Blood pressure question

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by ridethecliche

You realize that women can be doctors and still wear a white coat right? Most of my female colleagues don't wear a freaking skirt to work...particularly because of attitudes like this one.

Noted.
I may have gender-neutral white coat hypertension...although, my current Dr. is a male, my last two were female, and I didn't have hypertension then...so maybe not gender-neutral?

[ridethecliche]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Noted.
I may have gender-neutral white coat hypertension...although, my current Dr. is a male, my last two were female, and I didn't have hypertension then...so maybe not gender-neutral?

That was in response to the other poster, not you!

Re: your question re BP by age. I'm not super up to date with guidelines, but there is a curve. Mostly based on risk related to life expectancy and just physiological changes over time, i.e. vessels change their elasticity as you age leading to stiffer walls and higher pressures since they don't give as much.

If you're 100 years old with new onset hypertension, sometimes the side effects from meds would be worse than the effects of the blood pressure. Emergency Docs often roll their eyes at high blood pressure even though the numbers can be scary since there's often not much to do emergently unless you're in a true hypertensive crisis or having end organ effects (i.e. headache, neuro sx, etc). Gross oversimplification here though.

[jamesdak]

Originally Posted by ridethecliche

You realize that women can be doctors and still wear a white coat right? Most of my female colleagues don't wear a freaking skirt to work...particularly because of attitudes like this one.

In other words... no more humor on Paceline.

[jamesdak]

I have the same kind of issue going on too and still question it. I have never knowingly be anxious about seeing the doc but have a trend of BP being high there but not at home. VA even sent me a HR monitor and have had me record it 3x a day for weeks on end. It will be fine every day and then high again at the next DR visit.

With the knee replacements I had nurses and PT techs coming to the house the first couple of weeks and it would be high. Then 30 minutes late I'd taken and all would be fine. My current doc put me on a very low dosage of losartan and that pill gets cut in half each day. I don't notice any side effects from the pill. But....I'm still not certain I really need it and I'm hoping as I get my weight back down to what it was before the knees crapped out I can quit the meds. I hate taking any of them.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by ridethecliche

You realize that women can be doctors and still wear a white coat right? Most of my female colleagues don't wear a freaking skirt to work...particularly because of attitudes like this one.

I was responding directly to this statement by the OP:

"a nurse, but she insisted on waiting 5 minutes"

However, your point is well taken. My personal PCP is a woman, and I apologize for echoing a tired old stereotype.

[ridethecliche]

Originally Posted by jamesdak

In other words... no more humor on Paceline.

It's totally up to you to keep being wrong. But if this is truly how talk to and about people that are tasked with keeping you alive and healthy, then rest assured that my colleagues talk about the attitude plenty.

Hint: Women physicians don't like this humor even if they smile and laugh when you say things like this at a visit.

That's truly all I have to say about that.

Originally Posted by C40_guy

I was responding directly to this statement by the OP:

"a nurse, but she insisted on waiting 5 minutes"

However, your point is well taken. My personal PCP is a woman, and I apologize for echoing a tired old stereotype.

Appreciate it.

[Ralph]

I'm not sure this is scientific...but it seems to me my BP is lower when I go several days without eating anything with added salt.....fast food, something highly processed with salt as preservative such as a frozen meal, peperoni pizza at restaurant, salted nuts, canned veggies, etc. Lots of packaged foods have a lot of added salt. I used to really like readymade mashed potatoes until I read the ingredients list.
I have trouble living off fresh veggies, mixed unsalted nuts and beans, so back slide occasionally.

[rnhood]

Originally Posted by EliteVelo

Not a Doctor, but a Pharmacist by trade.

That is not a high based on your age.

If hers were hers 124/88, again, perfect. Based on your machine, when was the last time you replaced the batteries? Check the second machine vs the old and see what you come up with.

Get a second opinion if necessary and don't take meds unless absolutely necessary! For a doc to tell you that you need to start meds based on what you've wrote is ludicrous imo.

Very well said. And to the OP, be sure to get a manual BP measurement taken (with stethoscope) . The hip electronic ones are not as accurate or reliable. And also, find another doctor.

[thwart]

A topic I can relate to, since my wife is in the same boat.

Sometimes a 24 hr blood pressure recording can be helpful here (are there lots of BP spikes? how’s the BP while asleep?) to determine whether treatment is indicated in ‘white coat hypertension’.

