Why does my blood pressure go up so high when I'm uncomfortable?

#1

This week I went back to the dentist to have the 2nd phase of a root canal completed. This dentist is a specialist and he always checks my blood pressure before he will do anything.

Both times I went to see him my blood pressure went way up. I could feel it as soon as I sat in the chair! And I could feel it going down as he finished the procedure. And earlier this week, at my medical check-up my blood pressure was 126/72.

I don’t remember this happening before keto, but I could be wrong. I wonder if this is just a symptom of not yet being really healthy yet. I have lost over 135 lbs, but I am probably not as healthy as I could be. Would more regular exercise help so this doesn’t happen? Just curious and looking for ideas.

(Susan) #2

My blood pressure always goes up when I am uptight or upset… even before Keto. Maybe it did before for you too, but you don’t remember (as you said above?) or maybe you are more nervous going now than you used to be??

Mine was always high at the end of my pregnancies, and then when I got really obese… (which made me start Keto) and now it has been going down steadily, except the other day when I took in extra salt. Have you been eating extra salt lately?

(Allie) #3

I think it’s a normal reaction to stress tbh.

#4

I do think that it can be normal, but my bp went WAY up! Diastolic was 110 (I forget what the top number was). It did slowly go down (they tested me 3 times before the dentist thought it was low enough and would start the work!).

Anyway, I always wonder about things. This seemed especially high.

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #5

It can also be a reaction to being active right before, like just walking briskly can affect it. As can having the wrong cuff size, legs crossed, position of the arm, etc. And as @Momof5 said, being under stress (even thinking about the dental procedure) can cause it.

('Jackie P') #6

This is called “white coat syndrome” and is a temporary spike in blood pressure caused by stress!
126/72 is a perfectly healthy blood pressure.

#7

OK, you are all probably right. I just wondered if this was unusual. I understand being nervous, and I AM nervous when I go to have dental work done, but this seemed excessive. So, I wondered if my heart is weak or super unhealthy. I assume it was before Keto. I’ve been on keto about 11 months or so.

I’m much more active than I was this time last year, but I probably could do more. It’s just so very hot outside these days and I can’t afford a gym membership just now. Guess I can walk up and down the stairs in my home for exercise. :smile: Though this isn’t much fun.

Thank you for the reassurance!

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #8

My brother has white coat hypertension so they check him right off the bat but also at the end of the appointment. It is much lower at the end. He also has a bp machine he uses at home and it’s pretty amazing how a tiny thing can spike it and also how quickly it comes back down. His doc said as long as it’s normal when he’s relaxed at home then he’s fine. (And also that it will fluctuate a bunch throughout the day normally).

#9

Thanks! This is reassuring!

(Diane) #10

I have worked on blood pressure studies in the past. We had very strict protocols for measuring someone’s blood pressure because so many things can affect it.

The patients needed to sit still for 5 minutes before we would measure their bp. No talking, no reading, nothing. Even thinking about stressful things can make a person’s blood pressure go up, so we tried to ask them to empty their minds. We instructed the participants not to cross their legs or ankles and we made sure their legs didn’t hang off the edge of the chair (gave them something like a phone book to rest their feet on if their legs were too short). We made sure to use the right arm (unless there was a medical reason not to, as for those breast cancer survivors who had a lymph node dissection on the right arm) as previous testing had shown that blood pressures taken on the right side showed less variability between measurements. We would measure their arms (from shoulder to elbow to determine the correct spot to measure the width and then around the circumference) to make sure we were using the right size cuff.

Then we would take three readings in a row with 2 minutes in between each measurement to allow the arm to recover. If there was too much variance (specifically explained in the study design) between any two consecutive readings, we would start the whole process again with another 5 minute rest period. Once we got three acceptable measurements, we would average them to find the patient’s resting blood pressure.

Doctor’s offices don’t train their personnel to take true resting blood pressures.

Also, it’s interesting to note that just as with cholesterol levels, where the level at which people are recommended to take lipid lowering medications keeps getting lowered (in that case, without any sound science backing that recommendation up); what is considered to be a high blood pressure has changed significantly over the time I’ve been working in research. What is considered high enough to warrant prescribing antihypertensives keeps getting lower and lower. This makes many more patients fit the criteria and makes the drug companies more and more money. I’d like to think that the science hasn’t been influenced by this inherent bias, but I’m skeptical.

Also, one abnormal reading shouldn’t cause a doctor to prescribe an antihypertensive medication. You need repeated visits with high blood pressure measurements before a doctor should consider medication. Many doctors ask the patients to check their bp’s at home and keep a log because they know that the “white coat syndrome” is real and can be significant. A good doctor should also suggest lifestyle interventions that can help lower blood pressure.

Anyway, I got really wordy. My intent was to show that measuring blood pressures and interpreting what they mean is way more complicated than most people think about.

Try not to stress about it.

(Cranford Coulter) #11

Even though I like my doctor, I have white coat syndrome. She has me taking my BP and blood glucose 4 times a day at home, so she takes a look at my journal of those readings to get the real picture.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #12

My blood pressure these days is around 112/70, but at a recent doctor’s visit, the initial reading they took was 138/90! I was anxious about the visit, so they very kindly took a second reading that was much more reasonable, though still not as low as usual. The technical term for “white coat syndrome” is, I believe, “idiopathic sympathomimetic response.” :bacon:

#13

Thanks to everyone for explaining this to me!

Well, tomorrow I have to go to my general dentist, the one who did the root canal was a specialist, and have the tooth finished. I don’t understand why the specialist didn’t finish the work, but was told it is done this way as a courtesy to my regular dentist. Ugh. What about courtesy to me? I hate these procedures!

(Susan) #14

It is all about the moolah with them … my 5 kids all had their wisdom teeth out-with the appt to the regular dentist to get a referral… and xrays there. then the specialist has to have an initial appt… then the surgery (total gets to about 3,000. Our insurance we have atm only reimburses $1000 per calendar year. For a few years we had no insurance, and 2 kids had to have theirs out during then… I feel that Dentists are major con men… but we have to pay the money! My daughter that just had her wisdom teeth out in August (I got 1/3 of it back) and now she has 6 fillings which is going to be about $1500 and will get $1000 back (she has the worse problem teeth of any of our kids, thankfully but still!) My eldest son has never had a cavity, we only had to pay for his regular checkups, cleanings and the wisdom teeth.

I need to try and get my grand daughter to be a dentist…“wheels turning how can I accomplish this…” haha

(Allie) #15

This has reminded me of a hospital appt. I had a few yeas ago where they checked my pulse minutes after I had arrived and were concerned at how high it was. I had left work early for the appt., parked my car at home then briskly walked the 20 mins to the hospital, faffed about trying to find where I had to go for the appt. before eventually arriving just in time to be seen so it was no surprise to me, but seemed a major concern to them.

#16

It really feels like that sometimes!

I mean, the specialist filled the tooth with a temporary filling just so I could go in less then a week later to my regular dentist to have that temp. filling removed and replaced with a permanent filling! With how uncomfortable it all was, really, this seems to be taking advantage of me and all for “courtesy” between dentists.

There were 4 weeks between the initial clearing out of the tooth and the temp. filling. He could have just done the final filling and I would be done. But no. Today I go back for the dentist to dig it all out again and why?

Ugh!!! OK, rant over.

Update: My tooth was filled and it was done very quickly. And it didn’t cost me much. While he did not check my blood pressure, I could feel it go up. Good that it only took him 10 minutes! This time I was told the delay between the temp and the permanent filling was to make sure the tooth was clean and there was no infection. Perhaps there is a good reason for the delay. I don’t know. Anyway, it’s over!!!