[tizaala]

Yesterday I bought a blood pressure monitor so I could monitor what was happening and when. Got to get my BP below 90 to get back on the op list. So, last night after being in bed for ten mins I took a reading , 132 over 74.  perfectly normal. this morning after waking up I took it again, 135 over 84 . Still good , so went about my normal routine , let the dogs out, feed the cats, make my coffee and Gabi's tea..after 2 cups of coffee my bp had gone up to 138 over 97 ? What? Don't say I can't have my coffee ! I must have coffee or people could be harmed ...any medics out there that can enlighten me on this matter?

[Cactus Jack]

Make sure you relax completely for 5 minutes before taking the pressure. Mine is 130/72 but only because wine is thinner than blood

[Louise Gaunt]

Caffeine is a stimulant, as you know, so will raise your blood pressure. It is best to take BP when relaxed, and don't take it within 30 minutes after exercise, food or stimulant drinks. Take your BP regularly, in the same position each time, and record each day to see a trend, and to give you evidence to show the anaesthetist that your BP is fine except when you are being assessed in hospital. My blood pressure is always higher at the GP, but hey accept my home records as a more accurate reflection. "White coat induced hypertension" is a well recognised phenomenon. It really is a case of " keep calm and carry on" so you can be deemed fit for surgery, which will, we hope, make life much better for you.

[tizaala]

Thanks Louise and Jack, So- no coffee before going to the surgery - I always find it stressful going to the Docs anyway , especially the waiting room , Obnoxious ,infective little kids running riot unchecked by the so called parents, people coughing and sneezing all over you. And the draggon receptionists , practice nurses that need to practice a bit more when it comes to taking my blood- (2 of them took 6 stabs and failed to find a vein ) then " just relax " then wonder why my bp was 187/108.....grrrrrr

[suziequeue]

What about switching to decaff? The quality and taste of decaff has improved over the years.

Coming off decaff is another matter though - worse than alcohol and fags in my experience….. so you might want to cut it down gradually.

Hey - you might even find that you sleep better which will further improve your BP.

Unfortunately white coat hypertension has been found to be an early indicator for systemic hypertension later on - so needs to be taken more seriously than previously thought. However, there is no doubt that clinic hypertension has lead to unnecessary diagnosis and treatment so NICE now recommends that all people who have hypertension in the surgery have a 24 hour BP monitor to see what's going on generally.

If you haven't been offered one of these and are being pushed to take meds or are being denied access to healthcare until your blood pressure is under control then insist on having ambulatory BP monitoring to see what the state of play really is. If clinicians baulk at this then just refer them to the recommendations in NICE CG 127 on hypertension.

[RUSTYME]

Leeches mate , you need leeches !
Hate to think what mine is !
I drink gallons of coffee , but only tesco classic instant , i go through 200g every 10 days ish .
Last time i had bp taken was a few months after my heart attack , when i was 49 . Doc said i had the bp of a 20 year old , he didn't say a 20 year old 'what' though !

[happygolucky]

I love strong coffee ,although not as strong as you like it, I find one cup of filter a day enough as I can feel my heart race after anymore, tea is not too bad....so before you go Dr, do something relaxing, calming music and no coffee until you return....maybe those snotty kids moan about grumpy old men......I love watching children, they at least bring a smile to me while in a tense weighting room...good luck....
 

[Bionic]

I have a friend who had high blood pressure. He also found that when he had strong coffee he as starting to have heart palpitations. He changed to decaf, his blood pressure dropped and the palpitations stopped.
Definitely worth trying decaf.

[HappyHippy]

My brother was diagnosed with high blood pressure aged just 17 
He duly took the prescribed meds and went off to Stornoway to college. He went for a check up there and found his blood pressure was low......they'd used a small sized cuff initially which had given the false reading! And the same thing happened to me during my pregnancies - thankfully I managed to talk the midwives into getting a bigger cuff and rechecking it before they carted me off to the hospital 
I know it's maybe not much help to you Doug but thought it worth a mention.
You should try a Reiki session 

[tizaala]

My normal coffee is the German Dalmayer full strength kick-ass coffee, failing that Aldi Italian blend strength 5, 6 tablespoons to a pint of water, black as my soul. makes your eyelids go up like rollerblinds. I will keep off it for a few days and just have water instead . Last time I saw the Doc, she put me on Natrilix 2.5 as other stuff would not be good with my pain relief tabs. (Dihydrocodeine 30mg. 2 off 4x daily. paracetamol caplets 500mg . 2 off 4x daily. and 2 amitriptyline 10mg. at night. I will take my BP machine in with me when I see her on the 6th. so she can have a look at the readouts. Thanks for your input folks.
Forgot to say I've been very good about controlling my sweet-tooth, cut out all chocolate , only eat fruit at bedtime while reading , and have dropped from 124kgs to 114kgs in a couple of months. so that has to help.

[happygolucky]

 

[suziequeue]

Well done with the weight loss Doug. That'll further contribute to lowering your BP as weight and BP and very closely correlated.

You might find just stopping all the caffeine at once difficult to cope with. The withdrawal from caffeine is the worst I have experienced…….. so cut it down by half to begin with and give it two weeks before cutting down again.

[bloomer]

Mrs B gave up all caffeine this year as with studying she was finding sleep hard to come by, she used the week of our holiday to go cold turkey (no stress made it easier) she now sleeps way better and is generally a much easier person to live with...


downside is if she's out and gets given caffeine she is awake till all hours and slightly hyper...

[Lesley Silvester]

My son's MIL was diagnosed with high bp. She cut salt out of her diet and keeps it down that way.

[sandalfarm]

Doesn't seem to be much point in not drinking coffee before seeing the doctor and drinking it after as its your health that the NHS is trying to look after but it needs your help as well. Many of the cheap bp machines are rubbish the worst being those that work on a finger alone,hope the weight loss regime is a success