Blood Pressure

[Groundskprwilly]

Morning,

I’m looking for some relaxation techniques for lowering blood pressure during my medical. I get to that office and it’s worse than a check ride. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks

 

[adrianh11]

Try exercising for an hour or two before your appointment. If you avoid coffee and excess fluid intake your blood pressure should read a little lower.

cheers

 

[mar]

First, the obvious...

What is your blood pressure? Maybe you're worried about nothing.

My AME told me to shoot for 120/70. I'm a little high. Apparently if you're approaching 140/90 then you might have cause for some real concern.

Second, try to get an appointment in the morning. Most people have lower BP in the morning.

Avoid nicotine (always) and alcohol (the night before). Exercise regularly. Eat right, etc, etc, always wear your seat belt...

Practice visualization/relaxation techniques. Try the bookstore.

Also try some aspirin a couple hours before the appointment. It's a blood thinner and may help lower your BP a few points.

Buy a home BP kit to monitor your BP. Take measurements morn, afternoon and night. Get to know yourself and what affects your BP.

Good luck.

 

[flytheblue]

I dont eat before I go to the doctor, and that seems to keep my blood pressure lower than where it normally is...I know it's going to go up due to the "white coat syndrome" along with my pulse rate.
Ive heard that your blood pressure can be as high as 155/95 before they get concerned about it, and those numbers will be averaged out over 3 times.

 

[Groundskprwilly]

Thanks for all the advice. The doctor has never said anything about my BP, but it would be nice to be more relaxed during the medical...it's the "white coat" thing.

Thanks again.

 

[calfo]

It's not the white coat... it's the rubber glove!

 

[thesource]

Hey one thing to add. Someone else mentioned to excersize for a couple of hours before your medical.
I'm not attacking you but would like to point out that strenuous(sp)? excersize can force large amounts of albumin (protien) through the membrane in your kidneys and show up on your urine test.
This is a disqualifing condition and requires followup testing and a report to the FAA. It is not serious if the followup shows no underlying condition, thats why the followup.
It can lead to a legenthy delay in recieving your medical as you know the FAA can be alittle slow.
How do I know this? It happened to me. Check with your doctor for medical advise, please don't rely on message boards for health advise!

 

[sstearns2]

I have the same problem. I got an electonic wrist cuff that measures blood pressure and records the readings. My AME just uses the readings from home when my blood pressure is high in the office.

Scott

 

[f9driver]

Blood Psi

The age old treatment for high blood pressure is to go in with a hang-over from the night before. This is not recommended if you have trouble with the eye test. lol

 

[Palerider957]

www.aopa.org

AOPA has an extensive aeromedical site with a ton of BP related info.