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Whew! Passed another medical.

bret

Well Known Member
So this is getting harder as I age, checked BP at home, for weeks 120 ish over 80ish. At the Dr office, WAY elevated what the heck! Everything else good to go, no mention of BMI, or any thing else. Don't know what everyone else is paying but mine was 150.00 asked if she could do my Commercial driver med also, she said sure, for an additional 75.00! Really, are you giving me two eye exams? In all reality, the driver Med has more stringent criteria.
 
Commercial driver med also, she said sure, for an additional 75.00! Really, are you giving me two eye exams? In all reality, the driver Med has more stringent criteria.

Would be / should be the same medical. Maybe some day when the government runs out of money and they are required to streamline.
 
So this is getting harder as I age, checked BP at home, for weeks 120 ish over 80ish. At the Dr office, WAY elevated what the heck!
White lab coat syndrome...my Doc explained that tests have shown it to be a real phenomenon.
 
My AME has his patients do a deep breathing/meditation exercise prior to taking their BP. A lot of people have their BP rise just being in the office.
 
While I believe that white coat syndrome is real, just make sure that is what it is.

You do not want to be living with anything close to high bp. It will slowly destroy your cardiovascular system from the inside out.

Elevated BP is just too easy to treat these days with all the newer drugs.

The FAA has even relaxed their requirements for those that have started BP treatment.

Most people with elevated BP are in complete denial. I was for years and it costed me 2 stents in my heart! To me there is no such thing as borderline high BP. That is what almost killed me!
 
It was an Aviation Physical that identified my hypertension.
I returned to flying after a 10 year break (divorce, work) just during a stressful time at work. I got it sorted out within the alotted days (14?)
The FAA accepts controlled hypertention, with approved medication.
My old AME didn't report it, beyond filling it into the form.
That caused a little trouble down the road. My current AME straightened it out with the FAA, who had me take a Cardiogram and recite my family history.
Now I have to provide a letter from my General Practitioner stating I'm in good shape with no change when I visit the AME.
Oh, and trying to stay in shape during the building process is difficult. Now that I'm flying, I'm losing a few pounds, 'so I've got that going for me'. ;)
White coat syndrome is real, so it's a good idea to take in a recent record of readings taken at home or at the fire station etc. Some Dr's accept that.
 
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Real...me thinks so!

My sister an RN says it is real!! I have seen it in my life especially when I was flying professionally for a living(fearful of losing my job:eek:) What my AME said is to get a BP cuff and take readings every day for a week before my medical and he would review those and compare with office visit. That was probably 10+ years ago. I keep a cuff by my bed and still monitor it here and there after I wake up before I get up....it just gives me some baselines and trends.....we trend monitor our engines.....we should do our own "main pump" also:)

I take a mild BP medicine...and all has been great:D
 
Yes I know white coat syndrome is real. Sitting there waiting for the Doc, thinking about the years of work on the project, and years to go to finish my dream and the frigin Government stressing me out! Ugg!
 
White coat hypertension is real, and it is not innocuous. If you have elevated blood pressure in the doctors office, you probably also have elevated pressure in traffic, at work, and other situations were you are feeling even mildly anxious or confronted. The majority of people with white coat hypertension will eventually develop true hypertension. It is appropriate for your doc to consider home readings when he is determining how aggressively to proceed, but if he repeatedly ignores elevated office readings I would find another doc. He is not doing you any favors ignoring consistently elevated pressure. I always took reported home readings with a grain of salt when a job or license was on the line. Most people are not going to out themselves.

Jim Berry
RV-10
 
Yes I know white coat syndrome is real. Sitting there waiting for the Doc, thinking about the years of work on the project, and years to go to finish my dream and the frigin Government stressing me out! Ugg!

I used to have the white coat syndrome and my AME would have me sit in a dark room for 30 minutes before taking my blood pressure. I am now over it and always test with a normal blood pressure. Unfortunately the way I beat doctor induced HBP was I had 4 stents put in and 3 years later triple bypass. Since then I have been to so many doctors and cardiac rehabs that take blood pressure, I am no longer effected and show 110 over 70 every time. I am actually at the point I can predict my BP and will usually tell the nurse before she takes it and end up being only off by a point or two.
 
Medical Cost seems high

So this is getting harder as I age, checked BP at home, for weeks 120 ish over 80ish. At the Dr office, WAY elevated what the heck! Everything else good to go, no mention of BMI, or any thing else. Don't know what everyone else is paying but mine was 150.00 asked if she could do my Commercial driver med also, she said sure, for an additional 75.00! Really, are you giving me two eye exams? In all reality, the driver Med has more stringent criteria.

Hi Bret,

I must be fortunate, my Medical last month was $40 from Dr Griffin in Roanoke, Texas (near Northwest Regional - 52F). $150 seems high!

TJ
 
Hi Bret,

I must be fortunate, my Medical last month was $40 from Dr Griffin in Roanoke, Texas (near Northwest Regional - 52F). $150 seems high!

TJ

oh my god he raised his prices, he used to be 35 bucks when I lived there! :D

bob burns
RV-4 N82RB
 
Change arms to verify Blood Pressure readings!

The wife of a friend was having difficulties, but every blood pressure check showed normal. Then, after being sent to a specialist to treat this mysterious illness, the nurse in the big city checked blood pressure in both arms, and the indications were significantly different! :eek:

She had surgery and medication to treat her partial blockage, and now she is enjoying good health.

Occasionally check blood pressure in both arms to verify the readings are reasonably close to each other.
 
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Lack of AMEs

My current Medical expired this month and I saw my AME yesterday. The price had doubled to $130.00. I received a special issuance for Obstructive Sleep Apnea that requires me to go back in 12 months. I applied for the SA in August and received the letter a week ago with the help of AOPA. My AME informed me that he is retiring, another in the area is retiring and when he went to his last seminar he was informed that the total number of AMEs is down to +- 3,000 from +- 8,000. That alarmed me. Has anyone else heard this?
 
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