Very high BP reading and very scared

Oversqueezing raises your blood pressure, it happens to me with automated cuffs. I now request a manual cuff when I go to the doctor. Then the anxiety of seeing the high numbers raises it further. What they want to see is a trend of high BP, not one instance in an office so I bet your BP is as it reads at home. Next time request a manual cuff and have them let you relax for five minutes beforehand.

Yes I will and next time I have to revisit that specialist I'm not going to let that woman take my BP at all. Today I took it about three times, all under 120/75. Thanks for your advice.

I was exactly the same as you. Terrible "white coat syndrome" every time I went to the doctor. It got so bad, they gradually got me up to 40mg of BP med, but that made my BP so low, every time I stood up or bent over, I got terribly dizzy. Finally, I took my BP monitor to the doctor to compare the reading & check the calibration, then monitored at home, only 3 times per day. Most home monitors save the data, so you can show your doc the results the next time you see him/her. Turns out, my BP was consistantly so low, she gradually reduced my BP med from 40 to 5mg. Whenever you see any doctor, tell them you have intense "white coat" & to your take your BP at the END of the visit. You'd be surprised how many doctors & health care workers have the same fear of the cuff.

I've been taking it since, it's normal. I do take small doses of two meds. I even took it at 3AM today and it was 122/77. I'm just not going to let any female worker in any doctor's office take my BP again and I'm going to bring my home chart with me.

I really appreciate the info on the blood pressure machines. They squeeze my arm so hard some time that I develop problems with my skin in the area and now I wrap a thin soft piece of gauze before putting the cuff on but the manual reading sounds so much better. My bp in office is horribly high. I have become sick with every bp med they try on me .I see a cardiologist this week with hopes of a gentler approach to my problem . From eirrol

I now use a wrist monitor at home that I calibrated with my Omron cuff monitor, had my husband test it, too to see if it was accurate. They can be very inaccurate if you don't follow the measurements of table height, etc. in the included manual. I love my Omron wrist monitor, makes such a big difference, no oversqueezing, no pain, no more anxiety at home when I use it.

Here is a comment I left earlier this week in a related post:

I suffered from blood pressure phobia! But then I found out that I had both "white coat anxiety" and that my Omron cuff was over-squeezing which was giving very inflated readings.

Here is how I broke the cycle:

I realized that having high blood pressure isn't the end of the/my world, so if I truly had it, it's manageable. This helped me relax.

I made sure that I was seated and relaxed for five minutes before I did a reading. I also did a breathing exercise through an app on my smartwatch during this time.

I did three readings a few minutes apart. The first was usually elevated, the second lower, the third normal. Over time all three became normal.

I started using an Omron wrist monitor and properly calibrated it exactly by following the measurement guide of table height, etc. I had my husband, who has stable blood pressure, test the wrist monitor and then the cuff monitor and they were the same.

I now enjoy anxiety-free readings and sometimes they are high if I am very stressed so I know i need to chill out. However I no longer have anxiety or fear of readings. I'm even getting lower pressure readings in my doctor's office!

Well relax cus that’s not gonna help your bp, the less you worry the better trust me. If your feel like your doctor is a joke just relax and go to another

The monitor isn't supposed to squeeze hard enough to hurt you, although it can be uncomfortable for a second. I had my Omron calibrated at the cardiologist's office when I first got it so I'm taking it to the next appointment but basically the readings are ok at home. It's the stress of new doctors and not feeling "safe" or well cared for which is how I now feel after my PCP retired in 2015. I haven't been able to find a good doctor since then. The cardiologist is an hour away at a teaching hospital but my BP is high there too which it never used to be and my Omron did the same thing when I was there. He calls it "reactive". I'm going to ask him if I should have a BP monitor to see what it's really doing, I think you can wear one at least two days and send the results directly through the cell phone. I hope you can find a solution. I'm just concerned because I'm pretty old now and it worries me because of that, I'm expecting to drop dead any minute even though there's really no reason to feel that way. This really stinks.

That is such good information. Thank you.I am definitely going to get a wrist cuff. In the cardiologist office,coming up very quickly, I will ask them to use a wrist cuff,if possible. My feeling about the regular arm cuff is now validated. Thank you.,again !
Eirrol

Thank you. It is always good to connect with others who share and help each other. This will be my first cardiologist. I have a kidney doc, a doc for my autoimmune situation, a regular PCP who I can never get an appointment with and now the cardio doc. Coordinating gets interesting. But I thought it was time to get the cardiologist because the kidney doc had tried 3 times with the bp meds and I got sick every time.It is important that he is in the loop because meds with very low functioning kidneys are very tricky. I,too, am old in body, and kind of surprised I am still kicking, but not scared of death, just of being in such pain and enduring more. I believe I can get better and I work on it and pray about it and have seen quite a few miracles and with God’s help, I will see more . from eirrol.