Re: David Cohen - blood pressure cuff advice?


"Ranieri" <nah> wrote
> "spodosaurus" <spodosaurus@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote
>> I need to start monitoring my blood pressure at home. It was 150/100 on
>> friday, my highest ever. If it goes any higher we're going to have to
>> put me on more medication to lower it. Given my platelet count, I'm
>> really not liking having blood pressure this high. My doctors were
>> worried about bleeding with blood pressure increses during exercise
>> before all these treatments when my blood pressure was 100/60, so I'm
>> REALLY not comfortable at this point and I need more than a bi-weekly
>> reading in the doctor's office (I'm in for blood tests twice weekly, but
>> the nurses are often too busy to take my blood pressure). So: what
>> should I look for in buying a blood pressure cuff for home? They have
>> these automatic ones that cost about $100 dollars here, available from
>> most pharmacies. I haven't had very good luck with the digital
>> thermometers sold at pharmacies, though, so I thought I'd ask around a
>> bit before buying the cuff (but only a little bit, I need to get this
>> thing soon if only for psychological relief).
>
> Well, I'm not David, but I do own a home sphygmometer (an impressive word
> to
> work into a conversation).

Impressive only if you spell and pronounce it correctly: sphygmomanometer. A
sphygmometer would actually be a device to measure pulse only, like a heart
rate monitor.

> It's an Omron HEM-703CP, which has been accurate.
> They do recommend bringing it into your doctor's office to calibrate.
> http://www.drbloodpressure.com/self-measurement/blood-pressure-5.shtml

OMG, you must be my long lost twin brother! I use a LifeSource UA-767, but
Omron's good, too. And checking it against a mercury column sphygmothingie
used by an experienced nurse-like person is excellent advice.

And you want the fully automatic kind, the ones that don't require you to do
anything but push a button.

Check your BP twice a day. Keep it next to your bed, and check it upon
waking before you even sit up. This one will be the most consistently
accurate, and is like a resting heart rate in significance. Then check it
once during the day, after exertion and a few minutes rest. This gives a
measurement of recover ability. It should ideally get close to resting
diastolic after a little rest. How close it gets to resting systolic is very
variable.

David


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