Does your heartbeat race when visiting the doctor?

Definitely it does.

A few years ago before I had my mitral valve repaired, my heart would be racing and my blood pressure was very high. It was more nerves than anything. Now it's normal. I do get a little nervous still in the doctor's office.

Yes definitely does, the Doctor commented on it during my last exam along with my raised blood pressure reading.

My heart races always when i visit the doctor, specially when i know i get a heart and lung ausculation. the doctor says always that my blood pressure ist high when i get nervous.

When we are anxious, don't we feel our heartbeat loudly, even without placing our hand on our chest (generally we never feel a prominent heartbeat, right, we just know it's there and that's why we are alive and breathing)

When I am very anxious I can feel the heartbeat. That's normal for me. The incident I was talking about was that of my first gyn exam, hence the anxiety.

Yes I usually get nervious when seeing the doctor so it does a little. If the doctor is female and I am going to be getting a psyhical or anything that might involve my pants being down then yes my heart beats very fast.

I even had a lady doc check my pulse and breathing a couple times to make sure it was normal. But I feel more comfortable with a female doctor for any kinda exam involving my clothes being off.

I had a man doctor who used to give me pshyicals and he would lift the band of my underwear and peek inside and sometimes touch and feel of me. I didnt like it at all and i would feel a chill come all over my body and intense uneasy feeling. But when i have a female doctor or nurse look at me down there im still a little nervious but dont have the uneasy feeling. Even if she is old enough to be my mom and I dont find her attractive. I am more comfortable with her looking and touching me down there then a man but my heart will still beat fast.

By the time a physical begins, I have panicked for a few days anticipating the dreaded event. I have spent time sitting in the waiting room wondering anxiously how the exam will be done and how thorough it will be, been called back to an exam room by an office staff member, had vital signs taken, and been told to undress.

When the doctor first puts his stethoscope on my chest, my heart is racing. I have had several doctors inquire about my level of anxiety which makes the situation even more embarrassing because he knows I am afraid of the exam.

When I was in high school and getting sports physicals in the locker room, my heart went crazy. The setting and not quite knowing what was going to happen did it. The doctors always commented on it and asked if I was on any meds. I just said that I had run from an appointment with a teacher because I didn't want to be late for the physical. That seemed to satisfy them. Not sure they were too concerned anyway. Every guy passed those exams. When I was in my 20s, dr's office exams where I was stripped to underwear made me nervous, and I'm sure my heart was racing. Now, all the docs have me in a gown or just shirt off. I am pretty relaxed, and also avoid coffee in the hours before the exam. I'm sure if I ever get another doc who has me almost naked from the start, my heart will race.

Used to spike around anything connected with medicine. I got in a state that was fight-or-flight, and my pulse rate was up there with people engaged in battle. Several times the doctors got a bit worried and did ECGs.

As I got older I realized that I did have control over the situation and didn't need to panic, and I needed to control myself more. Been doing that and much calmer now.

My heart rate will rise if my GP put his stethoscope just to listen to my heartbeat(not my lungs). But my heartbeat will be super fast and pounding when I visit a cardiologist.

I have white coat syndrome so my heartbeat is always higher when I am in the office, blood pressure too. When I am in the doctors office my blood pressure usually sits at about 120/70 but normally it is around 100/50.

Mashie

IWhen I am in the doctors office my blood pressure usually sits at about 120/70 but normally it is around 100/50.

Isn’t 100/50 a little low? (I am not a medical expert!). Where do you start worrying about low BP?

100/50 is okay. I am not an athlete but a lot of athletes have low pressures too. They don't like it in the hospital though. They tend to want to hold my pain meds or my clonidine which I take for sleep when my pressures are that low. I have to explain to them that my pressures are naturally low and it is okay to go ahead and give me my meds.

Mashie

My blood pressure is always higher when the doctor measures it.

I can imagine my last examination which was in April. The nurse said that my blood pressure was a little bit high but I said that I am a little bit excited and she told me not to worry. Than was the doctor came in I actually calmed down. But it always depends whether I go to a male or female doctor, if the doctor is female my heart begins to race even more. Anyways, as soon as the chest piece touches my breast my heart begins to race. And if the doctor auscultates the lower abdomen and moves my pants a little bit lower I will eventually also get an erection.

For the past few years, someone using a stethoscope on me makes my heart race like crazy. Usually gets a comment or two from the doctor

I am a medfetter but when visiting a doctor in real life, I remain very calm. My heartbeat doesn't race in tension. I maybe agitated due to blocked nose if cold is severe but I never get tensed. Maybe because I haven't faced any major disease thankfully.

