You sit on the exam table on top of that crinkly paper sheet. They slap the blood pressure cuff around your arm, push some buttons, and you hold your breath.
“Please,” you think to yourself. “Please let my number be normal, just this once.”
Except it’s not, is it? It never is, and you feel trapped in an endless cycle with every trip to the doctor leading to a lecture about your BP.
And that’s if you’re lucky. If you’re not, it could lead to more than a lecture.
You’ll get a prescription for hypertension medication. Or, if you’re already popping those pills, your doctor might want to add another or bump up your dosage.
But new research shows how your doc may have missed something vital.
It’s a piece of crucial information that could help you avoid blood pressure drugs if you’re not already on them. Or it could help reduce or eliminate those meds if you’re currently taking them.
What everyone gets wrong about hypertension
There’s a funny little detail about hypertension that every doctor knows. But, unfortunately, most just plain ignore it.
Blood pressure is often higher in the doctor’s office… sometimes significantly so.
That’s right, your high blood pressure might be a complete lie. In fact, nearly a third of American adults have this syndrome called “white coat” hypertension.
And a good number of those folks are taking high blood pressure medication based on that FALSE reading.
Doctors often think the difference between your actual numbers and the ones they’re are getting in the office isn’t THAT big. Some docs will even argue their office numbers are more accurate than any reading you take at home.
Now, a new study shows they couldn’t be more wrong. It’s THEIR numbers that are off.
The new study gave EVERY volunteer a test that’s considered the “gold standard” of blood pressure readings. And that’s 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.
For this type of monitoring, you wear a blood pressure sleeve attached to a device on your waist. For 24-hours, all day and night, the cuff takes readings every 20-30 minutes or so, even when you’re sleeping (if you can sleep, that is).
Get more accurate blood pressure readings
Once the testing had nailed down each volunteer’s average blood pressure, they were divided into three groups for follow-up readings.
- The first group got those readings from their doctor.
- The second group was sent to use store kiosk readers.
- The third group took their own blood pressure at home.
The winner? Spoiler alert: It wasn’t the doctor. Instead, the blood pressure readings taken at home most closely matched those “gold standard” 24-hour readings.
The study found doctors’ offices were more likely to miss hypertension, believe it or not, which doesn’t really account for “white coat” syndrome. And kiosks were consistently too high – likely causing people to worry for no reason.
But the real takeaway is this:
Unless it’s an urgent situation, don’t let a doctor prescribe meds for hypertension based only on readings taken in his clinic. Take your own, at home, at different points throughout the day for several days, to get a better sense of your “real” blood pressure.
If your numbers are still high, then you may have hypertension. But you may not need medication.
You can use other methods to help reduce blood pressure that are safer, natural, and effective. They include walking daily, weight loss, mineral supplements, and L-carnitine.
And then there’s my FAVORITE blood pressure reducing method by far. It involves a delicious treat, and I wrote about it recently in Healthier Talk. You’ll find that issue here.
Just don’t quit any blood pressure drugs on your own. Instead, work with your doctor on safely weaning off of them if that turns out to be an option for you.
If your doctor is unwilling to discuss non-drug options for treating your hypertension, seek out a second opinion from an integrative medicine or naturopathic physician.
Want a more accurate “in office” reading? Check out 6 common causes of FALSE blood pressure readings.
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