Ok so I went to go get my physical at the doctors walk in clinic (I'm sure the top percentile medical students all work there lol). Quick, easy, get it out of the way. Well anyways I have this stoner chick that takes my weight, eye test, temp, and BP. She seemed like she JUST got done smoking a huge fatty out back...Either that or she was functioning on 30 mins sleep for 3 days, or she just had the IQ of a turnip. She was kind of cute though and wore her outfit quite nice, so I didn't mind <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> (obligatory pig comment)
Anyways back to my point...She takes my BP and my BP is quite high, 158/100. She says wow thats high, we will retake it in a bit. I tell her that I have "White coat syndrome", and when I test my BP at home on the portable digital cuff (with new batteries), or at the grocery store (granted that is less reliable) i'm always in the 120's - 130's range, with a fairly low diastolic of in the 70's or low 80's. She of course looks at me like i'm full of BS.
So anyways, the doc comes in. Now I of course don't know anything about him besides his name, and i'm not judging him, but sometimes when someone in a particular field seems to totally disregard something YOU know about (and you aren't even in that field), and blows it off, it makes you wonder about them. The doc gave me the typical "Wow you have real high BP". I told him that every time I go into see any doc, my BP is real high, and that's for my pulmonologist/CF doc, or my regular general practicioner. I told him that at home, on the cuff, or in the grocery store, 3-6 readings over a period of time (how you are supposed to get a baseline anyways, not just once from a clinic visit when you are being poked and prodded), I average high 120's - 130's, with a low diastolic, usually in the 70's.
He looked at me like I was feeding him complete BS. I told him that both my other two docs told me that I probably have white coat syndrome, where my BP spikes when i come into the clinic. I could be very mellow and happy, but still have the high BP only in their clinic. And on this particular day, and I have no idea why because I know i'm healthy, I was very nervous, and could feel my pulse going and could feel my BP climbing. It was obviously stress/psychological.
He got kind of condescending with me with his tone (like i'm an idiot and have never studied psychosomatia or anything to do with the human body or mind) even though I was pleasant with him in my explanation. He said that there was no such thing as white coat syndrome, and it was made up by "Laymen" and whoever told me it was real was full of bs (One of the best CF docs around, and a very cool good general doc that I see, not to mention tons of documentation on it on the net).
I wasn't in the mood to argue, I was very tired, nervous for some reason, and I was starting to get in a violent mood for some reason. Ever see the movie Falling Down? Where Michael Douglas just starts to lose it and go postal? I was starting to feel a similar feeling creep up. I saw myself wanting to punch this bozo, so I just sighed and he told me to lay back and he started the man handling.
He said I was fine, with the exception for my BP, and that I had blood in my urine. The blood was microscopic, but it was there. I have had this show up in my urine before, and yes before I was on OO (for those waiting for more ammo), so no big deal with that. He said he wasn't going to flunk me, but I should get it all checked out.
So guess what? After running around the block of all things, I check it. It's 132/79. Later on after laughing a good deal and walking around the house, it's 131/77. I check it again before bed, it's still in that ballpark. No spikes at all. Also in case you guys didn't know but could relate, I think my "White coat syndrome" goes quite a step further. When I was very young and they were trying to diagnose me (before the age of 3), they did all kinds of EXTREMELY painful biopsies on me, all the time (bone, tissue, you name it). My mom said I would scream bloody murder for hours on end, and recite every family members name, and even our pets to please come and help me..."WWWWAAAAHHHH MOMMY, DADDY, MARKY, PAMMY, PATSY (our dog), NEEDLES (our cat), PLEASE HELP ME, MAKE IT STOP...(then start all over again from the top)". She said that anytime after those run ins, if anyone wearing white came in the room (back then all the docs and nurses wore white) I would shake like an abused dog and cringe behind her and put a kung fu grip on her and it would take several of them to get me off of her. I was absolutely petrified.
