Comment by ErroneousBosh | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ErroneousBosh | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

I had my blood pressure tested several times over the course of the month and each time it was high, weirdly high, like 160/100. If I drove in, weirdly high. If I cycled in, weirdly high. If I got another reading after sitting quietly in the waiting room reading my book for half an hour, weirdly high.

They wanted me to start on all sorts of medications immediately.

The second-last time, they got a reading of 220/130, and were going to get an ambulance to take me into hospital immediately.

Er, hang on a minute, folks.

That's beyond "hypertension crisis" and well into "incompatible with life" levels. That's the kind of pressure I see in hydraulic servo feedback channels, not living things.

They grudgingly agreed that someone with high blood pressure probably ought not to be making as much sense as I was, although what would I know about it, they're the professionals, etc etc.

The next time I noticed the automatic blood pressure cuff had a fresh new calibration sticker on it.

130/90. Not bad, for a reading taken at the doctor's surgery.

I wonder how many people are on medication they just plain don't need because of a plainly faulty sphyg though?

> That's beyond "hypertension crisis" and well into "incompatible with life" levels. That's the kind of pressure I see in hydraulic servo feedback channels, not living things.

Blood pressures at this level can be observed from time to time. It’s not an instant death level.

Getting multiple readings is a good idea, but I would caution against picking the reading you like the most as the one which you believe to be correct.

You should also know that there are some conditions where high blood pressure can be transient. Some of these are very serious (tumors which secrete hormones which spike blood pressure). Having occasional scary high readings mixed in with occasional normal readings is actually typical with some of these conditions.

If I had any measurements show up that high I would invest in a cheap at home blood pressure device. They can be as cheap as $20. Then I’d collect a lot of measurements over several days.

Agree with all of the rest of your points, but a legitimate 220/130 is something that a typical doctor's office does observe* on occasion, so that (by itself) wouldn't have made them think their instrument was faulty. Some of those people would even be outwardly asymptomatic, as strange as that seems.

* those people would be considered to be in a hypertensive crisis, and sending you for emergency care would be the right thing to do, normally.

Can confirm; had a 210/110 legit BP reading. Multiple cuffs and sensors confirmed. I felt it too.

Walked into the ER because my Dr forced me too. After walking into and chilling for a bit. 130/70. $3000 later no answers.

So, it does happen to people.

I love those visits. I've occasionally had sharp chest pains which go away after a number of seconds. They've never been accompanied by typical heart attack symptoms, so I usually ignore it (not smart, I get it).

After one such episode, I decided to schedule an appointment with my general practitioner. They refused to see me if I didn't go to the ER first. I was pretty certain I didn't need an ER visit, but went anyway.

I waited hours, a doctor eventually saw me in the waiting room, and was never admitted. I think it cost $2500 or so, with insurance covering only part.

(For what its worth, I probably have this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precordial_catch_syndrome)

> (For what its worth, I probably have this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precordial_catch_syndrome)

Huh, that's interesting. That matches something that I get sometimes, usually after I've been driving a long distance or sitting at my desk doing mouse-heavy stuff for a long time. I put it down to poor posture.

It hasn't happened quite so much since adjusting the steering to track and centre properly so I'm not constantly pulling the car left away from the middle of the road, and raising my seat a bit by unscrewing the seat from its base, putting in about 8cm worth of wooden spacers, and screwing it back down with long studs and nuts instead of the daft wee screws, so it's not sitting at its "most extended" height.

I don't know, it might help you too.

Better posture has definitely helped me as well. I most often have the pain when hunched over.

My BP pressure has slowly creeped up over the years to 155/95 range, despite being quite fit with no real lifestyle issues. Was told to monitor it. Did a reading a few weeks ago: 190 over something. Not good. Went to A&E where they confirmed the reading with their cuff. Sat there for several hours. BP kept climbing until it reached something like 235 over something (probably partly due from a feedback effect of knowing my BP was high). Felt fine, apart from the anxiety related to the BP reading. Did a few tests, but no-one seems to know why it spiked. They gave me some meds and it slowly dropped. They let me go when it dropped below 180. Now taking a calcium channel blocker and it is very slowly trending down. Now about 160 over 100.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com