White Coat Hypertension, Ear Hair

[smiler grogan]

1, Is "white coat syndrome" a real thing? A few years ago I went for a checkup and my blood pressure was borderline high, I don't remember the numbers. After changing diet and lifestyle I am now in the best shape i have been in since my teen yrs. I am 36 now btw..
My last checkup was a year ago and my numbers were still high 140 over 100 approx. I was stunned as was my doc. he knew all about my weight loss and new exercise regime so he suggested that I might get nervous in the office.
I used those check your pressure machines at local pharmacies and I read about 110 over 75 it varies a few numbers but thats where I am when I'm not in a doctors office.

B, This is not as important but I am curious. Why is it that as I get a lil' older the ear hair is sprouting like mad. I see no benefit of the little guys so what's the deal doc?

thanks in advance buddy.

[Dr Steve]

1, Is "white coat syndrome" a real thing? A few years ago I went for a checkup and my blood pressure was borderline high, I don't remember the numbers. After changing diet and lifestyle I am now in the best shape i have been in since my teen yrs. I am 36 now btw..
My last checkup was a year ago and my numbers were still high 140 over 100 approx. I was stunned as was my doc. he knew all about my weight loss and new exercise regime so he suggested that I might get nervous in the office.
I used those check your pressure machines at local pharmacies and I read about 110 over 75 it varies a few numbers but thats where I am when I'm not in a doctors office.

B, This is not as important but I am curious. Why is it that as I get a lil' older the ear hair is sprouting like mad. I see no benefit of the little guys so what's the deal doc?

thanks in advance buddy.


1) White Coat Hypertension is indeed a real phenomenon. People get diagnosed with high blood pressure when in fact the only time they have high pressures is when they're in the doctor's office. It's a tough problem, but when it is suspected, doctors can order an "ambulatory blood pressure monitor"..."ambulatory" just means "walking", so it's a blood pressure monitor that keeps tabs on your pressure while you're walking around. If it's normal everywhere else, and high in the doctor's office, the diagnosis of "White Coat Hypertension" is made. I don't wear a white coat, so I guess you'd have to call it "cheap-ass-shirt-and-khaki" syndrome in my office.

BOOOOOOOOO!

ugh, I stink.


anyway, to your second question:

The only thing I can think of is that it just doesn't matter. What I mean by this is that natural selection only applies to you up to the point where you have children. After that, natural selection is no longer a part of your life. Since no hot potential mates would be interested in you when you were 18 with hairs growing out of your ears, you simply grow them when you get older and it no longer makes a difference...presumably at that point you've already procreated.

regarding the actual mechanism of hair growth in the ear, it probably has something to do with testosterone levels. All those things do (including losing hair on the top of your head).

your pal,


steve




From the Journal of Clinical Hypertension
There is a rapidly growing literature showing that measurements taken by patients at home are often lower than readings taken in the office and closer to the average BP recorded by 24-hour ambulatory monitors, which is the BP that best predicts cardiovascular risk. Because of the larger numbers of readings that can be taken by HBPM than in the office and the elimination of the white-coat effect (the increase of BP during an office visit), home readings are more reproducible than office readings and show better correlations with measures of target organ damage.

[smiler grogan]

thanks buddy.

[rizzla]

1, Is "white coat syndrome" a real thing? A few years ago I went for a checkup and my blood pressure was borderline high, I don't remember the numbers. After changing diet and lifestyle I am now in the best shape i have been in since my teen yrs. I am 36 now btw..
My last checkup was a year ago and my numbers were still high 140 over 100 approx. I was stunned as was my doc. he knew all about my weight loss and new exercise regime so he suggested that I might get nervous in the office.
I used those check your pressure machines at local pharmacies and I read about 110 over 75 it varies a few numbers but thats where I am when I'm not in a doctors office.

B, This is not as important but I am curious. Why is it that as I get a lil' older the ear hair is sprouting like mad. I see no benefit of the little guys so what's the deal doc?

thanks in advance buddy.

The healthy way of life is important for conducting, then I recommend to look a place on the Internet here (http://healthwm.com) :down:

[Hepcat22]

Yesterday, after driving 335 miles from a two week trip to the beach my wife's BP monitor was on my desk. So I checked mine. 113/65, pulse 62. Three hours later it was 96/66, pulse 56. Why the heck am I taking Benicar and Altenolol?

Btw, my regular doc told me before I had prostate surgery that he had had patients who got off BP medications completely after that surgery. Interesting.