Blood Pressure Monitor

sillyvixen

my mum has one from boots - she has white coat syndrome!! takes it to the docs each time and it reads as high as his (give or take a couple of MMHG) but her relaxed at home readings are much lower - i spent several month verifing daily!! - as a result the doc lets her moniter her own readings and he calculates her bp meds!! she does not moniter her bp when on hols so i was able to moniter my bp and prove to my docs that my hayfever meds were causing low bp (listed side effect) and get it changed - my mum has high bp - mine conversly is on the low side!

Jeff121

eyelinerprincess wrote: »

Doesn't it have to be quite tight though? Last time I was in hospital, it felt like the BP monitor was gonna squeeze my arm off! That was fun at 5am...

Yes it is pretty tight. The instructions for fitting the Cuff says "to get the correct tightness of the cuff, you should be able to fit two fingers under the cuff".
Even at that when it inflates it is pretty tight but I suppose it has to be as tight to get the blood pressure reading and it only lasts a few seconds so no pain, just a little discomfort for seconds.

Jeff121

sillyvixen wrote: »

my mum has one from boots - she has white coat syndrome!! takes it to the docs each time and it reads as high as his (give or take a couple of MMHG) but her relaxed at home readings are much lower - i spent several month verifing daily!! - as a result the doc lets her moniter her own readings and he calculates her bp meds!! she does not moniter her bp when on hols so i was able to moniter my bp and prove to my docs that my hayfever meds were causing low bp (listed side effect) and get it changed - my mum has high bp - mine conversly is on the low side!

I have been on mild BP medication for years however my BP has risen sharply over the past few months. I only heard about "White Coat Syndrome" last week, my sister in law is a nurse and she is the one who told me about it and suggested checking my BP at home.
I know that doctors are under pressure and mine cant get his patients in and out as quick as possible but I think that there should be more information even in the form of printed literature from the surgery as the doctor doesn't seem to have time to discus the problem. There's information in the user manual for the Lloyds BP Monitor that I didn't know about which could affect the reading.
To get an accurate value: Measure one hour after eating and avoid measuring immediately after bathing. Measure one hour after smoking or drinking alcohol or coffee. Relax for 10 - 20 minutes before taking a measurement and remain relaxed whilst measuring. Do not move or talk during measurement as this will affect the accuracy.
All that the doctor does when I go is check my BP, tells how dangerous high BP is, doubled my medication and told to lose weight, then see you in a month.
I don't smoke but do have a few cups of coffee in the morning just before going to the doctor...obviously this doesn't help the BP check but I only found this out through reading the instructions in the user manual of the Lloyds BP Monitor. I'm never relaxed prior to seeing the doc as parking at the surgery is always a problem and doctors and dentists tend to make me feel anxious!
I agree with you that checking BP at home for some people like your Mum and myself will show a more accurate measurement than that taken at the surgery, i.e. in a relaxed state.

keelykat

Hi again-i also suffer with white coat syndrome. Has taken ages to get my message across to various gps who quickly tak my bp in a rush, dont give me chance to relax etc and then tell me its high! My usual gp now does understand-he usually talks to me, fairly relaxed and tells me not to worry about a thing. he then takes it twice, with a five minute gap and it always goes down (although slightly higher then he wants still).

Last time i went, i saw a different gp who wouldnt take it again and we had a strange conversation about first putting my meds up and then coming off them altogether-i wont be seeing him again. he totally confused me and stressed me out!

Jeff121

Hi Keelykat

By the sound of what you said your Doctors Surgery is much like mine, some docs better and more understanding than others. There's two docs that I prefer but rarely manage to get an appointment with them as they are both so popular. Next appointment I will make sure that I get one of the two docs that I prefer even if I have to phone the surgery daily looking for an appointment. Some of the BP medications seem to be quite powerful in that there's a risk of kidney damage etc, I came off Perindopril 8mg daily for that reason and now on Amlodipine 10mg plus Bendroflumethiazide 2.5 mg per day, neither of those two have dangerous side affects (apparently?)