OK, so the other week I went to Tesco, which has a pharmacy in it, offering check ups for £5. Since I have been considering obtaining my HGV provisional, I figured the £5 was worth it, rather than paying £60+ for a medical, just for it to come back with something that would fail me. Anyway, I had a check, Diabetes check and a blood pressure check. Diabetes check came back fine and my blood pressure was classed as “upper normal” so after this, I booked my actual medical. My blood pressure reading came back as 156/85, and I noticed it was higher than when I got it done at the pharmacy. Now, the doctor at the medical told me that even though it was “slightly high” it was nothing to worry about. Last year, I weighed 28 stone, since May I have reduced my weight to 18 and a half stone, and it is steadily decreasing (through diet and exercise) and my doctor has been happy with my blood pressure all the way through my weight loss.
Anyway, my questions in, what is the pass standard of blood pressure for the DVLA to issue me with a HGV provisional? Would my blood pressure reading be too high? Just passable? Any way of finding this kind of stuff out?
Wouldn’t know the answer to your question, but just the ‘stress’ of knowing it was a medical for your licence could raise the BP reading, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
Well done for losing such a large amount of weight.
The DVLA guideline for LGV drivers medicals is maximum 180 /100. I have essential hypertension (ie no known cause) but it is treated with medication that does not cause side effects that would imapair driving ability(acceptable to DVLA for LGV licensing). It sounds as if your high BP maybe due to your weight, as you have sucessfully lost weight (well done by the way) and BP has decreased. Your Doctor will be very keen to help as I believe they still receive incentives for preventative treatment of most common heart problems. Also as the other poster said “white coat syndrome” can cause your pressure to rise due to the anxiety anticipating the test. The other problem is BP should really be taken after 20 mins rest, which is unlikey to be possible in doctors surgery. Not sure of your age but ideal BP for early 50’s (me) is 130/80. Good luck.
I rang the DVLA LGV medical department, just o be sure and they told me it was indeed 180/100, so I should be fine.
Thanks about the comments regarding weight also, getting into good health for my HGV medical was one of the driving motivators during my weight loss, I love driving!
Like some other folk,I get white coat syndrome when having a medical and that increases your BP.
The last time I went for my D4,it was 170/96,the limit being 180/100,and the doc wrote on the D4,“White coat syndrome,home monitoring 130’s/80’s” which is true because I found it’s as easy to buy a home BP meter and keep a check yourself.
I have the other problem last time my BP was taken it was 95/55 so I have to be careful at times maybe I should get a home bp unit but not sure how accurate they are
There is a thread in the Family & health forum about do you work out may be a read of that
If you’re a salt with everything type of guy, and also drink a loft coffee, cut down on those, as they can affect your BP a lot.
Also the electronic little machines you can buy in Boots etc are expensive and not terribly accurate. Buy a pump up sphygmomanometer like you get in the doctor’s from Argos or similar and use that. You’ll need your wife or someone to do it for you, I think there a videos on Youtube of how to do it. It’s not that difficult.
We have a blood pressure machine from Amazon, the Doctor asked us to get one to monitor mine and the wife. It cost around £20 and gives readings comparable to the NHS machines, in fact when the wife collapsed the Paramedic used our machine!! It also records pulse rate and you can store the results if you wish. Always take two or three readings a few minutes apart for the best accuracy. Worth every penny I think!
bazza123:
If you’re a salt with everything type of guy, and also drink a loft coffee, cut down on those, as they can affect your BP a lot.
Also the electronic little machines you can buy in Boots etc are expensive and not terribly accurate. Buy a pump up sphygmomanometer like you get in the doctor’s from Argos or similar and use that. You’ll need your wife or someone to do it for you, I think there a videos on Youtube of how to do it. It’s not that difficult.
Not expensive and I checked mine against the one at my medical practice and it was within a gnats of their’s for accuracy!
My blood pressure was around 144 over 90 a couple of months ago, So i thought it’s time to sort it out.
I stopped drinking and started exercising on a regular basis.
My blood presssure is now around 125 over 85 and i feel pretty good.
That rowing machine nearly killed me on the first couple of days and when i got off the cross trainer, I thought i had a brain tumour trying to split my skull in half.
I’ve now got a multi gym in the garage which i use instead of going down the pub.
My GP used old fashioned sphygnometer (is that spelt right?) and stethoscope on my last medical. I commented that pressure was lower than when nurses use the modern device. He reckons they are a bag of ■■■■. So a lot of people might be getting misled as too their real BP levels.
To the OP (I’ve not ready any of the other posts). Well done for losing the weight, however consider doing something else other than driving a truck for a living. This is a shocking job for a allowing the weight to pile on. Bad diet and hours of inactivity will pile the pounds on to most drivers (not all, but have a wander round any services and take a look at the clip some drivers are in).
Good luck, hope it all works out for you!
098Joe:
My GP used old fashioned sphygnometer (is that spelt right?) and stethoscope on my last medical. I commented that pressure was lower than when nurses use the modern device. He reckons they are a bag of [zb]. So a lot of people might be getting misled as too their real BP levels.
Our Doctor uses both and also he borrowed the one we bought from Amazon, they all read virtually the same. My Wife’s is usually around 160 over 89 though it did drop to 117 which gave cause for concern as she started falling, the Hospital were not too concerned unless it reached the 200 mark but I think that is a little high so we try to keep it somewhere between which we monitor with tablets. The Nurse thought that mine was high, around the 155 mark, however the Doctor thought it was OK for my age (62 at the time) as in his words “Everything gets higher as you age but Nurses think everyone is aged 21 so we have to make allowance for that” and granted me my HGV licence.
It does get higher with age but as BP is one of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease it’s a good idea to keep it down. 200 is way too high!
You can’t really to wrong with the old fashioned pump up one so long as your hearing is ok, machines are not terribly accurate. If you have an irregular heartbeat it will be out with those machines.
When i went for my renewal last Feb, my blood pressure was 195/115, i was rushing to get 2 drops done and a collection before the medical appointment, big mistake, (next time i will take the day off to relax) the doc said i should technically be dead. I eat healthy, never smoked or drink alcohol and do regular 10 mile Wainright fell walks in the lake district , through the summer with a good pal of mine.
The upshot was i had to attend my local doctors and have a 24 hour monitor fitted, which inflated on my arm every 20 mins automatically, i only had one high reading the rest were all virtually normal, the DVLA required 3 consistent readings under their 180/100 bench mark, i achieved 15 readings under, so luckily my entitlement was re-instated, i now monitor my BP every 2 days with my own machine, it is the identical model my local GP uses in his surgery i.e clinically validated.
