Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Other Health Discussion => Topic started by: zelda on June 07, 2013, 08:21:05 AM
-
I suffer from White Coat Syndrom and on my last vist to my GP I was too anxious to let her take my BP,she asked that I go to the machine in the surgery and try that, but I am terrified of doing that also, every time I think of it at all I get really wound up, any advice would be most appeciated.
-
You can get home test ones online that most GPS seem happy to accept.
Have you thought of going to either the practice nurse which is not so scary or a chemist shop that does it. I think Lloyd pharmacies will do it.
I do understand. The more you try and calm down the worse it gets.
Honeyb
X
-
Hello,
Can't help i'm afraid but just wanted you to know you're not alone x
D
-
Hi Zelda. Is it possible for you to ask your GP to borrow a home monitor? I did this and it is so easy. You are shown how to use it by the practice nurse and you just have to take your blood pressure twice a day for four days. You take a reading then wait a minute and take another one and then repeat this later in the day. All the readings are stored in the machine and the surgery just downloads it and they then get a good idea of what your true blood pressure reading is. It worked for me. Let us know how you get on.
Taz x
-
We have a home monitor and I can't use it because I get panicked with that as well.
-
Do you know what you are scared of? Normally white coat syndrome is due to being out of the home environment i.e. doctors surgery, clinic or hospital so at home it shouldn't be such a problem. Is it the sensation you don't like?
Taz x
-
Hi Zelda
I'm with you all the way, ever since I had high blood pressure at the end of my pregnancy in 1985 I've had a real fear of it being taken, I tried the home one , but even that got me worked up as soon as the cuff starts tightening.
I recently had to go for a pre-op check (did'nt have the op as I also have a fear of that!!!) and when the nurse took my pressure it was on the high side, so she told me to breath in through my nose and out of my mouth, and she took it again, it was fine the 2nd time, I'm not sure if it was the breathing, or the fact I was concentrating so much on the breathing thing I did'nt have chance to panic about the b/p being taken. You could try this, it worked for me :)
Joyce x
-
there is no logic to why I am scared of the BP monitor, I just panic and its goes sky high like 205 over something and yet when I had the 24 hour monitor a couple of years ago it averaged out at 121/75...
-
You did manage it for a while then - well done on that. If you had the monitor from the docs for a few days I am sure you would feel better as time went on. Is there any reason why you need it taken?
Taz x
-
My DH has WCS - so uses a home BP monitor. If he goes to the Surgery then his BP shoots high! but he is the calmest Guy you will ever meet.
-
I have WCS - confirmed with a 24 hour BP recording twice. The second time, the doctor said she could tell what time I had set off to the clinic to have the monitor taken off as the readings shot up! However, I can take it at home with no problems,and as I had the second 24 hour recording done because I went to see the doctor when I'd got raised readings at home a couple of times, they 'trust me' to tell them if my BP goes up and don't worry too much in clinic!
Maybe, if you bought a machine for home and did it every day, you'd get into a routine and be able to get 'proper' readings without the panic setting in?
-
I think that she already has a home machine Scampi.
How does the 24 hour one work? Does the cuff keep inflating and deflating? That must be a bit offputting!
Taz x
-
I too have had this problem in the past. I eventually bought my own machine for about £20. Used it 3 times a day for a week as asked by gp. Sometimes a bit high, sometimes a bit low. When averaged out over the week, perfectly within normal boundaries. I could have got a loan of one from GP but they were already all out. They were happy for me to use own one.
-
Yep. It's difficult to sleep with one apparently.
One HAS to take the BP at the same time and not immediately after food. Ours is from Boots.
-
I was not given any such restrictions, in fact I was encouraged to take at different times of the day, after different activities to see if anything in particular made it higher, which it didn't.
-
You don't have to take it at the same time CLKD. Well that was the instruction from the surgery anyway.
As a matter of interest I checked mine with OH's home kit - a Boots wrist one and it consistently showed a much lower reading than the surgery one. The first time I used it the surgery one showed 148/84 and the home one was 110/68. I was amazed at the difference but the doc says it is common depending on the type of monitor purchased. She also said how important it was to get it calibrated every two years.. OH had never had his done and has had it for four years! These are the Blood Pressure UK recommendations http://www.bloodpressureuk.org/BloodPressureandyou/Homemonitoring/Choosingyourmonitor
Taz x
-
Daft I know but this is one of the few things that just does not bother me much. I know most of the nurses at our practice and we have a bit of a blether and its done.
It's non invasive and so much easier than getting your legs in the air and then prodding your bits. No needles either.
Strange how different things bother different people. There is not much I am brave with these days.
Hope you find the solution you need.
Honeyb
X
-
Yep - we are all different on what worries us. I was fine with BP until it began to go up a bit! While it was cruising along at 110/70 for the past forty years it didn't worry me but now it is increasing I do find I get a bit more worried waiting for the result.
Taz x
-
My cholesterol was higher than 'they' would like a few years ago but I refused to take medication - everything I do is healthy on the whole and I am not over-weight. As for BP, they rarely check mine and it is usually OK. Certainly DH and the instructions suggest that BP should be taken at the same time. Obviously if someone is more energetic and needs to check whether the readings varying because it's stress related is different, but once that has been sorted, the same time of day and not immediately after food is recommended.
The body uses up different energies after eating which could skew the BP readings!