FL,
Good Morning. Like many people, when confronted with uncertainty, I sometimes get stuck in the trap of what-if thinking — a repetitive pattern of negative thoughts where my imagined scenarios grow scarier and more dramatic by the minute.
While the scenarios aren’t likely to play out, this kind of obsessive processing, also called “negative,” “compulsive” or “catastrophic” thinking, and can actually cause some big problems. You find yourself stressed and anxious which can cause your BP to rise. My best advice is to avoid overeating, and stop taking your Blood Pressure over and over.
My Dr. asked me to stop by the clinic a couple of times a week for the clinic nurse to check my readings so they could record the trend in my chart. You will get a different reading everytime you check you BP but radom checks at the clinic will pick up your true trend. We only did this for a few weeks. No appointment or charges for this service at my clinic.
When I was first dx with hypertension I bought a cuff and was checking my BP all the time................I tossed it into the garbage one day when I realized I was obsessing.
Take care !
Kindly,
Kitt