General Chat

Very true about the other factors AuntySherlock.

I've just been talking to a friend of mine who emigrated to Oz a couple of years ago. She's half Greek and has always eaten a very healthy Mediterranean diet. Little or no fat, doesn't drink much etc etc.

She went for a check up and was told she had HBP and high Cholesterol and doc wanted her to take medication for both. She refused point blank and insisted he did more tests to establish the reason for these high readings. Which he did. Huh! a bit different from UK doctor's, try taking that attitude over here and they'll ask you (for ask read order!) you to leave the practice.

After more tests it was found what she really had was a Thyroid problem.....so just goes to show. She could have been on the totally wrong medication had she not stood her ground.

Mary

I was on blood pressure tablets for two years, several years ago. Worked out that I reacted to pseudoephidrine, something in cold and flu preparations. Stopped taking cold and flu medication and the BP tablets, trotted along to the doctor several weeks later for my check up. Oh says she your blood pressure tablets are working really well. No says I, stopped taking them a month or so ago.

I still don't take cold and flu preps.

Now don't try that at home, stick to your medication. But be aware there are other factors which can elevate the readings.

I usually take my bp late morning ....... I'm retired, and that is usually a time when I'm taking a break and am on the computer anyway.


Now I only have to do it about once a week ...... or when I remember :))


The fact does remain though, that I will be on the medication for the rest of my lif.


Over here, they call high bp the "silent killer" 'cos so many people have it but don't know.


I usually play either plain solitaire or Spider solitaire .... always on the computer, 'cos you only need one hand that way :)))


It is important not to move around very much when taking your bp.




sylvia
xxx

Hi IGP

Mine only ever takes my BP once.......I wonder how many other doctors take it more than once? I only found out a few days ago about taking it 3 times, I thought just once was the standard practice.......now I know better ;-))

I am doing mine twice a day (morning and afternoon) at the moment - but not every day, about every 3rd day......I can't stand the stress LOL.

Mary

When I go to my doctor, he usually takes at least three readings, sometimes more. The first is usually on the high side, then they settle down. Once he has two reading that are pretty similar he stops there.

If you do take your own BP then it should be at around the same time of the day, otherwise the readings are less meaningful as with most people, BP gradually reduces during the day.

Also it is the trend that is important, not one isolated reading so keep a record on either a chart or a spreadsheet.

Hi TootyFruity

Yes, that's very true.......and also it's good to find out that you're not alone in feeling the way you do. I truly had no idea how common white coat syndrome was........I thought it was just me being a complete wimp lol.

I really am that bad that I won't even visit a friend in hospital......I make every excuse under the sun for why I can't visit them, even to the extent of making myself have a cold, so that I don't have to go!! Sad eh?

I'm definitely going to give Sylvia's suggestion a try.

I don't think I will be doing mine first thing in the morning, apparently, from everything I've read, your BP is higher then! It gets lower during the day.

Mary

sometime Mary its easier to talk to strangers because you know that their opinion is going to be more impartial and we don't want to worry our nearest and dearest.

I think Sylvia's suggestion about playing solitaire is a great one and I will certainly be giving it a go. I tend to take mine first thing in the morning before breakfast. That way the stresses of the day are not raising my bp

Hi Sylvia

Thank you for that......I am on the lowest dose of Atenolol........I never thought about playing Solitaire or doing some other distraction. I get so bored waiting the required 2 or 3 minutes before taking the readings.

I think the reason he started me off on Atenolol is because they are a beta blocker and so help with anxiety.

I'd gone to the doctors because I had a really severe attack of Vertigo (never had it before so had no idea what it was!) and was in such a state of panic (not knowing why I could barely stand or walk I was so dizzy) that the nurse put me on the ECG machine because my BP was off the scale.......something else to terrify me!

I bought a Resperate machine a couple of weeks ago and they suggest taking BP while using the machine.........I think I'll give that a try too. :-))

I have got 4 columns on my BP log sheet so that I can write down all three readings and then the 4th column shows the average reading, that way my doctor can see all of them.

I'm not really complaining about my doctor, he's actually a really good one and I know he thinks he's doing his best for me. It's just that as a doctor, he doesn't get it, that not everyone wants to be on medication for the rest of their lives.

I guess I don't help myself either in that, outwardly I appear as being happy, calm, chatty and relaxed, when inside I am shaking with fear! I'll give you an example.

At the end of January I was diagnosed as having COPD. The nurse gave me the info sheets and I quickly skim read them - I got to the bit about * palliative care* and thought OMG this is really bad! - at that moment I looked up and the nurse was filling in a form about me, I just happened to see that she ticked the box that asked *how does the patient seem* - she ticked the box that said HAPPY!!!! I'm sat there thinking.....Happy!!.......you've just told me I have COPD and you think I'm happy!.......are you mad???

If she had asked me how I felt I would have said *stunned, upset, scared* but certainly not happy - so goes to prove, they should ask how you feel, not make assumptions from outward appearances.

Funny how I can tell all this to strangers and yet find it so hard to say any of it to my nearest and dearest! :-))

Mary

Mary

I've been taking Atenolol, Ramipril, and a diuretic for several years.

MY doctors have all always said, you start with a diuretic at its lowest dosage, increase that slowly to its maximum dosage.

Then you add another drug at its lowest dosage, increase that slowly to its maximum dosage.

Then you add the third drug at it lowest dosage, and ........


AND "maximum dosage" is the maximum dosage for the individual patient, not necessarily the largest dosage possible.



I've been using a home bp machine for 8 years.

I have always ignored the 1st reading, and then kept a copy of the next 2 or 3 readings.

