Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: present status and future directions



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I Suffer From 'white Coat' Syndrome, But Not Like Other People

I suffer from a strange medical syndrome. I've probably had it for most of my life. Still, I became aware of my syndrome only recently, when I felt a tingling in my lower legs.

The tingling persisted over several weeks, and I booked in to see a neurologist. Brain doctors are very busy, so I had to wait several more weeks to see him. The tingling was incredibly annoying, and I longed for it to stop.

My symptoms disappear when I see the doctor.Credit: iStock

I was extremely relieved when the day of the appointment finally arrived. The neurologist took a thorough history, and then asked me to describe the tingling.

I paused, and focussed on my legs. OK, I thought. That's weird. They felt completely normal. They hadn't felt normal yesterday, or any of the days before. I realised, with dismay, that the tingling had magically vanished that morning.

"Um…" I said awkwardly. The doctor waited. I felt like a hypochondriac fool. And then, to my even greater shame, I wished that the tingles would reappear.

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My medical syndrome has nothing to do with my tingling legs, and everything to do with what happened in the neurologist's office. You've probably heard of the "white coat" effect, in which a patient's blood pressure rises upon seeing a doctor. Well, I experience the opposite of that. When I see a specialist, my symptoms all but disappear.

If it happened once or twice, it would be a fluke, but this seems to be my regular pattern. Over the course of my life, I've experienced all sorts of medical issues, most of which have been witnessed by my GP. But when she writes me a referral, and I sit down with a specialist, my ailments are miraculously cured.

Now, I'll take a cure where I find it, and it would be well worth the price of the appointment just to feel better as I walk through the door. Unfortunately, though, the cure is never permanent. Whatever symptoms I experienced in the lead up to seeing the doctor inevitably relapse the moment I pay the bill.





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