There’s some over-reaction by medical providers to BP at times… meanwhile a lot of folks with elevated BP aren’t treated because it’s easier to postpone any action or just ignore it altogether if there are other issues being addressed at the visit. And those people can develop some of the issues Ralph mentions above, or worse.

[jamesdak]

Originally Posted by ridethecliche

It's totally up to you to keep being wrong. But if this is truly how talk to and about people that are tasked with keeping you alive and healthy, then rest assured that my colleagues talk about the attitude plenty.
Hint: Women physicians don't like this humor even if they smile and laugh when you say things like this at a visit.
That's truly all I have to say about that.

Appreciate it.

Recognizing a humorous comment on a silly internet forum that to me meant that we as humans still recognize a difference between the sexes and the simple matter of attraction has nothing to do at all with how I talk or treat anyone in a professional environment. Plain and simple.

And honestly, I'm the one in charge of keeping myself alive and healthy. I don't put Dr's or any other profession on a pedestal as it seems you are alluding to here. I treat everyone I deal with in a professional environment professionally not matter what they do. But yet I am still capable of seeing humor that obviously others don't agree with. Such is the variety of life.

[buddybikes]

Systolic bp for me is always higher at doc when done by machine, when doc does it with scope, come back perfect. White coat guess calms me down

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by Ralph

It's normal for BP to be lower during and after exercise....then rise back to normal after a few hours.

Blood pressure is lower during exercise? I would have thought that when your heart was pounding (under hard efforts) blood pressure would have been higher.

I have a small anecdote about this. I once took part in a study being done by an student of exercise physiology for his Phd dissertation. As part of the test, the test subjects would do a fairly typical VO2 max test, by riding on an stationary ergometer bike at a constant power, and every few minutes the power would be increased, until the subject could no longer maintain the required power output. During the test, oxygen absorbed and CO2 exhaled were measured through a breathing mask, and blood lactate was measured by taking a small sample of blood during each power interval. The blood samples were taken by pricking the subjects fingers with a small needle. At the start of the test, the test conductor would have to knead my finger a bit after pricking it with the needle in order squeeze out a drop of blood. But by the end of the test, when I was near my maximum power limit, the blood would practically squirt out of my finger when pricked by the needle.

[jamesdak]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

Blood pressure is lower during exercise? I would have thought that when your heart was pounding (under hard efforts) blood pressure would have been higher.

I have a small anecdote about this. I once took part in a study being done by an student of exercise physiology for his Phd dissertation. As part of the test, the test subjects would do a fairly typical VO2 max test, by riding on an stationary ergometer bike at a constant power, and every few minutes the power would be increased, until the subject could no longer maintain the required power output. During the test, oxygen absorbed and CO2 exhaled were measured through a breathing mask, and blood lactate was measured by taking a small sample of blood during each power interval. The blood samples were taken by pricking the subjects fingers with a small needle. At the start of the test, the test conductor would have to knead my finger a bit after pricking it with the needle in order squeeze out a drop of blood. But by the end of the test, when I was near my maximum power limit, the blood would practically squirt out of my finger when pricked by the needle.

Wow, so all those time when I note in my daily bike ride logs that I "blew up" when maxing out on effort on a climb or sprint I was almost literally correct!

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

Blood pressure is lower during exercise? I would have thought that when your heart was pounding (under hard efforts) blood pressure would have been higher.

I have a small anecdote about this. I once took part in a study being done by an student of exercise physiology for his Phd dissertation. As part of the test, the test subjects would do a fairly typical VO2 max test, by riding on an stationary ergometer bike at a constant power, and every few minutes the power would be increased, until the subject could no longer maintain the required power output. During the test, oxygen absorbed and CO2 exhaled were measured through a breathing mask, and blood lactate was measured by taking a small sample of blood during each power interval. The blood samples were taken by pricking the subjects fingers with a small needle. At the start of the test, the test conductor would have to knead my finger a bit after pricking it with the needle in order squeeze out a drop of blood. But by the end of the test, when I was near my maximum power limit, the blood would practically squirt out of my finger when pricked by the needle.

Cool story. Google is validating low BP after hard exercise. Maybe the blood vessels expand somewhat and take some time to go back to steady state?

[robt57]

Originally Posted by ridethecliche

White coat hypertension

I get that big time.