White coat syndrome

I met a new client today who when I asked if she suffered from high blood pressure, she said no but that she did have White Coat Syndrome. I had never heard of this before, but it is people who, when they have their blood pressure taken, usually by a doctor (hence, white coat syndrome) it is through the roof. However when they take it on their own at home it is quite normal.

Whilst the blood pressure is high, and in this circumstance could indicate that they are stressed by the situation, they often show no outward signs of stress and they do not feel particularly stressed.

I am not a doctor, and I wear no white coat but when I took this lady's blood pressure the first time it registered and error (I use an automatic blood pressure monitor) and after repeating a little later it was 191/89. This is the most bizarre reading I have ever had. I'm glad a curve ball like that was not thrown at me during my practicals at college.

Just goes to show, you learn something new every day.

As an aside, I put my girls down for a sleep at 12.15 today and now at turned 4.30pm I have just heard one of them upstairs. Oh to sleep for that long in the afternoon.