High blood pressure? ECG? Bloods.

[Dreamer2027]

My reading of my blood pressure was 133 88 reading at home. My GPs phoned me and want me to go in on Monday for an ECG and Bloods I asked why and she said they do that depending on the readings. Might anyone know is it really necessary? I have terrible anxiety and I always get much higher blood pressure at appts. I also don't want to take my top and bra off for an ECG I am trying to find out on Google if i have to do that. I'd be very appreciative if someone could advise and maybe have advice if its necessary from that reading i have these further tests and am I allowed to keep my bra on? Thankyou.

It was funny my DH reports his BP and went to take the readings thinking it'd be fine (known low blood pressure) but it was off the scale high! Went very quiet. It transpired he'd not read the instructions on the device! User error can occur!😂 took it properly and it was fine. But I bypassed that because I don't routinely report mine. Once before an op mine was high but the anaesthetists looked at my history for other ops and said I'd be fine once they got the anaesthetics in me! White coat syndrome is also very real!

What I've noticed from reading on here is that every doctor's different with blood pressure.
Mine only did my ECG when my first lot of medicine wasn't improving it enough.
(And I had much higher blood pressure than this)

A quick Google shows examples of health authorities' policies:

gps.northcentrallondon.icb.nhs.uk/cdn/serve/pathway-downloads/1513934131-2e9bbbca7b08393ca8706a7fb93e33b4.pdf

🙂

Bra on or off really does depend on the experience of the person and the setting. I’ve had both in various settings, but I come under the transplant service at Papworth and there I always leave bra on.

But other dr’s surgeries and hospitals will have their own preferences, and these might even differ between technicians.

The NHs England pathway.

www.england.nhs.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2019/11/NICE-NG136-Visual-Summary.pdf

That's not a particularly high BP. So try not to worry about that.

Do go though, as hopefully it will be reassuring if you are anxious. With the ECG, last time I had one they just popped the pads under the straps, with the bra on. Try a soft crop-top if you have one, without any metal clips.

bra on or off for an ECG only depends on the experience of the person doing it in that people with more experience (and who can probably read ECGs) will know that bra off is usually best. The ECG dots have to go in quite specific places to make sure the leads are looking at the heart from the right directions, but also, if one is wearing a bra and has larger breasts, there will be more breast tissue between the skin and the heart and that can also make a bit of a difference to how the trace looks. Finally there will be more variation between ECGs over time if they're not done in the same way. A poorly taken ECG will mean that the interpretation is much harder and that may affect what they do next.

Yes I'll probably just go get it done. Deffinitely no point in Querying again with my GP reception as I'll just get same answer depending on results they then offer the bloods and ECG. My blood pressure rockets at GP appts and has been a lot higher so I was very shocked when they phoned Me to come In on Monday for the tests. My blood pressure will be high on Monday as I just don't want to take my top off! I hate anything like that but I can try my best to go. I've made myself go for yearly mammograms because of our high risk for Breast cancer but I really struggle with Anxiety.

It won't be anything near as bad as having a mammogram!

I've made myself go for yearly mammograms because of our high risk for Breast cancer but I really struggle with Anxiety.

@Dreamer2027, I've actually had breast cancer but since been discharged from the breast clinic (after 5 years remission) I now only get checks every 3 years! I can call the breast clinic direct if I am concerned about anything at anytime though and they will triage from there. Suits me.

I realise this thread is a couple of months old but can I ask if you went for the tests? My GP has booked me in for ECG,bloods and urine test because my blood pressure is high.