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Serious getting your blood pressure taken phobia

decaturron

decaturron

Active Member
At the risk of sounding stupid, I have this serious problem of getting my blood pressure taken. It started a long time ago when I was about 18. I got my blood pressure taken by a doctor and it was a little high. About 137/94. Not great but not serious given the environment. So he decided to take it again and it just kept going up and up. This scared the hell out of me and from then on I would dread going to the doctor, dentist and any other health professional. Here I am at 49 and still have this phobia. Again I know it sounds stupid that doesn't share this problem, but trust me it VERY real to me. Any thoughts?
 
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While I don't have that particular phobia, I can understand your pain. I do have a minor blood pressure problem and it is definitely exacerbated by the "white coat syndrome." What I did was to invest $65 for a good blood pressure monitor and I have used the machine at home at various times throughout the day and logged my blood pressure.
What I have found is that I DON'T have unusually high blood pressure, even though it registers high at the doctor's office. If I would have listened to the doctor based on the infrequent tests at his office, I would have been on the medicine he prescribed for no real reason.
So my advice is to do yourself a favor and buy one off of Amazon or your local drug store and use it in the comfort of your own home. I think it will go a long way to reducing your stress when going to the doctor.
And trust me, many people have phobias for man different reasons - I am sure folks will chime in here and confirm that fact.
 
I made that mistake as well. Again I know it sounds stupid but I would take my pressure at home and like at the doctors office it would be up and I would keep taking it and of course it would continue to incline. Maybe a shrink and meds are the only answer.
 
Ignore it ... high blood pressure never hurt anyone.

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Oh, yeah. :D

Sounds like your biggest problem may be "white coat" phobia. My blood pressure goes up 10 points just driving by a clinic. If you're serious about tracking yours, I'd suggest getting a decent pressure cuff and do it yourself. Just push a button, it inflates to the proper pressure, takes a reading, and gives you the results on a digital display. Some will even track readings and trends for you over time. Most doc shops will even check the calibration of a DIY cuff for you to make sure you're getting good readings. If they won't, they're obviously more interested in your money than your life, and I'd dump em.

My saga - same thing. The leeches were always warning me about high BP and I took their word they knew what they were talking about. Come to find out, it was the Celebrex I was taking. So the blood pressure meds would give me these regular hacking fits and they changed that to another med that was pulled off the market shortly after the Celebrex was. Go figure. Got away from the white coats and all the meds, and I now regularly score moderately medium, on my own cuff, which is good enough for me.

My favorite - Doctors say that over 90% of people over 75 have high blood pressure. Er ... excuse me ... another way of putting that would be to say that high blood pressure is NORMAL for people over 75.
 
I asked the nurse at my doctor's office about the accuracy of the home style machines versus the cuff and stethoscope that she was using. She told me that the machine was probably more accurate because people using the stethoscope had differing hearing abilities. Her/their readings were always higher than the readings I got at home.
 
That, and more relaxed at home.

I took my cuff in to my cardiologist, and we both took readings. Digital cuff was 3 pts from his old-school analog sphygmomanometer. Called it good. My physician uses a digital automatic unit.
 
"White Coat Syndrome" is VERY real...I could have mine taken by the nurse at the Dr's office, it would be sky-high, but the doc would come in, we'd talk awhile, HE'd take it after I'd calmed down, & it'd be normal...
 
Sandy G said:
"White Coat Syndrome" is VERY real...I could have mine taken by the nurse at the Dr's office, it would be sky-high, but the doc would come in, we'd talk awhile, HE'd take it after I'd calmed down, & it'd be normal...
Click to expand...

same here..and im only 26 (almost 27). OP is not alone :sigh:

It's like "don't wanna disappoint Doc!" aaand up it goes..
 
I guess I must have had a touch of it myself. Before I was diagnosed with diabetes, I was 140/90 all my adult life, even when I was in good physical condition and not overweight. Every time I'd get checked, the doctor would cluck-cluck at me and try to get me to consider taking blood pressure medication. I kept saying 'no'.

After I got diabetes, that became a secondary concern, but I also bought a B/P cuff to use at home, since I was testing my blood now twice a day anyway.

I noticed my B/P at home was lower than the doctor tested it. I asked and they said that maybe I had that 'white lab coat' thing. Weird.

However, what's more interesting to me is that as I started doing serious exercise and weight loss to lower my blood sugar, my B/P started coming down for the first time ever. I'm now well into the 'safe' range. And at the same time, the test at home and the test at the doctor's office are a fairly close match.

I don't know, but I think maybe it's because I no longer stress over it. I know it won't be borderline high anymore and the doctor won't fuss at me over it or try to put me on meds for it, so I guess I am just more relaxed now.

That's all I can think.

Consider taking some exercise. High B/P is a killer. End of advice, you know what to do.
 
Wigwam Jones said:
I guess I must have had a touch of it myself. Before I was diagnosed with diabetes, I was 140/90 all my adult life, even when I was in good physical condition and not overweight. Every time I'd get checked, the doctor would cluck-cluck at me and try to get me to consider taking blood pressure medication. I kept saying 'no'.

After I got diabetes, that became a secondary concern, but I also bought a B/P cuff to use at home, since I was testing my blood now twice a day anyway.

I noticed my B/P at home was lower than the doctor tested it. I asked and they said that maybe I had that 'white lab coat' thing. Weird.

