Anxiety causes false high blood pressure reading

[Becky6X]

Hey I’m just wondering if anyone else suffers with anxiety and can help/understand me and advise me on what to do.

I suffer from anxiety and have done all my life. I get nervous about EVERYTHING for no reason at all. Whether it’s going to the shop, meeting a friend, going to a hair appointment, everything gets my heart racing.

I’m 17 weeks pregnant with my second child. I’ve never liked hospitals/doctors and it’s just another thing that makes me nervous and makes my heart race - I’ve been like this literally since a child. Naturally because my heart goes through the roof, so does my blood pressure so at every GP/Hospital appointment it gets bought up.

Obviously being pregnant I have to have frequent blood pressure & urine checks. Just knowing I need to have my blood pressure checked causes me anxiety and it’s always high. At home however, it’s always perfect if not, lower than it should be! Every time it gets bought up at my hospital appointments it seems to make me worse the next time because I begin to dread it. I know it seems so silly but I can’t help how my mind works.

Today my blood pressure in hospital was 144/80. The doctor kept telling me this was concerning and was debating starting me on tablets. Obviously I am aware that pre-eclampsia is a risk but I regularly check my blood pressure at home and it’s always fine, as is my urine. I feel like no doctor is listening to me, it’s making me dread every appointment and I feel like I’m the only one in the world who feels like this.

I was exactly the same in my first pregnancy and experienced the exact same problems and I’m really tired of it now. My midwife this time around is the same midwife I had with my first baby who knows exactly what I was like then and what I’m like now. I’m thinking to ring her tomorrow to talk about it because I just feel so crappy about it. If my leg was broken I wouldn’t be expected to walk and I just feel like the same approach isn’t applied when you struggle with your mental health, why is it so hard for them to understand it’s the hospital setting causing my high blood pressure.

Sorry for the long post, just looking for some advice / anyone that’s been in a similar situation x

Have they not offered a 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure monitor that will monitor your blood pressure at home over a 24 hour period?

I had this in both my pregnancies as my blood pressure also goes higher at medical appointments

I was exactly the same so what I would do is take a reading at home before an appointment, take a photo of the reading and show that. My midwife was amazing and agreed thats all I had to do

The exact same thing happened with my first @Becky6X and I'm dreading it happening again! I couldn't have a water birth in the birthing centre because my BP was over ever so slightly, even though it was fine out with medical environments 🥺 They put it down to hypertension/white coat syndrome as my urine was always fine.

Currently 12+3 weeks and my BP was totally fine at my first booking appointment but this was the case with my first. It will be a waiting game but curious to know how to prevent it sky rocketing.

I hope you're ok - I'll keep an eye on this thread 😘

It's called white coat syndrome. It happens to my father a lot. He ends up having 24 hour bp monitors at least twice a year. Ask your midwife if she can organise one. You can also decline to have your blood pressure checked , if you know that your at home readings are accurate

This is known in the trade as white coat syndrome. It's on my medical notes.

As PP says, get a home monitor (they’re not pricey afaik) and do the reading at home.

I could have written this post, I have exactly the same with blood pressure but just at the hospital, not at the midwife normally 🤷‍♀️. And then they make concerned noises and it makes it go up even more. I’m also at a slight risk for pre eclampsia which makes me more nervous. FWIW 144/80 doesn’t sound high at all to me? That would be on the high side of normal for me, even at home. Last time at hospital it went to 167/93, then an hour later was 140/83. At home it was 130/78 ish. Very frustrating. I found it helpful to relax by confronting my fear ie thinking, what’s the worst that can happen - it’s high, and they just keep you in for monitoring for a bit. I also find it helps if I take my BP just before I leave for the hospital so I know it’s not ‘actually’ high of that makes sense.

Also, all the midwives at the hospital have been really understanding about white coat syndrome with me and have always given me the chance to take it a few times and say it’s really common…I’m surprised the doctor was debating starting you on tablets for that as a one off reason.

*reading