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Looking for any tips, recommendations on products, or other advice that might help my wife in the situation we are in.
My wife gave birth to our daughter over a year ago. During her pregnancy she had preeclamptic symptoms like high blood pressure. She was very sick through the entire pregnancy and dealt with a very difficult birth. After 4 days postpartum, she ended up going into full blown preeclamptic shock and was rushed to the ER. That was when she was officially diagnosed as preeclamptic.
She is fine but doctors told her that she needed to continue to monitor her blood pressure, pretty much indefinitely. She has continued to take her BP on a weekly basis but she continues to struggle with anxiety in doing so. We are aware of the white coat syndrome where people face crippling anxiety when visiting doctors. This is like that except with a blood pressure cuff.
When she takes her BP over the course of an hour (like 10 times or more), her BP falls into normal levels but it always starts very high due to the anxiety she faces.
My ask for you all is, does anyone have any experience with this? Anything that has helped you overcome the fear of taking your BP? Is there a diagnosis to this or something else I can google to research further? We want more kids so we want to try and figure out a reasonable treatment.
Also, does anyone know of anything that will monitor your BP overtime without her having to actually take it? Like a fitness watch or something that takes BP? I googled those and they don't seem to be very reliable on the wrist. Any other ideas are welcome!
Try having her sit with the cuff on for 10 minutes while she reads, watches TV, or otherwise just sits calmly, and then take the reading. Not inflated. Just on. There's a reason doctors have you wait a few minutes before they come into the office to check your blood pressure, and it's not just because they are overbooked. It also gives you time to sit down and relax so they can get an accurate reading.
The more she gets used to the cuff the less anxiety she should feel. It's a form of exposure therapy.
My BP is always sky high at the doctors. They take it both when I get there, and again before I leave....it always comes down....I am on BP meds though. It is good to take readings at home, and keepa chart, to show the dr.
Try having her sit with the cuff on for 10 minutes while she reads, watches TV, or otherwise just sits calmly, and then take the reading. Not inflated. Just on. There's a reason doctors have you wait a few minutes before they come into the office to check your blood pressure, and it's not just because they are overbooked. It also gives you time to sit down and relax so they can get an accurate reading.
The more she gets used to the cuff the less anxiety she should feel. It's a form of exposure therapy.
Great suggestion. We will try this!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie&Rose
My BP is always sky high at the doctors. They take it both when I get there, and again before I leave....it always comes down....I am on BP meds though. It is good to take readings at home, and keepa chart, to show the dr.
She does keep a chart at home but even taking it herself gives her tons of anxiety. She isn't on meds but part of the reason we are tracking it is to figure out if she should be on them.
I currently work in a lab and have been wearing lab coats for a year. I still get a higher BP when I go into a doctor's office.
I went to two in a single day (it was a strange thing, my MD called out for whatever reason, and I was on a waitlist for a last minute cancellation, and it happened to come just hours after leaving Quick Care with negative covid and strep results, no meds "It's allergies.")
Anywho, my BP was pretty high during my first visit, but with the negative covid and strep, I was feeling a lot less stress I suppose. The body is weird. But my Primary *did* prescribe antibiotics, which tackled whatever undiagnosed issue I had.
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