Forgive me if this is a stupid question.
My husband has been diagnosed with high blood pressure. He is, generally, quite an anxious person.
Are the two related at all? Does being anxious raise your blood pressure? Or, conversely, does raised blood pressure contribute to anxiety?
Thanks for that link.
My husband’s theory is that both times he’s been to the doctor, he’s had to rush around to find a park, rush to the surgery, and worrying about being late has raised his blood pressure. That article seems to back him up on that.
He’s been given a monitor to measure his blood pressure at home, so that should eliminate anxiety as a factor.
There might be something to that. My wife is pregnant so she is having her’s checked quite frequently. She’s noticed the numbers are higher when she takes the kids with her versus going alone.
I’m on my Doctor’s “BP watch list” (ok, not really a list as such, but we’re on the edge), so I take my pressure regularly at home, and on my visits to the office. My BP is ALWAYS higher when I go in, and also has gone up a few more points when the doctor walks through the door.
My home machine reads the same as the doctor’s office.
Thankfully, I’m still on the borderline side, and can still work on controlling it with other means.
How the blood pressure is taken is very important!
The patient should either be seated, with feet flat on the floor, or supine (lying on his back). If sitting, the arms should not be crossed, but should be relaxed and resting on the thighs. The patient should have been resting for 5 minutes prior to taking the pressure. The stethoscope bell should be used to auscultate the pressure.
These principles of blood pressure taking, endorsed by the American Heart Association, are widely ignored.
As a result, when I’m put in a room to get checked, I immediately assume the BP-taking position (seated), concentrate on relaxing, and try to be in the appropriate state when my pressure is checked. If it’s high and if the criteria above weren’t met, I’ll request that they repeat it appropriately.
Usually my requests are honored without hesitation. Sometimes I have to haul out my credentials (something I’m more and more loathe to do as I get older).
Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if my husbands home reading will still show high blood pressure, as it runs in the family on his mother’s side.
Question: If your legs are dangling, as they are likely to be if you’re sitting on an exam table, will that increase or decrease the BP? Ditto re: crossed arms?
Most likely to elevate (increase) it.
Well the home test confirms the doctor’s reading - 140/92. Hmmm.