Do you think my blood pressure is high or was the reading at the doctors bad?

[Anonymous]

Long story short:

Past readings have been 137/75 - 140/75 (pre-high)

Most recent reading was 144/80, which is high

HOWEVER

1. I was seated on a table with my legs not touching ground (known to cause a bit higher readings)
2. They used a regular cuff and my arms measure like 16-16.5 inches, regular cuff is made for 9-13 inches max
3. White coat syndrome, aka most people test higher at the doctor's

[SoldiersWoman]

A second opinion is best taken from someone of professional medical status. However I do agree that your feet should have been kept flat on the ground and that your reading was thus inaccurate but not so inaccurate as to be thrown out the window. If your blood pressure is high it might be wise to listen to your doctor's advice on methods best suited to you for lowering it.

[Jxpxtxr]

If your arms measure 16 inches in circumference, that's really big - which suggests you're either having an enormous amount of muscles on your arms or are significantly overweight - Overweight often causes your blood pressure to go up and so does body building so I wouldn't be surprised if it was high tbh..

[Asker]

bodybuilding is the answer to your question... that combined with me sitting on a table vs feet on the floor, and a bit of nerves makes me think it could be like 10 points lower

[Jxpxtxr]

But do you get some of your proteins from eating a lot of meat? That can also cause hypertension but I think as long as you exercise safely you should be fine nevertheless.

[Asker]

no i do not! I don't eat very much meat : ) Thank you!

[Octavion]

Don't worry about the top number. It's the bottom number that matters. It isn't that high at all. Like you said, white coat syndrome.

[Klaatu51]

guess it'd b better to do it again with another doc... so u could verify it :)

[sherbearee]

yeah all of those may account for a slightly higher number, but it wouldn't be that significant.
all in all, your systolic number is pretty high, though diastolic is normal. If it was just a bad reading they should both be higher right?

[Asker]

right, but what by your definition is slightly higher? 10 points would bring me from having high blood pressure to being in pre-high blood pressure.

[sherbearee]

well the 3 points you listed above could bring you up like 5-10 higher, not 20 i don't think

[Asker]

all of those combined only 5-10 points?

[sherbearee]

yeah... well just to be sure, check at a pharmacy/store where they have an electronic one- if it's still high then you might want to do something about it

[KDA20]

Reason 3 is a big cause in jumps if doc was worried they would have said something