Hey guys:

I am so elated - its been a year since I have this phobia of blood pressure machines at CVS or other drug stores - I have good blood pressure - generally 110/70 - but I had a scare at CVS about a year ago when I got a reading of 130/75 - for me that was high and I started freaking out - this turned into a huge phobia for me - well I decided to face my phobia (as someone on this board wrote that the only way to get rid of a phobia is to face it head on) - so yesterday I went to CVS and decided to take my pressure - I could feel my body get tense and my heart start to pound - but I said to myself I know it will be high the first time because my pulse will be high - I will be worried if my pulse is normal and it is high - but not otherwise - and I was right - my pulse was 134 - my pressure 188/101 - Yikes - but I decided to stay with the machine and keep taking my pressure till it went down - Well I took my pressure about 24 times during the next half an hour - and to my immense pleasure the last reading was 117/71 - pulse 88 - My normal pulse is about 73 - so I figured that I would come back another day and get my pulse down a few - well today I went back - and I was not as nervous as yesterday - but I still got a high reading the first time (not as bad as yesterdays though- pulse 134/88 - pulse 101 - so I did the same thing as yesterday - just kep taking my pressure till my pulse came down - in about 15 minutes my pulse was down to 83 and my pressure 97/69 - So Ladies this is my victory - I no longer have a phobia of these machines at CVS - lesson to us all - Face your fears !!!!!

Lara Falcon

Great to hear that Lara....I have to get over that in the dr's office. I have my own cuff and I have monitored it at home myself and it's pretty normal but the minute I get in the dr's office it's high.

That is awesome, WTG!!!

I have the same damn thing w/those machines, just see one and my BP goes up... For same reason as you... Now I automatically panic when I see one, or have it taken at the dr's office....

I have gotten better at home, just don't know if I would be as brave as what you did. You should be really really proud of yourself, and that little lesson can help you over come so many things...

Hey Becca:

Thanks for the kudos - yes this has been a good experience for me - also I did another brave "stand up to your fears" thing - a few days ago I had posted about waking up in the middle of the night with heart racing and being freaked out about it - well the following morning after I posted this - I went online and researched palpitations and tachycardia - and the general medical opinion on this was that nighttime tachycardia was generally anxiety induced - especially if you did not have it during the day - which I don't - so a couple of days after that research when I had another episode of racing heart during the night - I told myself "its all anxiety" - I tried a few tricks to stop it - like holding my stomach muscles in - and massaging my neck - and in a couple of minutes it had dimished to normal heartbeat and I went back to sleep - I was SO PLEASED with myself for standing up to my fear -

However regarding your phobia - why do you have them with these machines - we have control over these machines as they display the pulse rate too - at the doctors office you don't have that advantage - all you have to do is look at the pulse rate - if the pulse rate is normal (76) or on the low side (66) and you have readings like 142/90 - that's when you worry - but if the pulse rate is 101 - and readings are 134/88 - you know that when you bring the pulse rate down to the 80s the readings will be like 101/70 or even lower - try doing this and let me know - BTW do you suffer from hbp

Love

Lara Falcon

WTG Lara!!!!