Does anyone else have this? It used to only be at the doctor's office - as I have white coat hypertension. They used to take it twice, at both the beginning and end of my appointments, so I would have a chance to relax and it would drop into it's normal range.

Now, even at home I get all keyed up. If I think about it - okay I need to test my blood pressure, my heart starts to race, my muscles tighten etc.... What a silly thing to be afraid of.

I have been afraid of sillier things than that!!You are very normal.One thing that will help is to sit down at home at take your Bp repeatedly over a matter of minutes.Just sit there,take a deep breath and just do it several times and see if the apprehension does not ease up a bit.GOD-bless

Thank Lady - That is what I do. Plus I close my eyes and do square breathing while I am doing it. My BP actually has been fine recently, so I don't understand why this silly fear won't go away.

Yes I have always had that and my father did also. His doctors were so fooled into thinking he had serious high blood pressure that they put him on meds he didn't need and then in the end admitted that they had made him ill!

I think if I were you I would I would have the monitor by your bed and maybe try and test as you are waking in the morning. I would also keep on doing it over and over again until you get so bored with it that the fear will eventually go.

It's like any other phobia. You have to repeatedly expose yourself to it to take the fear away.

janet c

Boy can I relate to that. Still have it but not as penetrating. Just thinking about taking my blood pressure and I can feel the anxiety creeping up. (even writing this is doing it). I never knew why this happens. It is a horrible feeling.

I thought I was the only one with this silly phobia! I get so mad at myself for allowing this fear to be so consuming. But it is hard to intellectualize a fear away. I meditate & have tried working through it in my meditations -- and just like you said - just thinking about having my bp taken causes me anxiety.

I'm pretty sane in all other areas of my life -- can't figure this one out?!? I don't wish this on anyone else - but it is comforting to know I'm not the only one who suffers with this.

Gotta love pw...I figured I too was the only one who feared getting my blood pressure taken and whenever I do, it's skyhigh because I'm almost hyperventilating when it's being taken

I'll try the mind over matter thing and then the cuff starts getting tighter and tighter and I can feel my whole body tense and I KNOW it's going to be high so it goes even higher!!!!

I actually, on suggestion of a doctor, do the grocery store/Walmart machines and they are low high or below...nothing near the numbers I get at the doctor's office so I think I'm ok

It was also suggested I wear a monitor if I wanted to just to check the changes over a few days....haven't tried it yet

I agree, this is a silly thing to get stressed over but I think it has something to do with control for me and the unknown......or I'm just a nutty perimenopause lady who needs some heavy sedatives

Sandreas,

This thread was made for me, and i'm NOT joking. For many years now I have had this most horrible phobia. I mean, it's almost debilitating. I am afraid of getting my blood pressure taken I can hardly type. My mom took her blood pressure incecently all day long, she was so worried about it so maybe that's why I'm so scared. I hate the feeling of having the cuff on my arm, that pressure feels horrilbe. and it's always high at the docs. He wont' even ask me to take it anymore. But I really want to get over it, believe me. I just don't know how to do it ? I know its silly but that's fear, very silly.

Thanks so much for bringing this up. Like everyone else, i thought I was alone.

Hugs and Love, God Speed.

Moozie

Me too. I'm exactly the same. It's become a real issue especially since menopause. It's sky high at the doctors. They say I have white coat hypertension. When I take it at home it's always high first time then starts to decrease if it's not too high. If it's really high it just gets higher and I come out in a hot sweat and feel really panicky. What worries me is that as it seems to have taken over my whole life and is making it worse than it would otherwise be!! Hey Ho! I have started going to the gym and they have given me some cardio work to do in the hope it will relax me and bring it down. I hope it works.

Sky

I have the same problem. It started a couple of years ago when my BP was high at the docs (and had never been high before). He told me to take it for thirty days. I tried the WM machines, etc., but then just bought a cuff. It still ran high for a few days, then settled down to very normal. I was obsessed with taking my BP. I'd take it when I got up, before I ate, after I ate, after I exercised, during one of my adrenal surges , etc. Never high. I was also taking the BP of anyone who came to my house . This went on for a couple of months.

