High Blood Pressure only when visiting our Doctor. Any one?

1. Guest 19 December 2008 at 18:54PM
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   My wife has this problem, visit Doctor blood pressure goes up.

   Take blood pressure at home and pressure stays down.

   After half a dozen visits to Doctors, each with recorded high pressure, Doctor has put her on pills.

   Yet 99.999% of the time she is OK.

   Has any one else had this experiance?

   Is there a way to avoid taking these pills?

   It seems illogical to me that a Doctor can say, OK I beleive your tests are true, but I must protect myself, I cannot do nothing, faced with the evidence of our own blood pressure tests.

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2. katie.k. 19 December 2008 at 22:46PM

   Hi there

   This is known as 'white coat syndrome' ...... my husband suffers from it. The minute a doctor or nurse takes his BP the reading shoots up :roll:

   When he takes his BP on our machine at home it is usually fine! He was initially put on medication but the side effects were awful. He then had a 24 hour BP monitor and the overall result was within the correct BP range ..... medication then ceased! Thank goodness.

   So maybe this is the next course of action for your wife.

   Good luck

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3. Gerry the neck 20 December 2008 at 14:54PM

   Hi,

   I totally agree with Katie.K. This was my experience (except I didn't have such bad side effects from medication). I had to wear the BP machine over weekend and then they told me my readings were fine. It seems common that BP rises when being tested at surgery.

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4. Briflo 2 April 2009 at 11:22AM

   I suffer from \"white coat syndrome\" so does my wife. Before I go to Dr for annual check up for type 2 Diabetes I take my BP four times throughout a day and record reading, then I show them to the practitioner (nurse or Dr)

   My BP is normally 135/76 when resting, which isn't bad at 71. My wife was put on medication because one reading was high, according to a computor< she thought she was dying with the sider effect of Remipril

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5. Guest 6 October 2009 at 15:47PM

   Hi, I am having exactly this problem at the moment! Was tested for everything possible last year and my Doctor diagnosed \"white coat syndrome\" Have just been to join a gym and explained this but surprise surprise my blood pressure showed up high when they tested it as part of a fitness assessment. Another doctor at my practice now says he doesn't accept the original doctor's diagnosis and will put me on diuretics for the rest of my life! My blood pressure at home is, and always has been, perfectly normal!

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6. Guest 3 March 2010 at 12:45PM

   I also have high readings when in the doctor's surgery. I have been taking blood pressure medication for 6 years based on original readings taken in the surgery so now I have no way of knowing if my bp really is high... When I measure it at home it is low.

   In the end I changed my gp to a more sympathetic one and got agreement that I would monitor my own bp at home using a validated monitor. She says she will accept my readings and not try to insist that I have the measurement done by her, as it was causing me so much stress.

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7. Guest 25 March 2010 at 21:31PM

   I am just going through the same problems.....but I may have identified a reason.At the surgery they use an electronic digital readout.....when I have it taken at home the nurse uses the old fashioned manual type.I have had this done 3 times & by different nurses & the readings are marginally high for my age.....but as soon as I am connected to the digital one the reading is far too high.

   e.g doctors 170 / 100 at home 148 / 90.

   I am questioning how accurate these electronic monitors are because I am not convinced they as accurate as they are made out to be. or maybe

   its to get us all on these pills......???

   I think my blood pressure rises each time I even think about blood pressure. :oops: :?

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8. Gerry the neck 25 March 2010 at 23:02PM

   It would be interesting to know if there is a connection between the manufacturers of the digital readers and the makers of Simvastatin, which seems to be the drug they are distributing left and right. You may have a point.

   Gerry

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