Whatever your circumstance, measure your blood pressure at home. Let those measurements, which you will write down over a period of a week, be the number provided to the doctor for him to interpret and use in making a decision on medication. Do not use the measurement in the doctor’s office.
Oh and one other step in this process is to take your blood pressure measuring device into the office and be sure that it reads the same, which will probably be quite high. And it will be higher than you’ve ever seen it before at home.
Those machines never read as accurately as a well trained physician with a sphygnomanometer. Of course you can’t find a an actual by God well trained GP with a geiger couneter.
I have white coat syndrome. My BP is always high in the Dr. office. I always insist they redo it before I leave, which is then usually closer to normal.
“Do not use the measurement in the doctor’s office.”
I do as you suggest and take my BP at home for the week prior to an exam.
They call this, ‘White Coat Syndrome’ and many people are so psyched about a doctor appointment that your blood pressure DOES rise!
When mine was first recorded as high, I refused all meds, other than a water pill. At the time when mine was high, I had just sold my beloved farm, moved to a bigger farm with more work, my Dad was dying from cancer and we were in the throes of CovidBS-19.
Yeah - no wonder why my blood pressure was elevated! Yeesh!
I’m at normal levels now that my life has evened out again.