Then, while on vacation, my mom and I had a tiff. I hurt her feelings (I didn't even know that I had). I took my BP, and apparently, that's what it took to make my BP high. Well, that started the "panicking over BP thing again."

So, I put the BP cuff away and REFUSE to take my BP again.

So girls, how will any of us know if we REALLY have HBP? I've read lots of articles and had even read some that say that it's normal for BP to rise as we age and that it shouldn't be treated - that the meds are worse than the HBP. Anyone heard that?

Yes-my father was on meds for high blood pressure (when he didn't really need them) and they made him really ill. I also know others who have taken them and they can make you feel really bad. I think that is where my fear comes from. I can't bear the thought of having to take meds as I get affected so badly.

I won't have my cholesterol checked either because it only has to be slightly high in this country and they put you on statins. I do not want to take anything-i feel bad enough on a daily basis as it is. I had a real obsession with high cholesterol when I was in my 30s. My father had a bad heart bought on partially by the unnecessary BP meds and poor diet. He was supposed to have a by-pass op and committed suicide instead because he could no longer stand his ill health and the circle of fear he was in. After that I became obsessed with all things heart related. I even had one of those 24 hour monitors because I was so conviced I was ill!
Everything came back fine including my BP-and my cholesterol was slightly raised but nothing to worry about.
I spent years following that still thinking that I would have heart trouble one day and while I was worrying about that I got endometrial cancer! So now I try not to worry any more and I don't go looking for trouble because it will find me soon enough! Sorry to be so cheerful
janet c

Yup, that's me, too. I told my docotor that he's going to have to knock me out to get a true reading. I'm on BP medicine, but it's still high when I take it. All I have to do is look at my BP machine and I can feel my body reacting.

I considered doing what janet suggested--just keep taking my pressure over and over, aversion therapy, but I haven't been inclined to actually do it yet.

Once again, it's nice to know that I'm alone in this boat.

Oops...I meant NOT alone in this boat.

This is the only message board I've ever been on that doesn't have an "edit" feature.

Wow, Thanks for all the responses - I thought this was a rather unusual fear of mine. Obviously not. That makes me feel better (although I doubt it will have any effect next time I go to check my blood pressure ) I try not to take it too often, but want to take it occasionally so that I can honestly tell my doc that there is not a problem at home (the only problem being that even when I take it at home I often have to set there doing it for half an hour or more before it comes back down)

AND - like a lot of you, just thinking about it has me tensing all my muscles up right now.

Some have already mentioned this, but I am going to mention it again.

When you have a phobia, in order to get over it, you have to face it over and over and over again....to the point where you don't feel fear anymore. To the point where you know it can't hurt you. So I agree with the ones that have suggested you take your BP over and over and over again, until you don't feel the stress. Even if you have to do it for a couple of hours non stop!!!

When I go to the doc, I also have higher than normal BP and the doc has wanted to put me on meds for it!! I tell him NO NO NO!! My BP is perfectly normal at home!!! And it is. I took it day before yesterday...it was 114/72!! For a woman my age, how much better could it be?? Meds would drop it so low I would probably pass out!

I also get scared when my blood pressure is checked. Just the thought of going to the Dr's office does it for me. Then when I tell the Dr that it's not usually that high, they seem to not believe me. I hate that.

Boy can I relate to this thread! I hate hate going to the doctor but have to because I have had high BP since I was 37 years old. It seems like the older I get, the more severe my anxiety becomes just before I have a doctor's appointment. I am on two different meds and when I am in the doctor's office, my BP is still very high. I have had all the cardio tests but I now have a new Primary Physician and she says I really should go back to a Cardiologist to do a bunch of tests again. Argh. I know what the result will be the minute I step into his/her office. I even ended up in the ER once time because I had gone to see a new Gyn and my pressure was so high she wouldn't examine me! She made me go to the ER. I know she thought I was going to stroke out in her office.