Though depending on the situation I may feel excited but my heart never beats fast even then. It's a 'different' excitement. Till now doctors have never noticed my excitement luckily or at least not expressed noticing it.

But yes I was a little nervous for my first gyn exam at the age of 23

No racing or anxiety I can notice but I do have white coat syndrome which seems to be difficult to get doctors to recognize. My BP at home is usually 120/130 over 50/55 but when they take it it's 140/150 over 65/70. I can get that to drop 10-15 points just by refusing to engage in conversation with them before taking it which is also hard to get them to believe. After I finish shoveling snow from my driveway it is usually about 10 points lower than normal. I've seen it as low as 105 over 50 after doing something like that.

In cardiac rehab we had a nurse I found quite sexy. When she took it it was about 10 points higher than when any of the others did.

I have certifiable WHITE FRIEGHT !

So bad they did an ekg...thinking i was in distress.

Off site my bp isnt bad.124/76..at the docs 168 to 145/88

Crazy.

I never used to have much of a problem with it, but over time my white coat syndrome is becoming worse and worse. It’s the absolute worst at the dentist - because I don’t like dental work anyways. I’ve recently needed a few different things done for a broken tooth - but every single time I go they take my blood pressure and pulse - and it’s sky high. At home my BP is always around 128/80 or so. At the dentist, it’s routinely 160+ for systolic. I can’t control it, and the dentist I was seeing doesn’t have the most helpful/supportive staff...they would laugh at me and berate me for my blood pressure being too high - which I tried to explain to them was only going to make it worse. So two separate times I’ve left their office in a major anxiety attack that they’ve caused by being so RUDE and ignorant about it. I tried explaining that I have anxiety regarding dental work to begin with. But they laughed it off and told me to go get put on medication for it if it’s that bad. So obviously I haven’t been back to them.........but yes. The second I get near a medical professional now - up goes my vitals. :p

@Mumford you are not the only one...... Same thing goes for me.

@mumford,

I sympathise a lot with you. All my life long, l have suffered from white coat syndrome. My BP mesured at home is normal. It goes up when a doctor or nurse takes it. Worst was a few years ago, after a minor car accident, the police took me to the local hospital ER and there, my BP was 22/12. They wanted to keep me and I had to sign a document to get out.

Hovewer, I am a bit surprised to hear that your BP was mesured at the dentist's. I have never seen this done in France or elsewhere in Europe. Is it standard procedure in the US ?

If you tell me they take your rectal temperature, I won't believe you.

Three years since I last posted in this thread, and it hasn't changed.

The last time I went to a doctor she even asked if I was excited because my heart was fast... I said that going to the doctor just makes me anxious (though it was possibly a bit of both!)

She confirmed that my blood pressure was high too, at 160/90 - mine is normally around 120/70.

@Svensson

Taking blood pressure at the dentist appears to be a relatively new standard practice. I never, ever had it done until recently. I went about five years without seeing a dentist when I was in college, and I just went for the first time this year. I was completely dumbfounded when they wheeled in a cart to take my vitals. I believe they check your vitals to make sure it’s safe to do any kind of procedure on you that involves an anesthetic - especially if the anesthetic contains epinephrine. I had a lot of dental work done as a child and never had them check my vitals though - so this must be new protocol - at least at this dentist! As if I didn’t already have a reason to be nervous going to the dentist...hahaha.

Absolute WHITE COAT PATIENT...normal range BP, Outside med facility...sky high at doc office. One time they rushed in an EKG machine to see if I was in trouble.

Childhood visits were horrible.

Never had my heart raced at the doctor's.

I've worked in an oral surgical unit (and for a long spell) if any of our staff had treated patients in the way that Mumford was treated they would been out within the week. Totally unprofessional and NOT in the interest of any patient. Work is word and totally professional. Play is play! Different rules completely! Change the dentist - fish rot from the head down - so its likely that's where the problem really is!

@DOMINDOC

I haven’t been back to that dentist since the second anxiety attack they caused me! I do not have a general anxiety disorder. It is only triggered in a situation like being in a dentist’s chair. I shouldn’t be made to feel so terrible for something out of my control. I’m working with a few friends to find the best practice that will be covered by my insurance, but will also treat me like a human being! 😃

I need to see what my answer is to this - I've only been to the doctors once in the last 8 years and that was for antibiotics and didn't get stethed. I'm pretty good with mind over matter so I think I'd have no reaction to something clinical - but for now I've no idea...

Yes, it does. It races from the moment I arrive to the office until the moment the exam is over. I had been to the cardiologist few times due to PVCs, and the first time I was there my HR was 115! Doctor asked me to come back again as he was not sure if I had a murmur or not. Next time I was calmer, but to this day, I still have White Coat Syndrome.