blood pressure anxiety

for starters, 124/77 is damn near perfect. there's not a single doctor in the world that's going to look twice at that. i have to take two different medications to get my BP in that range! second, checking it repeatedly is going to cause it to artificially rise due to the added stress to the blood vessels from the constant squeezing. third, there are A LOT of factors to consider when looking at your BP: how active were you before taking it? have you been sitting for at least five minutes before taking your reading? were you using your right or left arm? were you relaxed? were your feet flat on the floor? is your machine even accurate? the list goes on and on. anxiety is not a friend of BP so of course it's going to be higher while you're anxious.

can i ask why you had an angiogram? that's not a tiny procedure. if it showed you had minimal plaque, i'm not sure why you're concerned. plaque build-up takes years and years. you're not going to go from minimal plaque to heart attack-sized blockage in a year even if you ate nothing but pepperoni pizza and donuts for every meal.

TruthHurts said:

Heart Palpitations, I started worrying about my heart beating over 100 beats per minute so because of that I was sent to a heart doctor which claimed to have seen something on a ekg. He even told me that he show signs of a blockage. I think he is full of it. I ended up being put thru a bunch of different test including the angiogram it only took a few minutes for it to be completed. I think some doctors like to try to install fear into people like me. That's part of the reason that i stress about my blood pressure numbers it seems like my doctor is dead set on getting me back on meds.

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i think it's less about instilling fear and more about some doctors having a really crappy bedside manner and poor people skills. i see this frequently when dealing with specialists (i actually deal with a lot of different types of doctors for a living.)

i think that regardless of the doctor's poor interpersonal skills and bad bedside manner, as long as your think he's medically competent, you should believe the findings of the tests you'd received.

TruthHurts said:

I excise daily eat healthy but still end up stressing myself out by over thinking my blood pressure. Today I woke up checked my blood pressure it was 124/77 I couldn't be happy with that I kept checking over and over again and it seemed like every time I checked it, it got worse. It's been this way for a week now I had a panic attack last week and haven't been able to get back to normal. During my panic attack my heart rate went way up and my blood pressure went with it. I should know better then to check my blood pressure during times like that. I worked hard to get off of metoprolol tartrate 25 xl at this point i'm feeling so vulnerable and desperate i'm really considering going back on metoprolol. In my mind I feel my heart speed up and think that my blood pressure will go up stressing over it makes my blood pressure go up. I feel so lost and do not know what to do. I fear having a stroke I had a angiogram last year my heart was fine very minimal plaque in the arteries. After that test I was okay for almost a year then boom I had that panic attack and all down hill. Any advice would be great thanks.

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Same happened to me but I had chest pain. They did heart catheterization on me and he said no blocks and minimal plaque. Cardiologist put me on metoprolol but it was making me extremely sick so he switched me to Atenolol. Still get side effects and have considered switching again but it's only been 4 weeks and they told me to wait at least 6 weeks to see if my body adjusts. The 124/77 is very good. As long as your bp is under 130/80 you are doing fine. My cardiologist said they usually don't treat unless it's over that consistently. I know it's hard to not worry. I felt like I developed anxiety over the procedure. Didnt have it before . Now I constantly fear every ache and pain I get. I had been feeling somewhat better last couple of days but now I'm not sleeping very much even after taking a sleeping aid. I'm extremely exhausted and feel it may bring on a panic attack. I also fear stroke. I can really relate. I wish you the best.

yes, they mean consistently. it's why many doctors have patients keep a log for a week or two before making the decision to put someone on meds. one high reading means nothing... it could be high because you weren't resting long enough before taking it... maybe your feet weren't flat on the ground or you were fidgeting too much... even more of an issue for folks like me and you... ANXIETY! i'm not a betting man, but i'd bet my next paycheck that just the act of checking your blood pressure causes you enough anxiety to skew your readings. my readings are rarely normal when i'm in a doctor's office despite being normal when i take it at home. why? white coat hypertension, as my doc likes to call it... aka... good ol' anxiety!

TruthHurts said:

I excise daily eat healthy but still end up stressing myself out by over thinking my blood pressure. Today I woke up checked my blood pressure it was 124/77 I couldn't be happy with that I kept checking over and over again and it seemed like every time I checked it, it got worse. It's been this way for a week now I had a panic attack last week and haven't been able to get back to normal. During my panic attack my heart rate went way up and my blood pressure went with it. I should know better then to check my blood pressure during times like that. I worked hard to get off of metoprolol tartrate 25 xl at this point i'm feeling so vulnerable and desperate i'm really considering going back on metoprolol. In my mind I feel my heart speed up and think that my blood pressure will go up stressing over it makes my blood pressure go up. I feel so lost and do not know what to do. I fear having a stroke I had a angiogram last year my heart was fine very minimal plaque in the arteries. After that test I was okay for almost a year then boom I had that panic attack and all down hill. Any advice would be great thanks.

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I feel you I trip over my blood pressure on the daily basis im awaiting the echostress test and artery test too wosh me luck this could mean a few good months to year or even more stress and pain. What was th medication for and what did it do? Im losing hope in this cause my panic attacks are debilitating and my blood pressure sky rockets . I dont know what to do about it besides start taking low doeses of blood pressure medication i guess.

TruthHurts said:

Maybe you can help put my mind at ease or at least help me better understand this, when i had my panic attack like a dummy I checked my blood pressure my heart rate was over 120 and blood pressure 165/90 that freaked me out so I checked it again and you know already it got worse heart rate 133 blood pressure 185/100 which I know that they say to go to the hospital if you get blood pressure that high. They don't explain it very well do they mean if you get that type of reading consistently? I know in my heart that it only went that high because i was scared. But in the back of my mind i'm fearing that because it went that high I could have a stroke. I think that it what bothered me the most. Thank you and everyone else who has replied I really appreciate it.

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Ive had a panic attack where my bp was 185 over 105 that is dangerous yeah but its not unheard of altho I dont think panic attacks of that magnitude are common and that was only mu first one thats never happens like that again but its usually 155 over 100 pretty consistently during a panic attack then drops dramatically 133 over 85 then 124 over 80 or 128 over 85 obviously i have health anxiety so its usually always elevated when im getting it checked cause ill instantly start strssing over it my bpm is usually really good 55 resting 45 when im falling asleep when im stressed psossibly around 75 but even that makes me worry sometimes I'm like "but what if its not healthy what if my hearts weak or i have tall can syndrome or something ." heart problem ares the worse causs they have so many interconnecting problems.when you strss about it you think every problem is attributed to that .