Blood pressure changes?*

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Just to step back a minute to the original post, I work in Calgary at about 3400 ftASL but I live in Bellingham close to sea level. My blood pressure is consistently higher in Calgary than in Bellingham, mostly the diastolic, year-round.

It could be
a) the altitude difference,
b) the low humidity vs the higher humidity,
c) the stress associated with working vs living at home,
d) what I eat in the two places.

Dunno.

I might point out that I have learned to not accept stress in my life. Years ago I had a staff job with high stress. I learned anger management and that helped me enormously. Then I got laid off and my blood pressure dropped way down. Now a contractor, I do not let stuff bother me. If everything goes to hell, I know I can retire in Mexico.

[W2R]

That's really odd, oldtrig. It sounds like your BP has been high everywhere except when measured at your present doctor's office.

Who measures BP at your doctor's office? Maybe you need to ask your doctor to measure it himself instead of leaving it to his staff.

[TromboneAl]

Quote:

I know this is a long post and I apologize but would like to have an opinion on what others think I should do.

You should stop measuring your blood pressure. Ha ha just kidding.

What did the doctor say was going on? I've also seen a range of readings in the past.

[oldtrig]

TromboneAl, that was I have done. I quit checking it. I feel good and will not worry about it but just wondering if anyone else might have had this problem and what they did about it. I turn 63 this year and I am still here
W2R. I agree it is odd. The doctor has checked it himself and it was good. Really strange. Maybe I need to be on meds for it. Oldtrig

[zinger1457]

Went through a recent physical exam for work and found out that the size of the cuff they wrap around your arm can also make a difference. I've never had an issue with HBP but when the nurse took the first reading it was much higher than normal and I told her so. She explained that the cuff size can make a difference and changed out the cuff with a narrower one, took my blood pressure again and it was normal. First time I ran into this, didn't even realize they had different sizes for patients.

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zinger1457 Went through a recent physical exam for work and found out that the size of the cuff they wrap around your arm can also make a difference. I've never had an issue with HBP but when the nurse took the first reading it was much higher than normal and I told her so. She explained that the cuff size can make a difference and changed out the cuff with a narrower one, took my blood pressure again and it was normal. First time I ran into this, didn't even realize they had different sizes for patients.

Generally the problem is using too small a cuff, with switching to a larger cuff resulting in a lower reading. The cuffs have markings to determine if they are the right size.