bp monitor?

[rabialiones]

urgently needed , any recommendations welcome
thanks

[Ted_Hutchinson]

Lloyds pharmacy £9.99 (http://www.lloydspharmacy.com/home-page/whats-new/lloydspharmacy_fully_automatic_blood_pressure_moni tor.htm)

I've found this to be very good. I bought it because I cannot resist a bargain and I felt I ought to check my levels.
I thought it must be reading a bit high so asked to have the readings I was getting checked when I next visited my doctor. Those readings simply confirmed the accuracy of the Lloyds monitor, so I've had to do something about it.

Vitamin D status, which is amenable to intervention by safely increasing sun exposure or vitamin D supplementation, was associated inversely with BP (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17586404&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_RVDocSum)

Plasma 25(OH)D levels are inversely associated with risk of incident hypertension. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17372031&ordinalpos=9&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_RVDocSum) It's cheap and easy to raise your Vitamin D3 status, either by getting 20minutes direct exposure to sunshine as regularly as possible or by taking an EFFECTIVE amount of Vitamin D3 Cholecalciferol.

[keelykat]

Hi, i also brought one from lloyds-however when my nurse found out she went mad at me for using one myself! (oh and i wonder why my bp suddenly went up...oh yes i saw a nurse who had a go at me, made me cry and i ended up walking out!) She told me she was annoyed with people attempting to do this at home by themselves, as they either kept checking it too often and ended up worrying too much etc and bp went up, or they hurt themselves trying to put the strap around their arm (too tight etc-causes bruising).

Do you have high bp?

I brought mine, as i have problems with mine and so thought it'd be a good idea to keep a check on it-see if it is any higher or lower at different times of day....as i felt stressed going to docs on an evening, when i was hungry-which gave me a headache and i felt really emotional when she was lecturing me. I only wanted to check mid afternoon, when i am most relaxed...but she still went mental at me! mad woman!

keely.

ps-i stopped checking, stopped worrying and just visited my doctor (instead of nurse) on a regular basis (because it was high). Thing's have calmed down now, but i refuse to see that nurse again.

[keelykat]

Oh, i forgot to say low bp is as dangerous as high!

keely.

[Ted_Hutchinson]

Bpassoc (http://www.bpassoc.org.uk/) has useful information on blood pressure.

If I hadn't checked my BP myself I wouldn't have been aware that I had a problem.

I did double check that the readings I was getting on my £9.99 Lloyds BP monitor were accurate. They were.

I did something about it to lower them so I no longer had any readings that came up as red on the BPASSOC exel spreadsheet.

It's my opinion that the Nurse who you saw was totally out of order. I believe most readers of this forum are perfectly capable of using a home BP monitor and adjusting diet/activity levels to adjust any high readings they may record. They will also know if they need to see their GP ASP as well.

[keelykat]

Yes-she was out of order. I complained to my doctor about her, i told him i wouldn't be seeing her again for any reason. when he asked why-i told him how nasty she was to me. Luckily my doctor did not have a go at me, or lecture me as if i was a small child. im not a stupid person, so she really upset me.

I wasn't trying to put anyone off buying a bp monitor-just sharing my experience. A family friend uses one, and her doctor thinks it is a great idea!

keely.