This phobia/anxiety... is making me nuts. I feel like such a baby when I go to the doctor for anything. I had to go a little over a month ago because I wasn't feeling well....when I walked in there....I immediately felt panicky because I HATE all medical environments...because in my mind they are all about death and sickness. Anyway....as my panic grew, here she comes to slap the cuff on me and I had already told her to expect it to be high since I was feeling panicky..and sure enough it was....something like...168/88. So the Nurse Practicioner comes in and shows concern about my numbers and I can tell she's concerned....so there it goes even higher...she walks over to me and takes it again and her words were..."your blood pressure is through the roof!!"....I told her that I was feeling panicky and that she was also scaring me. It got so high that she ordered and EKG...which was fine and they took another reading after that and it had started to go down to 150 something over something. She told me that had it not started to go down that she would have had to give me something to bring it down. If she had told me that before she took that last reading....it would have shot up for sure....so I'm glad she saved those words for after. Through the years this has been an ongoing thing for me at Dr's offices and it's maddening. I always have to go through the same old song and dance about how I'm basically panicking and that's why it's high. I take my bp at home on an electronic one and a manual one..to make sure they are in kahoots with each other and so far they are....my readings at home range from 115/70- to maybe 135/85 (if I'm a little worked up about something). Anybody else experience this? Has anyone elses numbers ever gotten so high at the Dr's office? Any tips for getting over this mess? You know..I'm not even sure that its HBP that I'm afraid of....because I know that If I have it...that it can likely be brought down by taking various different avenues. I mean if it started reading high at home...I'd just go in and show them my high numbers and expect to be put on medication. I think it's all about CONTROL....in that moment when I'm having it taken...I feel so out of control. I honestly think that if they'd just let me take it myself while at the doctor's office that it would probably come down quite a bit....not home low..but low enough. Ok I'll hush now...but it sure is frustrating.