High blood pressure concerns

[johnnyb47]

As quick as that.
I'm completely uneducated on such things, and was guessing it would of been around a couple of months before things would of improved.

 

[rualexander]

To say blood pressure is rarely accurately measured by professionals is incorrect. What is true is your BP will probably be higher in the stressful situation of a surgery or hospital. Take your BP when your relaxed, early morning and yes monitor it over a month to get an accurate picture.

It is not incorrect to say that blood pressure is rarely measured correctly by medical professionals.
It's well known that they tend to rush it and don't follow the recommended procedure.
I've had my blood pressure measured by them many times and not once has it been done according to the recommended procedure.

They don't let you sit quietly for five minutes before measuring.
They don't measure it with your arm supported so that the cuff is at the level of the right atrium of your heart.
They don't make sure you have emptied your bladder beforehand.
Etc. Etc.

https://www.nursingtimes.net/clinic...ures-for-measuring-blood-pressure-15-05-2020/

 

[johnnyb47]

I personally think the occupational nurse I went to see wasn't having a good day..Granted it was a absolutely boiling hot and it was the end of the week when everyone was starting to feel it.
It was a case of, I walked in after I've been working outdoors in the heat, sat down, asked two questions and then the blood pressure test.
It was then a quick answer that it's dangerous and that I'm not to use any machinery and to go and see my GP on the day.
That was it and off I went out side.
All very abrupt and quick.
I'm not one for worrying about much nowadays,but when I stepped outside I must admit I did feel a little concerned and confused.She made me feel like it was my fault the levels were so high.
My GP on the other hand was brilliant. He was informative, light hearted and proactive..
I just hope his letter he wrote stating that I'm ok and safe to use machinery at work will be enough to override the occupational nurses verdict

 

[Dogtrousers]

There's lots of information on line, NHS and so forth. High BP is a serious business. My wife and I use one of those little monitors daily (like those pictured above).

Diet is very important.

 

[fossyant]

I personally think the occupational nurse I went to see wasn't having a good day..Granted it was a absolutely boiling hot and it was the end of the week when everyone was starting to feel it.
It was a case of, I walked in after I've been working outdoors in the heat, sat down, asked two questions and then the blood pressure test.
It was then a quick answer that it's dangerous and that I'm not to use any machinery and to go and see my GP on the day.
That was it and off I went out side.
All very abrupt and quick.
I'm not one for worrying about much nowadays,but when I stepped outside I must admit I did feel a little concerned and confused.She made me feel like it was my fault the levels were so high.
My GP on the other hand was brilliant. He was informative, light hearted and proactive..
I just hope his letter he wrote stating that I'm ok and safe to use machinery at work will be enough to override the occupational nurses verdict

It's called WORK - it's bad for BP... I had a 24h one, sky high through working day, normal evening, low overnight, so all OK in average.

 

[KnittyNorah]

I have SHOCKING White Coat Syndrome - I've had it for years and years and at work was often used as a guinea pig/dreadful warning to nursing and medical students.

Yet wearing a mobile monitor - for a few hours, or a 'proper' 24 hr one - has always shown a perfectly acceptable BP. The White Coat Syndrome got even worse after I retired but my real blood pressure stays, reassuringly, pretty constant.

Also I am quite good at 'controlling' it - I have learnt, over the years (after scaring students with my 'life-threatening' readings) that I can lower it dramatically, and almost instantly, by a combination of stringent adherence to the techniques referred to by @rualexander above, and breathing exercises; I tell the student to merely observe me and to be ready to measure my BP when I nod or slightly raise my right hand and they are then equally shocked by my perfectly safe (but still a wee bit high - I can't rid myself of the syndrome entirely!) reading - much much better than the 'hypertensive crisis' level that frightened them 15 minutes earlier!

 

[ColinJ]

I have SHOCKING White Coat Syndrome - I've had it for years and years and at work was often used as a guinea pig/dreadful warning to nursing and medical students.

Mine is so bad that I used to faint... It turns out that I used to get so stressed that I just stopped breathing! I was completely unaware of doing that until a nurse told me when I was hospitalised for 9 days back in 2012. It was messing up my BP and blood oxygen saturation readings every evening.

I make an effort now to talk endless crap while things are being done to me. I mean even more endless crap than usual! It distracts me and forces me to breathe more. I tell the nurse why I am doing it. One with a good memory actually started to remember me talking about my plans for exciting bike rides and would ask how they had turned out next time she saw me!

 

[slowmotion]

I bought an Omron M7 ten years ago after a bypass operation. It cost about £50 at the time but it's more now. A mighty fine bit of kit. I've always suffered from "white coat hypertension". These days, at my routine check-ups, I just give the consultant my own readings of BP, HR, and blood oxygenation that I measured the day before. They seem happy with that and it keeps bossy Nurse Ratcheds at a safe distance.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

This thread prompted me to check mine this morning, 108/67. I check once a month due to familial history. But appears my diet and lifestyle are compensating for any genetic basis, if there is one.

I have a U&A BP monitor

 

[johnnyb47]

Me to,
Its too early to tell but with each time I've checked my BP ( bearing in mind I only bought it yesterday) and have only taken 4 readings but it appears that my BP is slowly dropping. Friday when checked by the nurse at work it was 183/103 yikes ,and then after starting the BP tablets the readings are slowly dropping 169/112 and 163/112 yesterday afternoon, 160/106 last night before bed and 143/107 this morning.
Hopefully from what I've learned here the tablet's are having an instant impact on getting it down to more reasonable. level's.

 

[BoldonLad]

Me to,
Its too early to tell but with each time I've checked my BP ( bearing in mind I only bought it yesterday) and have only taken 4 readings but it appears that my BP is slowly dropping. Friday when checked by the nurse at work it was 183/103 yikes ,and then after starting the BP tablets the readings are slowly dropping 169/112 and 163/112 yesterday afternoon, 160/106 last night before bed and 143/107 this morning.
Hopefully from what I've learned here the tablet's are having an instant impact on getting it down to more reasonable. level's.

I am not a medical person, but, I was always told that it is the second number (107 in you last reading) which is more important. This may be old and discredited information now.

 

[rualexander]

I am not a medical person, but, I was always told that it is the second number (107 in you last reading) which is more important. This may be old and discredited information now.

It is old information, the systolic figure is regarded as the most important now.
Although the diastolic is still relevant, and the OP's diastolic figure is very high.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Still lower @ 129/70 😁. That's a huge difference from 170something on friday morning

 

[figbat]

This is all very timely as I was referred to a cardiologist on Friday for high BP investigation. This followed a fainting episode this week which I believe is actually something else but the high BP readings that the GP got concerned them (172/97 followed by 152/98). I always run high, have done all my adult life - high enough to raise eyebrows at examinations but never high enough for intervention. High BP runs in both sides of my family too. Since the above readings I have taken more at home which have been much lower, 130-ish systolic although diastolic is always high 70s/low 80s. Pulse rate is normally <60 with my typical testing HR around 55.

So anyway, I’ve made a request for a cardiology assessment and will see where it takes me. Probably about time I addressed a long-standing health question. One thing I do know is that my heart is in excellent physical shape as I had a cardiac CT scan recently as part of a work-provided health assessment.

 

[BoldonLad]

It is old information, the systolic figure is regarded as the most important now.
Although the diastolic is still relevant, and the OP's diastolic figure is very high.

Yes, I thought that, but, didn't really want to comment on it.