I need a doctor!

Went to Kaiser for my pre-employment physical. I was told to be there at 155 for a 240 appointment. It was beyond me why I needed to be there so early, but I was there as instructed. HR at City Hall said I’d have a lot of papers to fill out, but it turns out it was something like 5 or 6 pages and most of it was reading and then answering questions about what I read? Whateva.

My name was called at like 215, my blood pressure was taken (142/89), height (5’2.5”), weight (275 lbs), then vision and I had to lift a crate that was 50 lbs (I guess working at the library I’ll be lifting things up to 50 lbs in weight). Then I was led to the bathroom for the urine test. This was a little weird. The water was turned off and blue dye was put in the toilet. It took me a bit to figure out WHY that was done but at the time it was like wtf?!

I was taken to another room where an actual doctor asked me more questions (they were actually questions that I answered in the forms I filled out) and informed me that my blood pressure was high for a 28 yr old. She also had me squat/bend at the knees to the floor and then stand up...and I had to walk heel to toe in a straight line. I didn’t know I was going to be given a “field sobriety test” LOL

Then the first lady I was working with (I think she was a nurse, but she wasn’t dressed like the other nurses I’d seen) came back and gave me the TB test and led me back to her cubicle to take my blood pressure again. This time it was 146/81. I asked her what it should be and she told me 120/80. So I’m like Prehypertension to Stage 1 hypertension? She suggested I limit or cut out salt and really watch what I eat. Also, I’d lost like 9-10 lbs and grew half an inch. I know when I change my eating habits and exercise more I’ll continue to lose weight...and my blood pressure will improve too. I was given an appointment for Thursday morning to have the results for the TB test read.

About 40 minutes ago I took my blood pressure again. This time it’s 130-74 and that’s in the Prehypertension range. I’m going to continue monitoring myself and if I ever have a need to go back to the doctor I’ll have a list of all my blood pressure readings I’ve taken.

[edit] Did you know there's something called White coat hypertension? It's a phenomenon in which patients exhibit elevated blood pressure in a clinical setting but not in other settings. It is believed that this is due to the anxiety some people experience during a clinic visit.

Seeing as how this is the first time I've been to an actual doctor (not including going to Planned Parenthood) in a very long time, I do get anxious when I go to the doctor. I go for one thing and always think they’re going to tell me something is drastically wrong with me in another area.