The clinic says 126/78.

At home, your monitor keeps showing readings around 150/94.

Please do not let one normal clinic reading silence what appears to be happening during the rest of your day.

This pattern may be masked hypertension. Your blood pressure looks normal during the appointment but is repeatedly high at home.

First, make sure you are checking correctly. Use a validated upper-arm monitor with the correct cuff. Sit quietly before checking. Take two readings, one minute apart, and record both numbers.

Keep a record of the date and time. Take that record and your monitor to your healthcare professional. A 24-hour blood-pressure monitor may be recommended to confirm the pattern.

White-coat hypertension is the reverse. That is when blood pressure is high at the clinic but normal at home.

Do not change your medicine because of one reading.

And do not dismiss repeated high home readings because one clinic reading was normal.

Please share this with someone who has been told, “Your blood pressure was fine at the hospital, so there is nothing to worry about.”