PPRuNe Forums - White coat syndrome

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Oceansailer

10th Oct 2019 13:50

White coat syndrome

Hi all, I wonder if anybody has any tips for keeping blood pressure at a normal level during medical.
I find myself in the position of needing to look overseas for a job once more. I know my bp is normally about 135/85-90 but will easily rise with stress. I monitor it regularly and keep it in limits with diet and exercise.
I have documented white coat history with UK CAA but non of this really helps if I face a pass/fail initial medical with an overseas authority.
Any advice? Tips?
cheers

jolihokistix

11th Oct 2019 07:13

Breathe slowly and easily for 30 breaths.

Oceansailer

12th Oct 2019 13:19

Thanks for the advice both

BoeingDriver99

27th Oct 2019 02:33

Soak a rag in cold water and place it on the back of your neck. Triggers the mammalian dive reflex and lowers heart rate rapidly. Alternatively hold your breath and dunk your head in cold water to trigger it more effectively. Bit harder to do in the reception of the medical building.

gingernut

27th Oct 2019 21:22

A "one off" reading is quite meaningless unless it's excessively high on repeated readings.

Ask you're practice nurse to rigg you up to a 24 hour bp monitor.

There will be "spikes," in my case it was at the time of coitus and when I logged into PPrune and sparred with Mac The Knife. One, was a lot more fun than the other.

There is an algorithm somewhere (?National Institute of Clinical Evidence.)

AME's (or whatever they are called now), are sometimes a little "slow" on the uptake, so, I'd suggest you take a copy of your 24 hr reading, and the evidence :-)

Hydromet

28th Oct 2019 01:48

FWIW, when my diastolic BP was marginally high, we'd have my mate's wife (a nurse) take it before & after a couple of hours hard cycling. The 'after' was after we'd cooled down, had showers and were relaxed.The 'after' diastolic readings were always 5-10 points lower. I've no idea why. Did the exercise cause it to be lower, or were the 'normal' readings affected by white coat syndrome and anticipation of exercise?

Fire and brimstone

28th Oct 2019 11:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oceansailer (Post 10591153)

Have you tried going to a medical with a less attractive AME??

I can give you a list if necessary.

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