However, what's more interesting to me is that as I started doing serious exercise and weight loss to lower my blood sugar, my B/P started coming down for the first time ever. I'm now well into the 'safe' range. And at the same time, the test at home and the test at the doctor's office are a fairly close match.

I don't know, but I think maybe it's because I no longer stress over it. I know it won't be borderline high anymore and the doctor won't fuss at me over it or try to put me on meds for it, so I guess I am just more relaxed now.

That's all I can think.

Consider taking some exercise. High B/P is a killer. End of advice, you know what to do.
Click to expand...

blunt but appropriate :thmbsp: I need to drop a few myself, at least exercise a bit
 
thebeez85 said:
blunt but appropriate :thmbsp: I need to drop a few myself, at least exercise a bit
Click to expand...

I never listened to people who fussed at me about my health, so I don't expect anyone to listen to me fuss at them over it. Everybody has to make their own choices, and sometimes you get lucky in the genetic crapshoot and treat your body badly and don't get zapped for it. We're all on our own though, and supposedly big boys and girls.

I'm fairly lucky genetically, but not that lucky. Diabetes was a wake up call for me, and I frankly consider it a blessing now; probably the least 'serious' thing that could have happened to me at my weight and fitness level (which was none).

If it motivates you at all, consider that I'm 51 now. I was diagnosed with Diabetes at age 46. I weighed nearly 300 pounds. A former Marine, but I had completely let myself go. Now I am in good health, my Diabetes under control and managed. I have more flexibility and am stronger than I was even when I was in the Marines. I've lost more than 50 pounds. I don't have the cardio-vascular fitness level I had then, but I am getting better. I work out for 2 1/2 hours a night, three times a week, at my local karate dojo and I stay active. I feel better than I did 10 years ago, and I feel younger. Some of the 'old man' stuff that was creeping up on me like arthritis in my fingers and my neck cracking when I tilted it one way or another are completely gone now. Just from exercise.

I could still have a stroke or a heart attack and be gone, just like that. But the chances of it happening now are substantially lower than they were. I have had an echocardiogram and I have no indications of plaque build up in my heart or or major blood vessels, clean as a whistle. I've had my age 50 colonoscopy and I have nothing weird growing in my poop chute (actually surprising given my diet over the years of mostly meat).

The best part about all of it is that I feel good. No more morning aches and pains, no more plantar's fascitis walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night, no more arthritis in my fingertips. And the only drugs I take are Metformin for my Diabetes and Vitamin D because apparently I don't get enough sunlight (says the doctor). I treat doctor visits now as an opportunity to make sure my evil plans to live forever are working, they don't freak me out anymore and I don't avoid them.

Now... if only I could take my own advice and go see the DENTIST...sigh.

To the OP, get your stuff together man. Get busy living or get busy dying, like the man said.
 
The medical community calls it "white coat syndrome" it is very real and if you tell your Dr. you have it he will make adjustments for it. I know, because I too have it.
 
I have high BP and am on meds.

When I take my BP at home it's averaging 127/80

When the Dr/Nurse takes it in his office, it's more like 145/99. I also brought my unit to the Dr to check and it's working perfectly, they all attribute it to the white coat syndrome. It even sometimes happens to me, as when I take my own BP I can feel heart start to race like my own body wants to screw up the results. I then wait 5 minutes and relax and the second readings, third readings, etc are always back down to normal.
 
If the OP is having fears even at home take your blood pressure in a comfortable chair after resting for awhile with the lights off.............in other words try to be as relaxed as possible. You will get pretty accurate results this way.
 
Sandy G said:
"White Coat Syndrome" is VERY real...I could have mine taken by the nurse at the Dr's office, it would be sky-high, but the doc would come in, we'd talk awhile, HE'd take it after I'd calmed down, & it'd be normal...
Click to expand...

I've developed an anxiety at the doc's office over the past 5 or 6 years. I'm 43 years old and never had a problem before I turned 40. Not even sure why because I've always had excellent doctors and I've never had a problem with injuries. By that I mean that I've had many successful repairs to deep cuts, broken bones and sprained stuff, even a few successful minor surgeries. Never had a failure. I almost passed out a couple years back in the doc's office from the stress of being there. WTH? So next time I was in I talked to my Doc about it. She was really good about it and now chats me up a bit, catching each other up on life, before we even start the exam or talking about why I'm there. Helps a ton. I'm actually getting over my anxiety.

So my advice is to let your doc know. Put it out there and maybe just getting it out and known will help a lot to ease your fears. You are not alone in doc related phobia/anxiety.

Also, if you don't want to buy a monitor but would still like to monitor you BP, a lot of pharmacies have BP machines in them. I've seen them at CVS and Walgreen's around here.
 
hate getting my BP tested,being that i'm a type one diabetic,they always freak out and want to put me on meds.not that my BP is high,usually it's in the high range of normal...i even had one doc tell me it was a preventative thing..really?.. you want me to take meds that are going to mess with my BP and possibly have other side effects,even tho i don't need them or have the issue that thier made for? next please!

for a short while i was going to the same doc as my dad,he told me my BP was again very slightly high but likely perfectly normal for me,in probably a small breach of confidence on his part he told me my dad's was virtually exactly the same way and it was likely genetic,just how we're built..he did find it interesting to see the comparison,and without it i guess i likely would have gotten the same doom and gloom speech all over again
 
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