Went in to see the doc for a check-up yesterday and she wasn't happy w/ my blood pressure. She asked me some questions - Did I ever have heart palpitations? Did I feel OK while working? Did I experience shortness of breath? Negative on those. She pondered for a moment and then asked if I ever got dizzy. Yes, a couple of times but I thought it might be that I was dehydrated at the time. "I think your problem is w/ the doctor's office." she said. She told me to buy a blood-pressure machine and keep a record of my blood pressure about twice a week for the next couple of months. So I did. I was pretty sure if I had a problem it wasn't w/ the doc's office but w/ those infernal blood pressure cuffs. When I got my machine home, I started by taking my blood pressure every couple of hours to kinda desensitize myself to the thing. At first the readings were high just like at the doc's but eventually they came down to acceptable levels. Today I did it only once and was surprised at how low it was. Maybe the doc is right - I'm a medical equipment mental case?
3 comments:
My pulse and blood pressure are always artificially high when at the doctor's office. They call it White Coat Anxiety. Fortunately very few in the clinic wear white any more. Doesn't seem to help much though.
You and me both, must run in the family. Dad had the syndrome also. My Doc had me bring in reading from home and sure enough much lower than office. Doc also said they take them all wrong in office. Need to set in quiet office for 15 min. before taking. She also said new studies show that for people over 60 that pressure at 140 and even 150 is just fine. Too many were fainting with the lower pressures.
Flip
I've also heard something about the way you sit, like feet on the floor, not dangling like the way they do mine.
How else could they sell us a bunch of pills if they didn't get our blood pressures higher. JVM
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