Do you have good BP measurement technique?

[Lsbcal]

Even at my doc's office, the blood pressure measurement technique they use is suspect. I have read that to take BP measurements one should:

1) Sit in a chair with your back supported and both feet flat on the ground
2) Your arm must be supported so that the upper arm is horizontal and at the level of your heart. One can use a pillow to get the arm raised.
3) You should not have eaten for 1/2 hour and should have been awake at least an hour.
4) Do not speak or move while the measurement is taken.

On myself I have found that getting the arm in the horizontal position lowered the Diastolic (2nd number) into the "good" range.

There are some other recommendations here: https://www.suntechmed.com/blog/ent...ctors-that-can-affect-blood-pressure-readings

 

[W2R]

Well, I guess not!

I take my BP every Saturday morning, just to keep tabs on it. But, I take it less than an hour after awakening, with my feet up on an ottoman. Guess I need to make some changes.

At my doctor's office, they are always asking me difficult and disturbing questions that I have to answer and ask questions back about, while my BP is being taken, plus they are taking my temperature in my ear and more while the BP machine is measuring my BP. All the talking and asking of questions at that time almost seems purposeful since they never do it except then. There is no way I can even begin to relax there while my BP is being taken, and it is always higher there than it is at home.

 

[RunningBum]

Good info. I didn't know the part about the upper arm. I went from 82 to 74 but supported it basically parallel (maybe too high?) rather than having my elbow at barely about my belly button.


I've also found that if I've fasted for a blood test, my BP will be a lot higher. I have an Omron monitor that I use at home so I don't rely on Dr office monitoring alone.

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

What I do is stand up. I use my left arm and put the arm cuff on. I lay my left arm down on the dresser, which is chest height with my right arm laying at my side. I take my blood pressure. It seems to work fine for me. YMMV

 

[MRG]

Even at my doc's office, the blood pressure measurement technique they use is suspect. I have read that to take BP measurements one should:

1) Sit in a chair with your back supported and both feet flat on the ground
2) Your arm must be supported so that the upper arm is horizontal and at the level of your heart. One can use a pillow to get the arm raised.
3) You should not have eaten for 1/2 hour and should have been awake at least an hour.
4) Do not speak or move while the measurement is taken.

On myself I have found that getting the arm in the horizontal position lowered the Diastolic (2nd number) into the "good" range.

There are some other recommendations here: https://www.suntechmed.com/blog/ent...ctors-that-can-affect-blood-pressure-readings

DO NOT repeat the measurement in the same arm within 5 minutes of the prior test! It will be skewed!

 

[RunningBum]

DO NOT repeat the measurement in the same arm within 5 minutes of the prior test! It will be skewed!

Because of the squeezing by the cuff? 5 minutes needed to recover from that? I think I took them about 2 minutes apart. The upper number was identical.

 

[W2R]

Well, I guess not!

I take my BP every Saturday morning, just to keep tabs on it. But, I take it less than an hour after awakening, with my feet up on an ottoman. Guess I need to make some changes.

I just took it with those changes made, and it was 109/75. Last Saturday morning, it was 109/71. Oh well; either is probably OK and shows my BP meds are working.

Like RunningBum, I use an Omron monitor and I think it is pretty good.

 

[bingybear]

just checked mine 105/61. Is that good or bad?

 

[MRG]

Because of the squeezing by the cuff? 5 minutes needed to recover from that? I think I took them about 2 minutes apart. The upper number was identical.

Not sure on the why. I was doing that and both the EMT's and my PCP's nurse said that. On me the second reading will be 20-30 lower on both numbers.

 

[MRG]

just checked mine 105/61. Is that good or bad?

It's good, perhaps a little in the lower side. I don't think there's a numerical value for low BP. If you stand up quickly do you faint? No? It's ok!

 

[Philliefan33]

just checked mine 105/61. Is that good or bad?

Good, unless you get dizzy when moving from standing to sitting.

My BP is usually around 108/60. Sometimes it falls as low as 90/50. I can usually tell when it's that low because I get dizzy when I stand up, and for me it's usually because I am dehydrated. Getting some water in me solves the problem.

We have an Omron that DH uses to monitor his BP. He was not happy that it was measuring his BP at 150 over something, and insisted that the monitor was reading 20-30 points high. Until our DD (the cardiac nurse) pointed out that if the monitor is consistently high, dear mom (me) is often on the verge of death in the evening when I sit for a while and my BP measures at 95/60.

 

[MRG]

Good info. I didn't know the part about the upper arm. I went from 82 to 74 but supported it basically parallel (maybe too high?) rather than having my elbow at barely about my belly button.


I've also found that if I've fasted for a blood test, my BP will be a lot higher. I have an Omron monitor that I use at home so I don't rely on Dr office monitoring alone.

I didn't know that either and it's good to go from 140/91 to 121/72! DW had similar results.

 

[bingybear]

I haven't got dizzy for a while. Before the pacemaker I got a bit light headed because the ventricles were not always getting the signals to contract. The PM fixed that and the light headed feeling. I don't feel much from BP variation.

 

[audreyh1]

Even at my doc's office, the blood pressure measurement technique they use is suspect. I have read that to take BP measurements one should:

1) Sit in a chair with your back supported and both feet flat on the ground
2) Your arm must be supported so that the upper arm is horizontal and at the level of your heart. One can use a pillow to get the arm raised.
3) You should not have eaten for 1/2 hour and should have been awake at least an hour.
4) Do not speak or move while the measurement is taken.