I have my own monitor and have tried every which way of holding off having to go through a bunch of expensive testing, yet again. I have tried taking my BP non-stop, all day long. I have tried not taking it for a while. I have tried taking it once a day.The thing that seemed to hold things at bay with my doctor was to keep a BP journal for a month before I went to see her. She could see that the closer my appointment was to see her, the higher my BP became. I have to go in for my annual in the next couple of months so I am going to start my journal again.

CG

I freaked out last yr when I got a high reading (130/80) at a Walmarts bp machine and after that I started getting high readings at the other machines because I used to get so nervous - Now I HAVE NEVER SUFFERED FROM HP in my life - and even at this age of 52 it is 110/70 - I think we have low pressure in our family - my mothers was about 100/70 when she was 72 - anyway I knew that I had to go to my gyne to get my bcp renewed and I had to have a good bp reading - so to take account of the fact that I may experience White Coate Hypertension (which I was experiencing) I decided to take measures to really reduce my pressure so that when I did go to the doctors even if I was hyperventating I would have a decent reading - so for 5 months I walked for 150 minutes a week, I did not eat any salt, I bought and used this breathing machine called RESPERATE which is supposed to bring pressure down, I took apple cider vinegar to lose weight - and guess what it worked - at my doctors I was SO NERVOUS AND MY HEART WAS BEATING SO FAST I THOUGHT I WOULD PASS OUT - but unbelievable my pressure was 115/75 - so all this works - ALSO TAKE MAGNESIUM - ABOUT 500 MGS A DAY - THAT REALLY WORKS -

Lara Falcon

Okay, now I am all nervous again. 130/80 is great BP reading for me. What MD wants to see it at (well maybe a little lower on the bottom number like 130 over 74 and she is ecstatic)

Don't worry-I was just going to say that it doesn't sound like a high reading to me! Maybe the top number-130, but I have always understood that the top one is more about how fast your heart is beating. It's the bottom one that is important and 80 is considered normal. Definitely-so don't panic

janrt c

Why cant we edit on this site?
I make so many typos these days
janet c

Oh well that helps Janet - as my heart is always beating out of my chest when I take my BP so it would be no wonder my upper number is higher.

Because Janet - that way it makes sure that we all show that we can err and be human

Good topic. Love this one! Talk about great diversion....


I started to have white coat hypertension when a female Dr in my mid forties told me my blood pressure was too high and I should take meds for it. That freaked me out. It had never been too high before (except during graves disease episode) and taking meds...whaaaa??? I felt fine. I was healthy. I didn't want the meds so then began the battle with fear over it. That is the part that really is tough. Everytime I would have to see her it was like I was being monitored extra careful and this extra diligence increased the fear. Then she would remark how its GOING HIGHER, better get on the MEDS. PROTECT YOUR HEART!!!! I came in one day nearly shaking with fear and asked in terror, "Am I going to stroke out?" She rolled over in her little roller chair listened to my heart and said, "No, your heart sounds FINE."

SHUT UP ALREADY (that's my retrospect thought.) So I got a cuff and began taking it every day. Well, by then I was in a state of panic. Every time I would even THINK OF THAT CUFF I could feel my blood pressure rising and my head start pounding. The reading would come out HIGHER each time I took it. I was taking it ALL the time even in the car. HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL. We already feel WIERD enough, we don't need it CONFIRMED, thank you! I had a history of serious medical issues and the years before, even worse - they couldn't diagnose me and just kept telling me I was MENTAL CASE. Okay then. So after going through this repeated panic as I tried to CALMLY get a blood pressure reading in the CAR, I did the best thing I could. GOT ANGRY. I felt the internal desire to separate myself from the thing that was troubling me and I did. I threw the brand new cuff in the trash can and stuffed junk over it so no temptation to rescue it later. I felt better almost immediately. Days went by and I prayed about the fear. I felt I should NOT take my BP for a year.