Rationale ................... by the time you have fiddled around putting the arm band on, getting the machine in place, your bp will be higher.

The other alternative is to put on the armband, get everything set up but do not take your bp for another 5 minutes.

I then take the next 2 or 3 readings at 5 - 10 minute intervals.


My doctors have never asked for me to average 2 or 3 readings, they want to see the individual readings so they can see what is happening.

I also have White Coat Syndrome ......... but they now only take my bp in the office as a check, and actually pay little attention to it. They do look closely at the note book I take in of readings done at home.

It is very important that you do it when sitting comfortably, with your arm supported, either on a table or on the arm of a chair.

You should be as relaxed as possible ................. I usually take mine sitting at the computer, I have a chair with arms, and rest my hand on the keyboard slide out tray .......... and I then play one of the Solitaire games until I've taken all the readings


Do not sit with your legs crossed OR take your bp if need to go to the loo ......... both can apparently affect it.

Another thing that can affect bp readings is if you have had a mastectomy and lymph nodes removed, with subsequent difficulty in lymph drainage ............. ..... you should NOT take bp readings on that arm.




sylvia

I have to say I have a very good doctor's surgery. There is only one everyone avoids because we want to live but the others are fine. They do listen to us, and when my son was taken ill very suddenly and rushed into hospital, our GP rang me to make sure I was alright with the shock, which I thought was good. He also did this when my OH was rushed in too so he isn't a bad sort.

I think there are good doctors and bad doctors but you get that in every profession.

LOL - \Isuffer'White coat' syndrome too.
I used to have really low BP, but it shot up about the time was working with a woman who was a bully - which coincided with the menopause!!
I take my BP lying down in bed - I've always ignored the first one, as I have to lean over to get the machine!!
However, I then take 3 'on the trot' and write them down - they always get lower. Then I put them on a spreadsheet for when I go to the docs.

Once, whilst at my doctor's, he constantly took my BP while I talked to him.
When I pointed out that my fingers were going numb,he said he was intrigued at how it changed - and wondered if, by checking it constantly, he could relieve me of the syndrome!! LOL
He's the only doctor I've had who, when I go to feeling like sh*t, I come out laughing-having been diagnosed with some awful lurgi - he's a real cutie!

I nearly had to console HIM when he had to tell me, 3 years ago, that Ionly had one kidney - something I'd sussed out when the nurse doing the scan got a colleague in and muttered 'I can't find it - there's no scar so it hasn't been removed'!! Oh - and the great giveaway - the question:
'Have you had a kidney removed? LOL

Lindsey*

I absolutely agree with that, I've been saying it myself for years!! lol. There I was, quite happy in my blissful ignorance....and now look at me, a nervous wreck! Seriously!

I only went because I had vertigo, and of course "while you're here I'll just take your BP, oh, it's a bit high, come back in a week for another check" . Then they just worry you senseless until you agree to go on medication. Worst thing I did was go on it, and if he thinks for one moment that I'm going to add another 2 to the mix, he's in for a shock. I've already told him I intend stopping them, that was the reason for the 24 hour monitoring, to prove I don't have HBP.

What gets me is, I'm sure he wouldn't want to take this medication, and I'm sure he wouldn't want any of his family to have to take it either, so why can't he understand that I don't want to??

Mary

I quite like that statistic too Lyndsey.lol

I quite like the american statistics that say doctors cause most deaths, keep away from them !

I feel so much better just by not seeing mine, always sending me off for tests and Xrays, looking for new and interesting ways to polish me off, not content with that ,a Birthday card arrived from the NHS telling me now was the time to stop smoking, and a do-it -yourself test kit for bowel cancer, talk about nanny state.

So no thankyou, no more ops and pills, my Ma is 92 has every spare part known to surgery and moans about any and everything, do ~I want to be like her ?

TootyFruity, I have no fear of needles, shame I am on lots of drugs, would have been an ideal blood doner.
Carol

I think the best thing in the doctor's waiting room is the notice that says if you have flu like symptoms or sick do not come to the surgery. Now if only patients stayed away when they were ill and only go when they were healthy perhaps I would be okay. Lol

I too have White coat syndrome on my notes along with needle phobic. I keep expecting to see neurotic flash on the screen too lol

I too suffer White coat symdrom Dr. actually has it written on my notes, my blood pressure can go to 200 over 80, he used to say relax, and I would say it will just go higher, which it did. I moniter mine at home, and can be as low as 114 over 80 we now have an understanding, a quite room would not work for me would still know it was the doctors lol
Carol

I think that "the trend" is more important than individual results,
you should be sitting straight, not crosslegged,the cuff needs to be at aprox heart level, and the testing forearm resting on a table or cushion, same place every time,,,

no talking or moving while the test is in progress.

Bob

TootyFruity,

I also sit as far away from other people as well lol.........I can't be doing with being near to all those sick people, I don't want to catch whatever they've got! I've found the best way to stop people sitting close to me is to open a window behind me, seems people don't like the cold! lol.

The surgery I go to has 2 waiting areas, the one upstairs is okay, but the one downstairs is awful.....always packed *shudders at the thought*.

But the worst part of the downstairs one, is that they have a TV screen in there.......and it's always playing *how to spot the symptoms of a stoke* oh please, give me a break!!! I'm stressed enough about being there without having to endure that as well.......don't they get the message that I, like most people, are quite happy in our ignorant bliss!

Mary

I only take my blood pressure occasionally or when I feel it may be a bit high then i try to relax beforehand.

My doctor's surgery offer me a "quiet" room to wait in but I have never used it because then people may think I'm contagious I sit as far away as possible to other people yet they come and sit next to me, even when the waiting room is practically empty. Why do that? Do they want what I have?