Blood Pressure

[Mowbray]

My doctor said I have high blood pressure and I am only 28 and I dont have a stressful job.  A few hours before my blood pressure was tested I had an espresso.  Is this likely to raise my blood pressure? ( i did mention this to my doctor, but she didn't comment).

The doctor said '92 is a little high'.  Is this high and what is the correct number your blood pressure should be?

[landie]

Did she mean 192? Which is roughly what mine was.

It should be something like 100 + your age as a rule of thumb. And no I'm not 92.

[Hamish]

I had this as well, however I had a medic friend test me at home a couple of times and I was fine. I think mine goes up with the nervousness of going to the docs.

[AB Editor]

For all medical questions, we strongly advise you to seek professional advice from your doctor or a healthcare professional.  Please do not rely on, or wait for, advice from Answerbank users.

[ursula62]

Standard textbook bloodpressure measurement is 120/80 mmHg.

Very few people are "standard" and usually doctors allow a variance of 20 either way on the figures before worrying.

However, a bottom figure of over 100 indicates that you may need to change your lifestyle or require medication to control your bloodpressure.

Caffeine is a stimulant and does raise blood presure, as do some over the counter cold remedies. Also stress of seeing a doctor can raise BP as well (there is a syndrome called "white coat syndrome" where people only get raised BP on visiting a doctor). 

You should tell your doctor if you have taken any substances likely to affect a BP reading but most of the time the changes would be unlikely to affect the reading by a percentage warranting concern.

Worrying about your BP will probably make it worse! Best thing to do is make sure you eat healthily, take regular exercise and enjoy life. I'm sure you will be fine!

[MORELLO]

Im 34, packed in smoking last year and my BP is 140/95, and my GP says it should be lower. In fact I'm going tonight. I take 10mg Ramipril and it looked like it was working until last month, hence my return later...

[Englishbird]

ursula62 - what does the 120/80 mmHg actually mean or stand for?

[MORELLO]

120/80mmHg is a measurement of pressure exerted by the heart, and therefore upon the blood it pumps. The measurement mmHg refers to 'millimeters of mercury', the 120 is systolic pressure, ie. when the heart contracts and the 80 is diastolic pressure, ie. when the heart relaxes.

[ursula62]

mmHG means millimetres of mercury, which is a way of measuring pressure. I don't know why they fixed on this unit to measure it, but it's probably because the original sphygmomanometers used mercury in thin glass tubes.

The first figure is the amount of pressure when the heart pumps the blood out around the body, the second figure is the pressure when the heart is at rest.

[Sarah*]

Yes I also have this problem, I am 23 yr old female and my reading is always very high when going to see the doctor.  Even a couple of hours before the appointment, the apprehension sets in.  The doctor is sending me to have 24 hour monitoring of blood pressure, any tips on relaxing for this?

[ursula62]

It's not particularly easy to ignore those monitoring machines. My ex had to wear one for 24 hours. It was a cassette walkman round his waist (to record the info) and a pump and cuff attached to his arm.

Every 15 minutes the pump powered up to inflate the cuff and made a loud buzzing noise.

As you can imagine, it was virtually impossible to get any sleep over the 24 hour period.

The good news was that because there was no doctor around his readings were a lot better than they ever were in the surgery. He still needed treatment, but not such a high dose as he would have had if they had used the surgery readings.

[spainlads]

I was also sent for a 24 hour monitor. The hospital fit it for you (it's just like a normal BP test, but with a battery pack that you wear). It inflates and deflates every 30 minutes, except between 23:00 and 07:00, though you can't take it off or have a shower etc.

Don't try and kid the machine, though I'm sure you can't. It's just there to help you.

My reading was 191/95. Very high. Though I'm on tablets and it's a lot lower now.