Blood pressure readings and medical procedures.

[DontTouchMyDog]

I suffer from white coat syndrome so take my blood pressure at home. I discard the first reading as advised, and it is usually higher than the rest.

I haven't taken it for a while so today I did. I have a medical procedure on Thursday and I'm taking it so I can show the nurse that my blood pressure is usually just fine. I'm already a bit wound up about the procedure though and was feeling a bit anxious.

So first reading 149/84. Not unusual for a first reading for me. Taking my blood pressure at all gives me performance pressure. If I wait a couple of minutes it goes down. So I waited one minute. I was still feeling wound up, so took it at 129/86. Still not happy. Did some deep breathing and relaxed and took it a third time. 123/81. I can accept that.

This is a pretty typical pattern but a bit higher than usual. Probably because I was feeling a bit wound up. Does anyone else get this and how do you cope with having your blood pressure taken during procedures? Just thinking of the admission blood pressure reading is already spiking my blood pressure.

T have this too, have had delayed discharge due to high values ,eventually things work out but annoying.

They did at least seem to take my word for it last time, especially when I showed them my personal chart.

I'll take it again tomorrow and see how it is then. I think if I do it for three days and print it out, hopefully they won't hassle me about it too much.

I have this too. But I would think your second two readings would be accepted as fine? They're just a bit elevated.

I think the second ones would be accepted fine. I'm just thinking about what I'm going to generate during the admission workup. It's not something I have control over in the situation. Just hoping for a nurse that gets it. The last time the nurse suggested there were good medications to help with the anxiety. Fortunately I don't often need to worry about it and my GP knows not to take it and let me keep an eye on it myself.

I Just tell them it’s likely to be really high. Usually it’s after the procedure they care about most so it’s just lying there till they accept it. However, they’ve discharged me with 150/100 before. They’re not that bothered

The nurse told me that it's just to get a baseline because the blood pressure has to be back to what it was on admission before they will let you go. The bonus of it being high is that's not hard to achieve. 😃

Having had one doctor give me a hard time about it once has not helped the situation at all.

You’ll be fine. They don’t want to keep anyone in one second longer than they have to

I suffer from the same issue myself and my readings are somewhat higher than yours. Have recently had an in patient procedure. My BP was high when I arrived, but I had a week's readings from home and the team was happy to accept the average of these. Readings came down after the procedure and I was discharged as expected.

I'm more concerned with it being high and them deciding they can't do the procedure because of it. It will probably be high till the doctor comes and tells me the results afterwards.

I worry about this too - but I have regular procedures and it’s never been a problem. Tell them you have WCS and provide your own readings.

Thanks, this is the approach I'm taking. Seemed to work last time.

All three of those readings are absolutely fine. In fact the last two I wouldn't consider high at all and the difference between them is negligible. I'd be just as happy with the first of the two as the second.
To have a procedure cancelled it'd need to be much MUCH higher.
None of those readings would cause concern on admission for a procedure.

I think talking about it helped. I felt much less anxious about it today and got two readings of 117/79. Hopefully that will reassure them.

To be honest, you might be surprised at just how high your blood pressure would need to be before medical professionals become concerned by it.

Do you know how high? Just curious.

I was reviewed by cardiologist for blood pressure and he was unconcerned by anxiety peaks as the range was good.

Remember, exercise etc raises your blood pressure temporarily! Doesn't mean you shouldn't do it - the opposite in fact.