White Coat Syndrome

Hi Still thinking of doing my class 2 just wondering if i would be ok passing a medical as had a 24hr blood pressure monitoring done that averaged out to 141/87. but as i’ve got to have an operation on my knee i’ve been put on Propanolol 10mg to basically calm me down as whenever i get to the surgery or hospital by BP gets high and they won’t do the operation if BP is too high so the Propanolol is used to keep me calm, last reading at the GP’S was a lot lower so it does the trick.

Just wondering if i would pass while taking this really. Sorry for the ramble and thanks for any replies.

When completing the HGV medical for D4 you are asked if you’re taking medication to lower blood pressure but I wouldn’t think your reading would be a cause for concern for the DVLA.

I believe Propanolol is a beta blocker, as far as I’m aware taking a beta blocker will not stop you getting a HGV licence but it will need to be reported on the medical form, as long as the medication is doing it’s job and reducing your blood pressure to an acceptable level I don’t think there will be a problem.

Thanks Tachograph. Best thing to do is just get the medical done then i’ll know one way or the other, no point in spending your life wondering!

Absolutely mate, go for it.

I could be wrong but I think the point at which the DVLA would start taking a serious interest would be if your blood pressure systolic reading was 160 or above, I’m not sure about the diastolic reading but I wouldn’t have thought that 87 would be a big problem.

I don’t think a 24 hour blood pressure test will be accepted for the HGV medical so you will most likely need to have a BP test at the HGV medical, but if you can achieve reading like what you’ve mentioned I wouldn’t have thought there would be a problem.

Good luck :wink:

Cheers should hopefully be low enough with these pills. Its not normally high , got a wrist home tester and that’s usually fine i just hate the doctors, stupid i know but its a reaction i can’t help time will tell i suppose.

I think we all suffer with “White coat syndrome” to some extent, I’m not less than anyone else.
I don’t think the BP you gave is any cause for concern, I had one medical where my BP was 145/94 and there was no query, after all, on the D4 it does give a generous limit of 180/100 which is rather high.
I find that having my own BP monitor and taking a record of my BP readings for a week before my medical gets me used to the procedure and gives an idea of what your BP is without the pressure of white coat syndrome.
I show this record to the doc and while it’s not accepted as gospel, it goes some way towards showing what is your norm.

Thanks BestBooties.
Pretty sure with me it is just white coat syndrome i’ve got one of those wrist testers from boots to use at home and the results are much better than in the surgery and like you say it should get you used to the whole procedure beforehand.
i would think the tolerance is high to allow for nerves as they do three readings i think.

I think on the D4 the instruction to the doc is to take three readings and record the best. I find the more times you do it, the lower it gets.
What also has a bearing on BP is little things like:don’t talk while you are having the test, also, don’t cross your legs, just sit with your feet flat on the floor, close your eyes and think of nothing.