Baffled by blood pressure

[dreamshark]

Is there actually anybody on the planet that has "a blood pressure?" I vaguely remember a time (in my 20's?) when I got fairly consistent readings of 120/80. But for decades now my readings have varied by as much as 15-20 points in a span of 5 minutes. So how does anybody think that a single reading in a doctor's office means anything at all?


Typically when a nurse takes my bp at a doctor visit it reads pretty high: maybe 150/90. If she takes it again a few minutes later it has usually dropped considerably - sometimes by just a few points, sometimes to a much more reasonable 135/80 or thereabouts. I don't have a regular doctor, and the ones I've seen have been about evenly divided between "You should take something for that" and "You should keep an eye on that in case it gets worse."

I got a home bp monitor and discovered that when I took my own bp at home it was much lower than in the doctor's office. In the evening it averaged about 130/70. I find that a confusing reading, since the top number is clearly higher than the recommended target, but the low number is just fine, even a little low. In the morning, when bp is typically higher, the bottom number moved up to maybe 75 or 80 and the top number was all OVER the place (but never under 120, the recommended max).

I gave in and started taking hydroclorothiazide (a mild diuretic) for a while. There was no dramatic drop, but the readings seemed to smooth out a little, especially that wildly erratic top number. I thought maybe the bottom number was a little lower overall, but wasn't sure. Then my prescription ran out and my doctor had quit so I couldn't get it renewed without a doctor visit. I stopped taking the medication and saw no change whatsoever in my bp: still about 130/70. I kept monitoring it for awhile and finally stopped checking it sometime last winter.

A couple weeks ago I had an eye scare and spent the night in the emergency room. Every time they took my blood pressure it was scary high: readings like 180/100, numbers that don't even look like bp numbers (I'd never seen a 3-digit disastolic before!). Even after I'd been there for several hours and was falling asleep it never came down below 150/90 (my usual HIGH number in a doctor's office). After I got home I found my home monitor and started taking measurements again. For the next week or two I continued to get relatively high readings, along the lines of 140/90. Then, rather suddenly, the numbers went back down to more like 130/65 and have stayed that way for the last week. When the diastolic number started coming in at 55-65, I began to distrust my monitor. Yesterday i went out and bought another one, just for a control. Readings on the two monitors are substantially the same. Last night I took my bp multiple times - it averaged about 135/60. The lowest reading was 119/55. I think the high reading was about 145/72.

I don't know what to think.

Comments

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

That's pretty weird. But I too have always tended to have a higher number at the beginning of the appointment at the doctor, and lower at the end--even when I don't feel nervous or anxious, and haven't rushed to get there. I tend to be a bit suspicious of all claims that there is a universal "normal" in anything for humans.

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

Anxiety will increase blood pressure. I once had a reading of 200/150. I was about to have a severely infected tooth pulled, I was in a *lot* of pain, and scare silly. My blood pressure fluctuates wildly also, depending on time of day, situation, how much water I've had to drink, and a bunch of other stuff. Plus, the recommended bp has changed downwards over the years; my opinion on that is that it sells more meds for the pharm companies to have it lower and lower.

It does not sound like you actually have a problem. If it were *consistently high*, that would be something else. YMMV

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Well, the systolic (top) number is consistently in the pre-hypertensive range, which is concerning. Especially since I thought to google "high systolic low diastolic" and learned what that meant.

I think I'll do a separate post on that, since it's kind of interesting (at least to people in my age cohort).

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

I googled that too, and it does look concerning.

Now I want to take my blood pressure. (Maybe next time I'm at your place?)

[barondave.livejournal.com]

I can control my bp to a small degree, and I can often calm down and have dissimilar readings fairly close together. If it drops too much, I'll get nauseated.

Offhand (and I'm not a doctor), I'd say you should take an average of the higher readings and use them as a baseline. Worst case scenario, to be sure, but this is a potentially serious problem.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

"Offhand (and I'm not a doctor), I'd say you should take an average of the higher readings and use them as a baseline."

Well, yeah, that's what I'm doing. I was mostly trying to figure out why there seemed to be such a disconnect between the systolic and diastolic numbers. With the top one kind of high and the bottom one kind of low I was hoping I could just average them. Apparently not. At my age, the systolic one is the one I have to keep an eye on. It's about where it's been for the last 15 years, in the pre-hypertensive range. But it's getting more and more erratic, which suggests that it might be preparing to move to a higher average level.

And now I know the bp monitor wasn't broken after all - the readings do make sense.