Have been visiting Treadmill City in my continuing battle against high(ish) blood pressure. > Visited the doctor recently and the medical assistant told me it was 144/88. The doctor came in and sounded like he was leaning toward medication until I voiced my concern, something like, "Oh, maaaan, I really don't want to do that."
When 140/90 is the borderline for high blood pressure, you are not far off and really shouldnt need medication - the exercise/diet/less stress should work it into normal range. Doctors dont usually force the meds option (and it is an option, its your body ya know) until they get a higher reading consistantly over at least a few visits. The wrong size cuff, your sleeve rolled up too tight, or even ingesting caffeine/smoking 30 min before the office visit can screw up the measurement. Last time I went to the doctors they did one reading that was high (ran for the appt! I was late!) then 10 min later still a bit high (I hate doctors offices) so they made me sit an addtl 10 minutes and by then it was in my usual normal range.
I'm curious about that 10 minutes deal. A pharmacist at the Giant grocery told me to wait 20 minutes minimum between taking readings as the compression would create a false reading. While the pharmacist at the Target store told me to retake immediately. Your doc seems to have split the difference? What's the deal?
They're 'just' pharmacists and mine was at the 'real' doctors? (laughs) I dont know, but those machines at the grocery store are wayyyy tighter than getting it taken at the doctors office, so maybe that has something to do with it. Just the ten minute wait seemed to work for me and was worth the wait (but dawdling in the doctors office sure is boring tho!)