A year later I bought A WRIST CUFF. No more squeezing on the arm. Just follow the simple instructions like keeping your arm over your heart level and not MOVE after hitting the button, tighten it just so and voila. Normal blood pressure. It went on being normal and when my health suffered, the BP changed. Never went back to how awful scary it was before (197/99.) I remember a male nurse putting me in a dark room in the back of the clinic and telling me to lie down and be calm. They took it again lying down, SAME OLD SAME OLD. Finally the Dr walked in. I was cringing under a light blanket in this dark room. She flipped on the light and said, "So what is REALLY bothering you?" Here I thought I was getting ready for a stroke and it turns out to be an EMOTIONAL ISSUE. I had burst a blood vessel in my eye from the pressure. She said, go back to your room (We were staying in a motel at the time) and walk for thirty minutes. When you are done walking, call someone you trust and tell them what is bothering you. So I did. I walked and walked and figured, well, if I drop dead, I drop dead. Thank God it will all be over finally. But the walking actually helped me calm down. Then I called my mom, told her about my distress and cried a good long while. Then I felt better. Took a xanax, went to bed and woke up the next day ready to go again.

The wrist cuff is a blessing. It doesn't hurt, doesn't lie and doesn't put up with your nonsense. Won't work well on really big wrists because they just don't make them big enough but otherwise its great. I have pulled it out at times, out of sheer curiousity to see what my BP was...when I was sure it was going through the ceiling and was normal. Sometimes I figured it would be dead calm and was higher than expected. Still, the best thing I did was take that year off from taking it and stop WORRYING ABOUT IT. It old the nurses during that year YOU ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE MY PRESSURE TODAY. They would fight, kick, give me dirty looks and when they saw I was determined, they stomped out mad. BOY DID I FEEL BETTER! Just taking that control over my well being made me feel good. Fear makes you feel out of control but you really are not. I think the medical system buys into that fear to get all of us to do what they want us to do which is come in alot and stay on meds. They don't make money if we don't.

The last time I was at the Dr, a week ago, I felt my pressure was gonna be high but I took a deep breath, let it out and looked away trying to focus elsewhere, it was 138/80. NOrmally runs high 120's over high 70's or low 80's. I had my hubby go with time before that and he sat and rubbed my back, talked to me and made jokes while they took it. For some reason all that distraction WORKED. Feel fortified by him being there helped the most. Like I had somebody on MY side for a change. You can help keep your BP down when its taken by these three things;

1) distraction, focus on something totally

2) don't hold your breath or hyperventilate, focus on breathing normally from the stomach

3) don't **** your gut in or tighten it during the reading, you do it without realizing it


Lastly, realize that you are alive and well and your heart and body are doing everything in their power to keep you that way. Your body is NOT your enemy. Trust your body more than you do now. You shouldn't trust the medical system and you should double check all meds prescribed yourself and get second and third opinions on treatments that you question. If you have a blood pressure, your doing pretty good regardless.

Froze,

That's a great post, THANK YOU...


Moozie

sanandreas,

Boy, do I have that fear! My blood pressure is usually good, but when I go to take it, I can actually feel the anxiety rise and my heart starts pounding. It makes it very hard to go to the doctor, too, because I worry so much about it.

You are not alone!

Deb

Wonderful post Frozentundra - It does give me something to think about and some ideas to follow. (now if I were only in better control of my mind and able to distract myself better) My little Pitt Bull like head tends to grab onto an idea (especially if it is a scary idea) and not want to let go. Clearly I need to work on that.

I also have the little wrist cuff BP monitor. I have taken it to the hospital when my son was in there, so check its accuracy compared to the hospital machines. It is very close to what the hospital machines read. Originally we got it to track my son's heartrate as he was having episodes of tachycardia and arythmia. He still does get them, the cardio doesn't want to do anything, says it isn't life threatening. Anyways, the machine measures BP, heartrate, and will show if there is any arythmia. Maybe it is less scary, being on the wrist.