138/98 at age 48 319 pounds - comments?

[NinaMarie]

Interested in reading these threads because I'm in school for nursing.

Okay....the OP your nurse was completely awful!! You aren't supposed to take pulse or blood pressure after excercise if you are looking for your resting rates....(this would be what you would experience in a normal doctor's office)

Also the fact that 140/100 was bad but 138/98 was okay to her makes absolutely no sense what-so-ever! Those two readings are essentially the same.

Finally, white coat syndrome typically raises the top number, not the bottom so much. The top number is in reference to how fast your heart is pumping, essentially, and the bottom number is how hard it has to pump. So (I actually have white coat syndrome, lol. Go figure) to use myself as an example, if I take my BP at home it's normally about 122/68 to 125/70. When I go to the doctor, it might raise to 140/70 with is a typical indicator of white coat syndrome (the top number is a lot higher than the bottom). I always tell a new doctor I have white coat and to retake it in a few minutes after I calm down and it is always back to normal the second time around.

As for what these numbers really mean, you are hypertensive....I am not a doctor obviously...I would imagine that they wouldn't suggest BP medicine for that on first reading but if you loose weight and the numbers are still that high it's something to possibly consider....Best of luck to you!