BP.

[Digit]

No, not them. Blood pressure. I had a flu jab last week at a local clinic, where they weighed me and checked my bloodprssure. 196 0ver 120!
Panic! 'Make an appointment to see your GP', they said. Friday, practise nurse does it again, 193 over 117.
See GP I'm told.
Today I see GP, tells practise nurse to conduct BP plus ECG, which she does.
See GP, he looks at results tells nurse to do the BP again.
This time she does it twice, each arm.
GP looks puzzled, ECG, no problem, BP down 50 points!
'Trust you to be different Roy,' he says, then orders blood tests as he's never seen the like before. I told him to look at my records, which he did and saw that previous tests had shown wide variations.
Anybody else had this?

Roy.

[Minimalist]

How attractive was the nurse who took your BP the first time?

[Digit]

Not good enough for that Min.

Roy.

[Barracuda]

Yes, I used to have very high BP when I walked in off the street. Maybe because I was smoking a cigerette as I was walking in the door. Sit for 20 minutes, an it would come down.

Been on meds for a couple years, and its under control.

[Digit]

My problem is they won't supply meds at the moment for fear of what would happen when my BP drops! If they can't find the problem I'm gonna see if I can use a monitor and medicate when it rises.
I read the other day that yo-yoing is a common result of brain damage, which happened to me, but what the answer is I've yet to discover, assuming that there is one of course.

Roy.

[circumspice]

Yes, I used to have very high BP when I walked in off the street. Maybe because I was smoking a cigerette as I was walking in the door. Sit for 20 minutes, an it would come down.

Been on meds for a couple years, and its under control.

My BP automatically rises in a clinical setting. The docs tell me that is a common phenomenon. They've checked my BP in non-clinical settings and it is normal.
They say I have an unconscious fear of medical locales. Go figure.

[Digit]

White Coat syndrome we call it.

Roy.

[MichelleH]

Sometimes my husband has that same effect on me......

[War Arrow]

I've become hugely sceptical of the whole business, Dig.

Last Christmas I had a random blood test and was called in by my doctor who had already started frothing over what sort of drugs I might be prescribed before I was even fully cognizant with the "problem". I had the blood pressure and cholesterol levels of someone who should be dead, she claimed, regardless of the fact that I felt fine. I explained that, it being winter, I had pretty much just spent two months sat on my arse eating chips, and suspected this may be why I appeared so unhealthy. "I have been cycling a little to keep fit," I explained, "but not recently, so I'll step that up a little."

Obviously she was upset at not getting to prescribe me a pile of drugs, but she reluctantly agreed, so I went away and started going at it with the bike a bit more - fifteen miles every morning.

I came back a month later and was told that my blood pressure and cholesterol levels had improved considerably, but as I was not yet at the fitness level of an eighteen year old Russian gymnast, she would really rather pump me full of drugs if it was all the same to me. I suggested that maybe if I continued to exercise regularly as I had been doing, my readings might continue to improve thus ruling out the need for pills, but this was apparently the talk of an anarchist and dangerous radical.

So.... and may I just remind anyone reading that I felt physically fine throughout all of this... I reluctantly took the prescription and started chugging the pills. Within a week I was having the worst mood swings I've ever experienced, suicidal feelings, and not sleeping at all. After being awake for 72 hours I stopped taking the drugs.

Eventually going back to the doctor (needed my medical records for US Embassy interview), this of course came up, and I was told I should have consulted her before coming off said drugs. I'm sort of surprised I didn't resort to foul language or suggestions of things forcibly inserted into an orifice.

I guess there's good and bad in the medical profession but I'm growing less and less inclined to trust them, and any pronouncement regarding blood pressure I'd take with a pinch of lo-salt. Everyone is slightly different, and I don't believe that one-size-fits-all diagnoses are always helpful.

I still do 15 miles a day, and I still feel absolutely fine, for the record.

[Minimalist]

but this was apparently the talk of an anarchist and dangerous radical.

That is the opinion of the pharmaceutical industry which supplies doctors with all sorts of incentives to get you taking their pills. I'm really not sure what the technical difference is between them and a street pusher.

[Digit]

I avoid drugs like the plague! My GP decided that I was depressed, I probably was having waited an hour to see him, one tablet later I was no longer 'depressed'. I was bloody unconsious!

Roy.

[War Arrow]

"Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self esteem, first make sure you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes." - William Gibson.

[Digit]

How true!
I wasn't depressed actually but the GP had run out out of options I think. After I passed out I was hospitalised then released with a clean bill of health.
It was then that I read the list of known side effects. There were hundreds of 'em! 31 lines to be precise!
He's struggling again as all the tests have up clear.

Roy.

[Digit]

As I was saying....
After a battery of tests, this morning I was fitted with a monitor.
Nurse attaches it to my arm, tests it, checks the figures, explains its use, what will happen next, shows me what the read out is all about and makes an appointment for me to return.
'If it doesn't blow up!' I commented.
Quizzical look.
'Me an electronics don't get on,' I explain.
Tolerant smile and off I go.
Hour later, monitor packs up!
My son says I'm paranoid, the wife says I'm a joke, but both agree I shouldn't be let loose near modern electronics. Mobile or portable phone, the number has not been recognised! Swipe cards? Forget it! Digital watch? Might as well use a calender! TV remote? Anything is possible.
Does anybody else have this problem?

Roy.

[Minimalist]

At least you didn't call it a "plot."