On myself I have found that getting the arm in the horizontal position lowered the Diastolic (2nd number) into the "good" range.

There are some other recommendations here: https://www.suntechmed.com/blog/ent...ctors-that-can-affect-blood-pressure-readings

They usually (but not always) have me sitting in a chair with a back and my feet can reach the floor. They usually at least hold my arm up it there is not a rest for it. It's been a long time since I sat at the end of the examination table with my feet dangling and arms down.

They always blow the 5 minutes sitting quietly requirement, and the do no move or speak while measuring requirement.

I use an Omron monitor and have it set to average three readings.

At home I sit in a chair at a table. I rest my arm on something on top of the table so it's approx heart level. I relax for 5 mins, then I run the monitor and stay still and quiet, breathing easily during the measurement.

 

[CRLLS]

DO NOT repeat the measurement in the same arm within 5 minutes of the prior test! It will be skewed!

Funny that my Omron BP monitor (BP786N)has one setting that will take 3 consecutive readings and average them out. It does drop slightly, maybe 3 or 4 points with each measurement.

So I just had to look. Here is one data point form the NIH comparing 10 sec- 1 min- and average BP readings:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2941726/

The analyses were performed using the second–third HBP readings. The average systolic BP/diastolic BP for the 10-s and 1-min intervals at home were 136.1 ±15.8/77.5 ±9.5 and 133.2 ±15.5/76.9 ±9.3 mmHg (P = 0.001/0.19 for the differences in systolic BP and diastolic BP), respectively. The 1-min BP readings were significantly closer to the average of awake ambulatory BP (131 ±14/79 ±10 mmHg) than the 10-s interval readings. There was no significant difference in patients’ compliance in taking adequate numbers of readings at the different time intervals.

I don't see a significant difference in 3 or even 5mmHg . I am tracking home BP to see trends, not taking clinical measurements.

 

[audreyh1]

Not sure on the why. I was doing that and both the EMT's and my PCP's nurse said that. On me the second reading will be 20-30 lower on both numbers.

Well my machine averages three readings so the cuff inflates and deflates three times with 30 secs between each reading.

So I don't know what to think about that! Never read any problems about averaging multiple readings.

Funny that my Omron BP monitor (BP786N)has one setting that will take 3 consecutive readings and average them out. It does drop slightly, maybe 3 or 4 points with each measurement.

So I just had to look. Here is one data point form the NIH comparing 10 sec- 1 min- and average BP readings:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2941726/

Thanks. I think I'll switch mine to 1 minute between readings.

 

[Lsbcal]

My Samsung unit is several years old. I just ordered an Omron shown here:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KPQB2NS/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Maybe I'll get better (lower) readings with the new unit? If not, I'll return it and get one that does give me better readings.

 

[audreyh1]

I have the Omron BP786. I replaced an older much used Omron that I was having repeatability problems with, so I decided to go with an averaging monitor.

 

[LOL!]

Any reading is not that accurate nor precise which is kind of shown by the standard deviations of between 10 and 15 quoted earlier in this thread by CRLLS.

One should not worry about getting a good reading. However, one should worry about having high blood pressure that multiple readings over many days do not tell you about.

 

[candrew]

Even at my doc's office, the blood pressure measurement technique they use is suspect. I have read that to take BP measurements one should:

1) Sit in a chair with your back supported and both feet flat on the ground
2) Your arm must be supported so that the upper arm is horizontal and at the level of your heart. One can use a pillow to get the arm raised.
3) You should not have eaten for 1/2 hour and should have been awake at least an hour.
4) Do not speak or move while the measurement is taken.

5) Try not to think about the digital prostate exam

 

[Alan]

Well my machine averages three readings so the cuff inflates and deflates three times with 30 secs between each reading.

So I don't know what to think about that! Never read any problems about averaging multiple readings.


Thanks. I think I'll switch mine to 1 minute between readings.

A few weeks ago at the doctors he took my BP 3 times in succession, waiting a full minute between each reading. He then waited another minute and had me stand up quickly before taking it again. This confirmed that my BP drops significantly when I stand up. A week later at the arrhythmia clinic, among the tests they did, they repeated the standing up quickly BP measurement and again confirmed a significant drop.

 

[Lsbcal]

I have the Omron BP786. I replaced an older much used Omron that I was having repeatability problems with, so I decided to go with an averaging monitor.

Thanks, I did not notice the averaging feature. I'll get the BP786 instead.

 

[Lsbcal]

A few weeks ago at the doctors he took my BP 3 times in succession, waiting a full minute between each reading. He then waited another minute and had me stand up quickly before taking it again. This confirmed that my BP drops significantly when I stand up. A week later at the arrhythmia clinic, among the tests they did, they repeated the standing up quickly BP measurement and again confirmed a significant drop.

What does a drop in BP when you stand up imply? My wild guess is that would be a good sign.

 

[Alan]

What does a drop in BP when you stand up imply? My wild guess is that would be a good sign.

It was the reason I blacked out and fell. We’ve done exercise classes for years and after a long period on the floor the instructor would often say , stand up slowly if you have low BP. Never really expected to have it ever happen to me, although it didn’t happen in class. It happened one evening after sitting in the recliner for a couple of hours. Stood up quickly to do something and woke up as I hit the coffee table

 

[Senator]

5) Try not to think about the digital prostate exam

LOL. I can remember thinking that was a computer test of the prostate.