Posted by Rod Sparks, MD

In Reply to: Is this posted by steinmyr

To whom it may concern:

I am very glad to hear that you have found that you have hypertension, and
that you have started down the path of controlling your disease.

It was not long ago, that hypertension was not only termed normal as we
aged, but essential to provide flow to organs usw., in senile blood vessels.
Of course we laugh at this now, but pick up any text from the late 50's and
early 60's, and see for yourself!

As a nation we all have conception of what hypertension is. And of course we
associate this with a magnitude (140/90). I will tell you, that clinical
hypertension is a blood pressure whose treatment benefits outweigh the risks
of non-treatment. Is there a magic number, well yes. We know that the risk
of atherosclerosis, cerebral vascular accident, and heart attack increasing
steadily with BP above 140/90 in the general population, in a patient with
a diabetic nephropathy, that might be 120/70.

Do I observe that BP's in my office are higher than those reported to me in
my office. I will tell you I see this almost daily. Do I believe the
patients are not telling the truth? Well I'm sure I've been lied to before,
but there is little gain for a patient.

So to answer you: White coat hypertension is a well-observed,
well-documented, well-published cause for increased BPs. No one observation
at a Dr.'s office can replace or refute a motivated patient, who is taking
his own BPs at home, and who further checks his machine against others. The
only danger that white coat hypertension has, is one of the physician
assuming that a BP observation is so, and NOT following it. And that
doesn't sound like you.

So.......Keep up the good work, and........don't sweat the small stuff.
Keep taking your BPs at home, keep a log! You are doing yourself a favor,
more than you can know!

Warm regards.

Rod Sparks, MD

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