My husband has always had White Coat Syndrome. otherwise bp has been on the high end of normal. Recently though we have noticed that readings are consistently around the 142/93 mark. He works a lot of hours (it isn't abnormal for him to pack in 60+ hours a week), is on his feet all day and will get an average of 6 hours sleep if he's lucky so we don't think this is helping.

My question is with regards to bp at medicals. I know if it is over 140/90 a serum creatinine test is required to eliminate the possibility of organ damage, but in the DMP handbook it says a cardiologists report is also required. Is this the case everytime or is a cardiologist referral only necessary if bp is exceptionally high and organ damage seems likely?

Thanks for any replies. We are expecting med requests in the next couple of months so we wanted to be as prepared as possible.

sorry dont know the answer, but sending him calming thoughts. xxx

not always

i have high bp its always on the borderline, and failed the medical. so the doctor had me have some blood tests done to check for other issues.

My tests where fine and that was that, medical all done and dusted.

Thanks for your reassurance/replies guys I was always under the impression serum creatinine tests were done in the case of high BP whether controlled or not but searching through some of the threads on here, I see some folk have been referred to cardiologists/had ECGs to check all is well. If he needs these tests then so be it but we'd rather not delay things any more than we need to.

Linsy - this whole experience seems to become more delightful by the second, don't you agree?

Oh yes my dear, I completely concur.... it is a delightful process and one in which I would recommend to all my friends.

I did wonder though, if his BP is getting higher because he's getting stressed as the medicals are looming. He keeps talking about needing to keep the blood pressure down as he's so aware of how it shoots up in stressful situations....need to get him doing yoga on the Wii Fit, works wonders for me

Probably - the week before we had medicals I was getting chest pains and I was convinceds they were going to find something wrong with my heart or lungs. All was well at the medical, but I think the stress of it all on top of work and other issues all built up. As soon as meds were over chest pain went

Don't know what that was all about but I'm reeeeaaaallly glad that is all over with (for now anyway), as will you be when yours is all done and dusted. Not too long for you to wait now.

I went to my GP last Monday to get blood pressure checked & it was 120/70. Had medical on Wedenesday & it was 150/90. Repeated it 4 times & managed to get it to 145/90 I'm afraid I also suffer from White Coat Syndrome & the only person I'm comfortable with is my GP of many years!

At my medical the doc asked if I was nervous because my BP was a little high. By then I was pretty angry that I was seen nearly two hours late with no apology or explanation.

I was also a bit put out because when sitting with my file in front of him, he whispered "what's your name?" I heard what he said but as he could clearly see my name on the file I thought he may have said something else.

So I said "sorry?" and he repeated the whisper. I answered ...then it occured to me this was a sneaky way of checking my hearing and then I was worrying if he was noting a non existent hearing problem.

So first anger and then worry to possibly up the BP.

Anyway, later on the medical part of CIC (or whoever it was) wanted me to have the creatinine test. Not only did I have to pay a repeat fee at the hospital (that's where things were done here, not at the doc) for the test, the health authority policy was to charge the same full fee regardless of what test was done. So for that one little test I had to pay the same fee I paid for all the others ie blood tests, urine test and chest x-rays.

I did a little research at the time, not knowing what the test was, and concluded that he could probably have anticipated that need and ticked the box for the Creatinine test along with the others when he referred me to the hospital, having observed the BP reading he took.

Reading this post makes me more sure about it and that his lack of foresight (and his strange way with people) meant I had to pay twice as much as I should have.

No cardiologist report needed.

Thanks for your responses guys

White Coat Syndrome has always been a strange phenomenon to me because I don't suffer from it but because my husband does I recognise that it's very real. It amazes me how being nervous of having your blood pressure taken can send it through the roof! We never thought it would be a problem for the medicals though because it's only ever the first reading that's high with my husband, by the second he's composed himself enough.

BristolUK - it sounds like you had a real a**hole of a DMP

Dear E80

I think that you should try desensitising him...here is my technique.
Buy yourself a white coat and a Early Learning Centre Drs kit (Little one can have the kit after your medicals) and take his BP now and again. Now dont forget the appaulling bedside manner...this is key to the success of this technique! ...you will soon find that the problem will resolve in time for the medicals
I would suggest a nurses uniform but fear that would raise his BP heehee
Nurse LinsyPinsy

I'll try not to let the appalling bedside manner include anything along the lines of, "Oh my, I seem to have dropped the blood pressure monitor onto the floor, just let me lean over you to get that....." otherwise his BP will definitely be through the roof

I am looking for recommendation. Today, my orphaned nephew went to do his medication and his blood pressure was to be very high. He was told to eliminate salt in his food and go after 2 weeks to retake the medicals.

My question for ECG and creatinine test; are the tests done thru the DMP; do we need a referral from the Doctor or can we use our own Doctor. I wanted to do the tests on our own befor the Doctor asks for them to save time, but not sure if that is acceptable.

Could somebody please let me know the best way to handle the situation in order to avoid delay in the processing of his PR.

Thanks.

Lena

Slight side issue - are cholesterol tests carried out - either as a matter if course or in the case of high bp?

When I had my medical done 3 months ago the lowest the Doctor could get was 145/90. He asked the clinic doing my blood tests down the corridor to add a creatine test to them, but nothing was mentioned about a cardiologist. He understood fully re "white coat syndrome"