Hi all,
I'm interested in getting feedback about 24-hour blood pressure tests and how people deal with them.
A quick summary of my situation: I am very far advanced along the non-directed donation process including having met and matched with my recipient.
The first time I was in the nephrologist's office (about 4 months ago) he measured my BP and it was high. As I had never had this problem in the past, he said that perhaps I had white-coat hypertension and that I should monitor my BP at home. I was already very committed to donating and nervous that I would be disqualified - and of course, unhappy about possibly having to deal with hypertension.
A few days later I got a good home monitor and checked my BP pretty obsessively (about 3x per day) for 3 weeks. The results were absolutely fine! No sign of high BP at all. I sent the excel file to the nephrologist and he was perfectly satisfied. I continued to monitor my BP regularly 2-3 times a week from July on, and didn't have a single abnormal reading.
However....here in Israel all transplants have to be approved by a Ministry of Health committee. When I had my interview they asked about the BP, I told them the story, and they seemed fine with it. However, when they made their decision about our surgery they approved me pending 3 normal BP readings in a health clinic. Just hearing about it made me very nervous and when I tried to measure BP in the clinic it didn't go well.
The nephrologist has suggested a 24-hour BP test and it is scheduled for the beginning of next week.
I don't believe that I have a fear of doctors per se, but as I said, the donation is very important to me (only you guys know how much...) and I *am* afraid of being disqualified. If I actually had high BP that would be one thing, but 3+ months of monitoring has reassured me that I don't! I am not an anxious person in general and my anxiety about this issue is very uncharacteristic of me, I guess just because of how invested I am in donating.
Any tips or suggestions about how to stay calm for the 24-hour test, or stories about other people with white-coat hypertension dealt with it would be most appreciated!
Thanks,
Mooge