Why is my blood pressure always higher at home than at my doctor's office?

Answer 1

Blood pressure that consistently measures higher at home or at work than it does at your doctor's office is called masked hypertension. This may occur for several reasons. For example, a calm, quiet environment at your doctor's office may be less stressful than the environment at home or work. Also, use of alcohol, caffeine or cigarettes at home can increase blood pressure.

Be sure that your home blood pressure monitor is accurate and that you're using correct technique. If you're not sure, ask your doctor. However, some people consistently get different readings at home or work than at their doctor's office — even when blood pressure is measured correctly and repeatedly.

Don't ignore the readings you get at home or work. If the readings are accurate and consistently higher than those at your doctor's office, those numbers should be considered correct and managed accordingly. Persistent high blood pressure increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and kidney failure.

Answer 2

It probably isn't, -but the first thing to assure you is that it really doesn't matter. One jot.

Your systolic (top) and diastolic (bottom) readings vary from minute to minute, and hour to hour, so there's absolutely no reason to expect any two readings to be the same, no matter who takes them or where. You could get 7 different doctors at twelve different locations and at fourteen different times, and probably no two sets of readings would agree. So there's simply no such thing as "my blood pressure".

In fact it would be most curious if they did agree, as anyone who's bought a digital monitor soon finds out! The difficulty is finding any two consecutive readngs that agree, simply because they continuously vary as the brain configures three variables (a) pulse rate, (b) cardiac stroke-volume (the amount pumped out per stroke), and the degree of constriction and dilatation of your blood vessels.

It's performing a balancing act all through the day, exactly as your hands on the steering wheel are in continuous motion even though you're driving along a 50-mile straight road in Arizona.

Test it yourself. Take half-hourly "at rest" readings for as long as you can be bothered, over the day. Particularly when awaking, and before & after meals, resting before bed-time, and if possible during a snooze!. If you drink, take a few readings at 10 minute intervals while the alcohol takes effect. It's fun to watch your "readings" drop.

You'll see they all differ. When you take your own B/P's or go to the doctor's to have it done, it's just like sticking the tail onto a donkey....what comes up is sheer chance (within a range, of course).

Of course, it might just be that there is a calibration problem between your instrument and your doctor's, and you could check it if you want to. But since the B/P readings are ONLY accurate reflections of CHANGES in the pressures, and NOT the actual absolute values, (i.e., how the cardiovascular system behaves) it is quite unimportant and honestly, your readings are just as valid as your doctor's.

Answer 3

Take your cuff into the doctor's office and have them check yours against theirs. This is something that they will probably do without an appointment, but call first.

Answer 4

Probably the procedure is wrong or the instrumental fault. Try to avoid taking your own reading.Let your doctor do the reading OK.

Answer 5

Your cuff is probably the wrong size, so you are getting a skewed reading.

Answer 6

at home there is no doctor and at doctor place you are with doctor so you feel safe.