Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Today I went to my new GP because various specialists who have been treating me think I should have a GP. Got taken straight into the exam room and the blood pressure cuff was put on immediately. 151/124
I calmly told the nurse that those numbers were totally bogus, I take my blood pressure frequently -- having had heart issues -- and those numbers are wildly wrong. I sit down and relax and, if the numbers are a little high, I wait and take my BP again. It is always less than 120/ less than 80. The results were always in this somewhat low range, sometimes as low as 108/72 when I had to spend time in a specialized nursing facility and was bed-ridden. She did not like hearing this but I was stating simple truth. I confronted the doctor about it and got the lame excuse of time restraints, but she did agree to have my BP taken again towards the end of the visit. 124/81 which is actually a little high for me but I was annoyed, had fasted for bloodwork and had consumed only black coffee that morning.
This has been my almost universal experience with how blood pressure readings are done at the doctor's office. One time a sleep dentist used a cuff on my wrist and came up with 165/I forget. They never could get a lower reading. I checked it at home, I checked it at the pharmacy of a supermarket and the numbers were perfectly healthy. I did hear a comment. "Yeah... it has been reading a little high."
Trying to stay fit in my old age I took four flights of stairs to a doctor's office the other day.and the blood pressure cuff was on within minutes. I don't think that reading was very accurate.
It would be much easier if they would ask, "Do you know what your typical blood pressure is?" Than we wouldn't have a figure that is egregiously wrong.
I don't think it is "white coat syndrome" because if I force them to give me a chance to wind down a little the numbers are always much better. This morning I was giving the office the benefit of the doubt that the reading might be a little high but not wildly so.
I don't think there is a valid excuse for this sloppiness and laziness. If the excuse is that the BP reading is not relevant to the visit -- but which it surely is for a general physical, as I went in for today -- then no reading should be taken.
Sad when the patient seems to know more than the "medical professional."
Get off your high horse. I have never, ever, ever diagnosed a patient with high blood pressure based only on readings in the office.
Any doctor that does so is a quack.
Even for kids, the right answer is to ALWAYS have the patient or parents check it at home and report back the numbers.
You are supposed to have both feet on the ground, seated in a neutral position, no fluids consumed or recent meals eaten, no recent bathroom breaks for a minimum of 15 minutes to get an "accurate" blood pressure.
There's zero percent chance of all those things happening in a doctor's office.
My cardiologist sets appointment's at specific times, You arrive at that time and are taken promptly into an exam room where all the vitals are taken along with any EKG or other non-invasive procedure they require. There is no waiting when you arrive. The doctor may come in afterwards, but there is no waiting when you arrive (they want to see your BP while you were active). If you get there 15 minutes early, yeah you may be sitting for a few minutes but so long as you're close to the time, in you go in as soon as you say your name to the desk staff.
Like I said, he knows the BP is going to be high due to my propensity to walk and use stairs, but that is still essential information because if he retakes it 15 minutes later, he expects to see a decrease within a certain level. He also cautioned that resting BP isn't that valuable as it's a feel good BP designed and arranged to be low. Unless your some person who sits around all day doing nothing but watching calming videos, he wants all my BP checks (home, office, at the VA, etc) to be done while engaged in normal daily activity, not when I set the stage for an artificially pleasing BP number.
This is not what I have understood about the standard. Nobody has ever told me, "Oh, we want your blood pressure when your are active." I could see that this might be useful, but HOW active? It seems that if you set the standard to include not having recovered from recent activity, the results will be wildly variable. Climbing stairs? A hard bike ride? Walking to the mailbox?
Here is what WEBMD says about taking your blood pressure: "Sit quietly before and during monitoring. When you're ready to take your blood pressure, sit for five minutes in a comfortable position with your legs and ankles uncrossed and your back supported against a chair. Try to be calm and not think about stressful things. Don't talk while taking your blood pressure."
"The following may help you obtain a better, more accurate reading the next time you have your pressure checked in the harried office.
Insist on being seated for at least 3 minutes before your pressure is taken. Even walking from the waiting room back into an examining room will briefly increase your blood pressure.
Take several deep, relaxed breaths in and out before the doctor begins to check your blood pressure.
Relax all your muscles, particularly focusing on the tightness in your neck and shoulders."
I could find similar links all day long. I doubt there are very many that say take blood pressure directly after exercise. If the exercise was somewhat measured and taken into account, this could be a useful tool, of course. But what happens in the doctor's office is rarely that. It is pure shoddy practice.
My wife says she would have walked out. I wish I had.
If you don't walk out next time fake a coughing fit and ask for water... that will be enough time to get an accurate reading while they try to locate water.
I am pretty much resigned that the reading might not be right at the doctor but I object to the high ones by people who don't know what they are doing. A LOT is based on medical records and I think my records should be accurate. My doctors staff doesn't even tell me what the reading is. I have taken to checking it after the nursing staff leaves on my medical portal on my phone. I think it says a lot that they won't even tell me my BP unless I ask.
There are some schools of thought that says your BP is supposed to be a living breathing entity that changes based on body conditions so you measuring it at random points tells you very little
I do arrive early. The readings do not so much fluctuate.They are pretty consistently higher at the doctor's office. Just walking down the hall and then immediately seated and BP taken compromises accuracy.
So they bring you right in, no waiting even when you'return early Wish my doc's office would so that. I always have to wait, enough time to be well relaxed , sometimes almost comatose by the time they check my blood pressure.
So they bring you right in, no waiting even when you'return early Wish my doc's office would so that. I always have to wait, enough time to be well relaxed , sometimes almost comatose by the time they check my blood pressure.
Often bring me right in and then after the nurse the wait is for the doctor.
But this morning it was an issue of a long walk toe the exam room and I was highstepping and swinging my arms like my PT for my total knee replacement wants me to do.
Oh for pete's sake. I've had my blood pressure taken at least 1000 times in a doctor's office, and it is completely accurate every time. It's not rocket science.
Sit down and wait a few minutes before having it taken, which is normal and common practice.
You are absolutely correct. Funny how the OP, a non professional, knows more than trained medical professionals, who do this like 50 times a day.
My ex is an RN, and , when I was post surgery last year, she took my blood pressure a bunch of times and it was always spot on.
The OP needs to go to medical school and learn a little.
They can get your weight and height wrong, too. Trust me I know from experience. I've had a couple of doctor's offices put down that I'm 5'3, I am 5'6. I haven't been 5'3 since junior high school.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you have shrunk. I have always been 5' 10.5" all my life. Now I am about and inch and a half shorter. I couldn't believe it either, but every time I am measured, it comes up now at 5' 9".
The numbers shown are correct. They might have needed to wait a few minutes for you to relax, but if it showed 150/90 then your blood pressure really was 150/90 when they took the reading.
I always have them do it twice. I know it'll be higher when they do it the first time and they're fine with it. No reason to get upset or suspicious, just ask them to take it again. It's no big deal at all.
My dentist always took a reading. Her reading was always the closest to my "normal" of all the doctors I've ever had who took readings. My normal has been 100/70 for the past few years. That is up from what it was most of my life at 90/60.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
