False reassurance from in-clinic blood pressure readings
Start of transcriptDr. Stanfield’s clinic blood pressures—140 mmHg during medical school and 120 mmHg under the relaxant adazzylam—gave a false sense of security. Only after buying a home monitor did he find his true BP was 140–150 mmHg, hidden by a drug-induced low reading and outdated teaching.
Why this matters: Even a doctor fell for misleading measurements and now warns that single clinic readings can mask dangerous familial hypertension, especially in young, fit people.
In 2011, 140 mmHg was considered acceptable, but now BP targets are <120 mmHg. His relaxant-altered measurement mimicked normalcy, leading him to believe his family history hadn’t caught up with him.
Dr. Stanfield recounts how, as a second-year medical student in 2011, his classmates measured his BP at 140, which at the time was thought to be okay. Later, in 2013, a procedure under adazzylam (a benzodiazepine) gave a reading of 120 — a number that seemed to confirm all was well. He now realizes that the drug, like ‘a few pints of beer’, lowered his BP artifactually. Despite knowing his thin, fit family members still needed BP medications, he remained falsely reassured. When he finally followed his own advice and measured repeatedly at home, he was ‘horrified’ to see 140–150 mmHg, forcing him to confront his inherited hypertension and start drug therapy. This experience underscores the danger of relying on sporadic office readings and highlights the value of self-monitoring.
He himself admits he should have bought a home monitor years earlier and felt deep disappointment that he hadn’t practiced what he preaches. The revelation drove him to meticulously track and treat his BP.
I was horrified when I was measuring my blood pressure. So consistently, I was getting measurements at about 140 to 150.