White coat syndrome

Rage85

Rage85

Rage85

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18 Nov 2010
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511
Since I've been having trouble with diverticulitis I've been freaking out everytime I get a heart rate/blood pressure reading at the doctors/hospital, which leads to them panicking and then I panic more and it shoots up.

Anyone else had this? Not great considering I'm probably going to need surgery soon.
 
As far as I'm aware this phenomenon is now understood and they should be able to look at alternative options, such as supplying you with monitoring equipment that you can use at home to get a "normal" reading. So if that hasn't been discussed, you might want to bring it up.
 
Rage85 said:
Since I've been having trouble with diverticulitis I've been freaking out everytime I get a heart rate/blood pressure reading at the doctors/hospital, which leads to them panicking and then I panic more and it shoots up.

Anyone else had this? Not great considering I'm probably going to need surgery soon.
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Yep. They are now questioning my ADHD meds because of my last two readings.
The machine is pretty much in full view of a waiting room and it speaks and I hate stuff that draws attention to me so my anxiety is absolutely sky high. Funnily enough, it's never as high when I measure it from home.
 
Noxia said:
Yep. They are now questioning my ADHD meds because of my last two readings.
The machine is pretty much in full view of a waiting room and it speaks and I hate stuff that draws attention to me so my anxiety is absolutely sky high. Funnily enough, it's never as high when I measure it from home.
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Same
 
Rage85 said:
Since I've been having trouble with diverticulitis I've been freaking out everytime I get a heart rate/blood pressure reading at the doctors/hospital, which leads to them panicking and then I panic more and it shoots up.

Anyone else had this? Not great considering I'm probably going to need surgery soon.
Click to expand...

I think if you're asking generally then this should be ok, it's when specifics are mentioned and medical advice is sought or given that the mods get (rightfully) jumpy.

So speaking generally, my doctor did mention that blood pressure can change on circumstance (e.g. you're extremely nervous or anxious) but that they allow for that. Home checks can remove that 'spike' but he was indicating that the readings don't change as much as perhaps you'd expect.
 
It is a VERY well known thing, I have it, and my brother has it too.

If you can afford it, get a BP machine from the likes of boots or whatever. They have come down in price....£40-£60. Omron seems to be the market standard, in fact I think the ones my GP uses are that brand. They let you store that last number of readings (mines is last 100, but that varies), and so you can do it once a day or whatever and then bring the readings into the GP.
 
Same thing happens to me - both heart rate and blood pressure is about 20% higher when any doctor or nurse takes it, compare to what it is at home
 
Rage85 said:
Since I've been having trouble with diverticulitis I've been freaking out everytime I get a heart rate/blood pressure reading at the doctors/hospital, which leads to them panicking and then I panic more and it shoots up.

Anyone else had this? Not great considering I'm probably going to need surgery soon.
Click to expand...
I get it in reverse:
A routine phone consultation requested I supply a weeks worh of BP readings. Every time I took the reading it would show a high reading. The more high readings I got the more I began to panic (which caused the readings to go higher). at the same time, I had 6-8 readings done by my GP and the consultants at the A&E and they'd show as normal. A further week's readings at home, and by learning to relax, readings showed 80/115.
 
Yep I have severe white coat syndrome - if I know I'm going to be having readings taken at the GP or at a hospital, I will do home readings twice a day for a week and store on a spreadsheet to show averages; they always show normal rates. As soon as it's taken in a clinical environment the numbers are absurd and refuse to come down (my record was 202/135!), but normally the doctors are happy to accept my readings and are increasingly understanding of the syndrome.
As others have mentioned Omron is the industry standard brand so picking up one of those is well worth it.

I had to have minor surgery recently and was supposed to go home the same day but my stubborn blood pressure refused to normalise after waking up, despite being absolutely perfect during the surgery, and I got held overnight which was a bit of a pain. Try not to worry too much though, anaesthetists see this all the time.
 
tangey said:
It is a VERY well known thing, I have it, and my brother has it too.

If you can afford it, get a BP machine from the likes of boots or whatever. They have come down in price....£40-£60. Omron seems to be the market standard, in fact I think the ones my GP uses are that brand. They let you store that last number of readings (mines is last 100, but that varies), and so you can do it once a day or whatever and then bring the readings into the GP.
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IIRC there are some models that have the ability to export the readings to an app on your phone.

I have an omron one that I use, and a Braun model with bluetooth that I use twice daily for my dad as his GP sometimes asks for a weeks readings*.
From memory the newer/better models (our omron one is getting on, but the braun is much newer) can also pick up some forms of irregular heart beats (AF at least) and give a warning which is very helpful and if it keeps showing it you should see a GP.


IMO these days everyone's first aid kit should include a good thermometer (the in ear ones are now cheap and very accurate), a pulse oximeter (they are a couple of pounds for a cheapy, about £15 for a good one), and a blood pressure unit if you've got anyone elderly/on certain medications in the house.
When my nephew had his first kid one of the things we got them was a a Braun in ear thermometer that iirc was designed for newborns up.

*it turned out helpful when he had a nasty infection earlier in the year as it gave a good idea of when he went downhill (within about 6 hours) so I've kept up the monitoring. It happened that that week i'd been doing readings for his medicine review.
 
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Rage85 said:
Anyone else had this? Not great considering I'm probably going to need surgery soon.
Click to expand...
I didnt realise I had this until I was at hospital and blood pressure was all over the place, never had issue at local doctors etc, but in a hospital environment, my body is not happy.

I had surgery couple years ago, was extremely uncomfortable with canula in, blood pressure all over the shops etc etc.
It was only from the hospital calling my ex gf that she had recognised this before.

Long story short, I have white coat syndrome for those I find risky and scary - basically hospital based staff.
canula's and the other thing that goes in your body starting with a C, are just anxiety inducing for me.
After speaking to 3 nurses and the call to my ex gf, they finally agreed to remove the canula and my blood pressure levelled out and I was free to go home 20 minutes later. The previous 4 hours, they were managing me in case something was about to go wrong.

White coat syndrome is a thing, is there a cure? Stubbornness. Least in my experience :D
 
I also have this and it's always been an issue. I got a withings smart one you can stick on and it will take 3 readings and give you an average to the app. Saved me so much hassle.
 
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