic level) that the cuff pressure is practically constant. When the blood flow is present and restricted - anything in between the two points- the cuff pressure varies. These variations are picked up by a sensor. The blood pressure values are then calculated and displayed on the screen of the monitor. The end result you see on your monitor is a calculation, not an actual measurement.

It is also possible you somehow hear the turbulence and vibrations of the blood flow as it rushes through your compressed arterial walls when the blood flow is restricted.
Some of the home monitors are not equipped to produce accurate blood pressure measurements in people with certain heart and circulation irregularities. Others are capable of measuring blood pressure in these people correctly.
Listen to the other posters - things will get better.

db851 · 02-22-2008, 03:45 PM

Thank you very much for your responses. I will relax and end the vicious cycle then. I know when I take it at home, my pressure is usually 140 over 90, but seems to be lower at the doctor's office. Usually 120 over lower 80's. I am on Lexapro for panic attacks, though, and am sure I am doing this to myself after reading your posts. It just started though, and I was a little worried about it. So, thanks a bunch for putting my mind at ease.