Every time I go to the doctor I get told I have high blood pressure, or borderline. I went to the cyropracter and he took my BP and asked "have you ever been told that you have high BP?" I said "Ahhh, I've been told it is borderline" (he's not a docter so he has to play these games in how he presents this as not to be practicing medicine)
So I go to a new doctore (my old doctor lost his license) this guy was a total A-hole, he cussed me out and tells me I'm in horrible shape and makes it sound like I'm going to die or something, he told me my BP was extremly high. He looked into my eyes and claimed he could see that my BP was SO high that I had blown vessels in my eyes! Yet he never offered any medicaton for it?

So..... today I woke up with the TV on and they were talking about health, they said your BP should be under 120 over 80, so I got an electronic BP machine and test mine, it's 123 over 74, is that really outragious? Seems close enough to me. Can someone tell me if that is exceptable?

Im NOT a medical dr.. but my dr (specializing in internal meds) preaches if EITHER number is above the standards you have high blood pressure and it needs to be corrected. Whether corrections by via meds, diet, exercise or combo, it needs to be lower.. Based on family history determines how drastic they look at the numbers. With my numbers my bottom number was about 3 to 4 points HIGH, and that was way more important than having the upper number over the same amount. It put me at a great risk of stroke, heart attach.

They also have just recently lowered the standards, it used to be 140 / 90.

BTW - I believe chiropractors are drs as well, just like pediotrist (sp - foot drs), dentists, or optometrists. They also have some medical training, just nothing like a MD. I believe Standards of Care practices requires them to ask you about blood pressure, meds you are on etc and advise you to see your MD if anything is out of line.

Also, when blood pressure is high you CAN see it in the eyes.. My wife is an optometrist and has sent ppl to their primary care physicain or the ER a couple times. A couple times the family dr didnt have an appt so she had to call them personally and they worked the patient in immediately.

Good luck getting it under control.. I would find a new dr if you thought this one was A-hole.. dont risk stroke, heart attach etc just because you dont like him

Brian

Depending on how cynical you are you might say that the medical profession keeps dropping the "acceptable" blood pressure to sell more blood pressure drugs.

Beyond that, you could be suffering "what coat disease" or whatevery they call it where you get nervous from being in the Dr. Office and your blood pressure spikes.

The best thing would probably to get a little index card and fold it in your wallet and test you BP at those pharmacy BP machines over time--keep track of date & time.

Oops, I just saw that you have your own BP machine.  So take your own several times over the course of a few days.

I was borderline a few years ago.  I watched it carefully.  Took my pressure every night at roughly the same time to get a good baseline.

I upped the exercise, watched the salt intake, and took Niacin like the doctor told me.  It went down to the normal range.

I have the white coat syndrome.  If they take it at the office when I first get there it will be much hight than when I am getting ready to leave.

I was under and extreme amount of stress when my pressure spiked.  Worked for a bad boss, bought a new house, had to fix up the old house to rent it out, and lost two dogs within a 6 month period.

My dr doesnt buy into the 'white coat syndrome' (but he also is a spokesman for the bp meds im on - But I trust his judgement and abilities)... His thoughts (which does make sense) are that you need to have your bp uncontrol at ALL times otherwise there could be damage being done.


brian

Out of curiosity, was he being a total dick before he took your blood pressure? Could he have been trying to piss you off and raise your BP before he took it?

Quoted: Out of curiosity, was he being a total dick before he took your blood pressure? Could he have been trying to piss you off and raise your BP before he took it?

The whole thing was bad news from the first minute. I spent 45 minutes in the waiting room, wich totally pissed me off because I was surounded by big fat sweaty bitches coughing and sneazing and shit, did I mention for 45 MINUTES.
While in the waiting area I saw the docs pic on the wall, he looked like he had a nasty snear on his face and I thought "this guy looks like a real dick". Then I go in, the urse takes me back and keeps having to run and get one more thing, weigh me, ect,ect,ect, I finally get in the exam room, by the time the "ficticious doctor" got to me from the time I walked in was about at least 1 hour!!!!!
So he comes in and looks over what the nurse had written and comments that we are the same height, but I am way heavier, "don't you think there is something wrong?" he jabs. Then the nurse (a fat fucking pig with a nose ring, BTW) comes in and jibber jabbers something about a patient in another room, the doc says "ahhh, he was actually here first, so I have to go do this first, wait here", I could hear him accusing that guy of all sorts of shit, the guy wanted him to sign something about his leg being injured on the job and I heard the doctor accusing him of malinguring, then when the guy went to leave the doctor blurts out very loud "what's wrong with you now!?!?", "why are you limping, isn't it your other leg?" "oh, so it is your left leg, oh yea that's right, YOUR left, hmm."
So, then he comes back in and basicly scolds me like a little kid for smoking, drinking, being heavier than he and even attacked my proffession (he had asked me about my work scedule, when I told him I was an independant contracter and could set my own scedule he said "honestly you are coming off like a retired person, I meen, I have a father in law that is retired, he just kinda puttersaround and does whatever he wants"
I was so offended I hadseriously considered submitting an article to my proffessions monthly journal about how doctors view our proffession.

One thing to be concerned with is you really need to have your BP machine checked to ensure it is accurate.  The easiest way for you to check it would be have someone check your BP then immediately (within 2-3 min without getting up) check it with the machine.  This will at least give you a good ball park as to whether your machine is accurate or not.

Yes the old 120 over 80 thing is still around, but they have lowered the standard a little.  Also, one high reading does not mean you have high BP, unless of course it's like 220/160, then you do have issues.  123/74 is nothing to worry about.

Not a doctor, but as far as I know 123/74 would now be considered pre-hypertension (anything over 120/80 is pre-hypertension, with the first number being the most important).  You should double-check that information with your doctor, and not believe me.

HOWEVER, you should keep in mind that blood pressure fluctuates during the day, and it doesn't matter if your blood pressure is low when you're relaxed at night if it's reading sky-high during the day at work.  It could very well have been much lower when you did it at home (probably completely relaxed) than when you did it in your doctor's office in the middle of the day (possibly driving there from work, stress upon stress). So it seems like your best-case 123/74 is still pre-hypertension, and we don't know how much worse the doctor's numbers were.  In addition, as the poster above mentioned, it's possible your home machine is inaccurate.  In either case, I'd take this situation seriously.  Find another doctor if you must, but find out what your blood pressure is when you're walking around.

Ultimately, you are the person responsible for you.  I never let anyone take my blood pressure without asking what the reading was -- I want to know what these guys are seeing.  I suggest you do the same, so you can start building up a picture of what the doctors are seeing as far as BP.  If my home machine is showing low numbers but all the doctors are seeing high numbers, I believe the doctors.  First step is to call your doctor's office back and ask them what BP reading they got from you on your last visit (should be in your chart)

Take hawthorn berry every day.  It will bring you back to normal.  It works for me.