What is white coat hypertension and when should I worry?

"What matters most is your average blood pressure, not occasional (small peaks). However, sometimes medication is needed if you are deemed to be at high risk of intermittent elevation."
- Dr. Alexander Postalian, General and Interventional Cardiologist

Read More: https://www.texasheartmedical.org/our-specialties/management-of-high-blood-pressure/

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Transcript

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My blood pressure is always higher when I go to the doctor or dentist, but normal at home. Do I need to worry? Another extremely, extremely common concern, blood pressure goes up in situations of stress. Also, during exercise, if someone is bench pressing, blood pressure can go up upwards of 200, maybe even 300. So when you come to the doctor, yes, the blood pressure can be higher than usual. Now it should not raise too much in patients in where it goes up really high and then goes back to normal. It tells me that your body is susceptible to having these changes in in blood pressure, and your risk is a little bit higher than in someone that the blood pressure does not increase. Having said that, what matters more is what is the average blood pressure number. What I do is I tell my patients to check it in the morning and in the evening for a period of two weeks, send it to me and then we can make decisions about therapy.