So this absolute gumbah of a doctor is basically telling me that although i'm not overweight, and I work out, and I have proven long term readings stating that I don't have high BP, that there is no way for psychological issues/white coat syndrome to affect my BP when I go into the doctors office?
You should be able to punch some people just because of their lack of knowlege/hardheadedness.
Anyways back to my point...She takes my BP and my BP is quite high, 158/100. She says wow thats high, we will retake it in a bit. I tell her that I have "White coat syndrome", and when I test my BP at home on the portable digital cuff (with new batteries), or at the grocery store (granted that is less reliable) i'm always in the 120's - 130's range, with a fairly low diastolic of in the 70's or low 80's. She of course looks at me like i'm full of BS.
So anyways, the doc comes in. Now I of course don't know anything about him besides his name, and i'm not judging him, but sometimes when someone in a particular field seems to totally disregard something YOU know about (and you aren't even in that field), and blows it off, it makes you wonder about them. The doc gave me the typical "Wow you have real high BP". I told him that every time I go into see any doc, my BP is real high, and that's for my pulmonologist/CF doc, or my regular general practicioner. I told him that at home, on the cuff, or in the grocery store, 3-6 readings over a period of time (how you are supposed to get a baseline anyways, not just once from a clinic visit when you are being poked and prodded), I average high 120's - 130's, with a low diastolic, usually in the 70's.
He looked at me like I was feeding him complete BS. I told him that both my other two docs told me that I probably have white coat syndrome, where my BP spikes when i come into the clinic. I could be very mellow and happy, but still have the high BP only in their clinic. And on this particular day, and I have no idea why because I know i'm healthy, I was very nervous, and could feel my pulse going and could feel my BP climbing. It was obviously stress/psychological.
He got kind of condescending with me with his tone (like i'm an idiot and have never studied psychosomatia or anything to do with the human body or mind) even though I was pleasant with him in my explanation. He said that there was no such thing as white coat syndrome, and it was made up by "Laymen" and whoever told me it was real was full of bs (One of the best CF docs around, and a very cool good general doc that I see, not to mention tons of documentation on it on the net).
I wasn't in the mood to argue, I was very tired, nervous for some reason, and I was starting to get in a violent mood for some reason. Ever see the movie Falling Down? Where Michael Douglas just starts to lose it and go postal? I was starting to feel a similar feeling creep up. I saw myself wanting to punch this bozo, so I just sighed and he told me to lay back and he started the man handling.
He said I was fine, with the exception for my BP, and that I had blood in my urine. The blood was microscopic, but it was there. I have had this show up in my urine before, and yes before I was on OO (for those waiting for more ammo), so no big deal with that. He said he wasn't going to flunk me, but I should get it all checked out.
So guess what? After running around the block of all things, I check it. It's 132/79. Later on after laughing a good deal and walking around the house, it's 131/77. I check it again before bed, it's still in that ballpark. No spikes at all. Also in case you guys didn't know but could relate, I think my "White coat syndrome" goes quite a step further. When I was very young and they were trying to diagnose me (before the age of 3), they did all kinds of EXTREMELY painful biopsies on me, all the time (bone, tissue, you name it). My mom said I would scream bloody murder for hours on end, and recite every family members name, and even our pets to please come and help me..."WWWWAAAAHHHH MOMMY, DADDY, MARKY, PAMMY, PATSY (our dog), NEEDLES (our cat), PLEASE HELP ME, MAKE IT STOP...(then start all over again from the top)". She said that anytime after those run ins, if anyone wearing white came in the room (back then all the docs and nurses wore white) I would shake like an abused dog and cringe behind her and put a kung fu grip on her and it would take several of them to get me off of her. I was absolutely petrified.
So this absolute gumbah of a doctor is basically telling me that although i'm not overweight, and I work out, and I have proven long term readings stating that I don't have high BP, that there is no way for psychological issues/white coat syndrome to affect my BP when I go into the doctors office?
You should be able to punch some people just because of their lack of knowlege/hardheadedness.