Monitoring High Blood Pressure

[Calhoun113]

Curious about self monitoring BP at home. Never had to be concerned, but with Zytiga and Eligard side effects… just wondering. If so what manufacturer instruments? Any BP medication. Side effects from that? Thanks

[Calhoun113]

Thanks I’ll look into that.

[Tall_Allen]

I don't know how good the home devices are, but I do think its a good idea. The increase in BP from Zytiga, may be attributable to not enough prednisone. If BP is elevated, check your serum potassium - if low, you may need to increase prednisone slightly, or take eplerenone.

[Calhoun113 in reply to Tall_Allen]

Thanks—-

[Kaliber]

I’m using an Omron 10 series , but I’m sure there are many others just as good. I think they are less than $100. The sensors and circuitry of modern , higher end , bp testers are probably 5-8 years newer than most equipment in medical offices and bp monitors have come a long way baby. My tester registers between 8 and 10% accuracy when compared against a “ synthetic “ arm biomedical calibrator ( industry standard is 20% ) and seemed much tighter and more repeatable when compared against the machine in my GP’s office. I’m treating my changing bp at home along with my GP , changing my own meds , etc … and my GP wanted to make sure my machine wasn’t a POS. Xtandi Lupron has reeked havoc with my bp …. dealing with it has been tedious.

Testing : testing in sets of 3 , and three sets ( of three ) gives you the most accurate readings … most modern machines have that built in … the omicron does. IMHO , that 3 sets of three thing is way overkill and patiently unnecessary. One set of three is good. Just my observation , yours may vary.

My bp is extremely volatile and I have to sit for 20 minutes before I make my first test and every successive test drops a little, my body relaxing more …between tests.

Best bp tester hint ever ? : soooooo … a new kind of bp cuff has hit the market , its not the usual soft / with Velcro , roll up, cuff you most most frequently see …. This new cuff is rigid on the back , making a hard , more comfortable, surface on your arm . It takes less pressure to inflate this cuff. If you’ve ever grimaced and endured that “ hard “ painful squeeze ..on your arm … often causing unpleasant pain , esp when it reinflate ( when it didn’t pump hard enough initially ) then you’ll appreciate the FAR more comfortable hard back cuff. It’s so new that even my clinical nursing staff has never seen one. The Omron series 10 comes with one of these automatically but they can be purchased for about any machine ( on Amazon ) and are pretty universal.

❤️❤️❤️

[CAMPSOUPS in reply to Kaliber]

The Omron 10. I've had one for about 5 years. Averages readings and stores the readings which is handy if you need to show your Dr. some daily readings and forgot to write them down. And as an old Hospital Corps man I too impressed with the cuff.Its fairly analog. Which I like about it. However the reason I am late to post this is I looked it up on the internet earlier and it seems only available in the blue tooth wireless version now..price is higher.

So I kinda gave up on recommending but saw your post here. We both have the same one lol.

Mine looks like this but again its older so not wireless:

walgreens.com/store/c/omron...

[Kaliber in reply to CAMPSOUPS]

That’s a nice one with a console kind of appearance… and I see you also have the nice rigid back cuff I mentioned ( we sound like a commercial for omicron yayahahahaya ) . They are surprisingly smart, well built and accurate for OTC, just IMHO.

I need and use the Bluetooth feature every time I use the machine. ADT has turned my cardiac QRS train into kiddie scribble, and I use the Kardia home cardiac monitor every two days as requested by my GP. The Kardia home ekg strip has a great app , including interfacing with other devices. Both my omicron and the Kardia fit the newer standards for Bluetooth communication and the cardia app automatically links to my bp machine when I activate it ….and does analysis and record keeping I use in the clinic or sometimes message my GP. Even your omicron has a arrhythmia detection feature that lights up a led on the screen while taking bp.

It wasn’t all that long ago when machines like this ( there are many brands on Amazon ) cost well into the high $300s and were mediocre . prices have lowered steadily and quality improved a lot over recent times .

❤️❤️❤️

[marc_andersun]

I take my abiraterone in the early morning, about 3AM. I started mixing potassium in my bedside water thinking the abiraterone perhaps depletes the blood potassium soon after taking it, but I don’t know. It makes the water taste better in my opinion. When I first wake up my blood pressure is elevated by 15 to 20 points. I measure it with an Omron Platinum, which is a very nice $80 dollar machine.

I can get my blood pressure quite a bit lower if I do cardio after waking up. I am currently using a rowing machine, and getting my heart rate as high as 145 during rowing sprints.

The abiraterone really seems to mess with my sodium/potassium levels. I am on a really low sodium diet and that helps too.

Here's a llnk to a study that has good info about the hypertension problem with abiraterone:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[Kevinski65]

Atenolol

[tango65]

If you have an increase in the BP when taking abiraterone discuss increasing prednisone if taking 5 mg daily or adding eplerenone which block aldosterone (the hormone which increases during abiraterone administration and can cause hypertension edema, and hypokalemia).

Omron are reliable machines, but you need to check them. I check the Omron machine with a mercury sphygmomanometer (gold standard) .

A simpler way is to take the machine to your doctor visit and get it checked.

My experience with the Omron machines is that they are reliable if you take an average of 3 or more measurements.

[ARIES29]

I purchased one of the watches from Ebay & expected it to be rubbish but it works good & checked it in the hospital while they take blood pressure & heart rate & it was right on.It counts the steps every day & I try to keep above 2000. Brilliant bit of gear!

Do not buy the one that needs a phone connected to it.

[Muffin2019]

I had to take blood pressure meds, the drugs prompted me to see the symptoms, headaches and tiredness more than usual. Since on the medicine my BP is normal for my age and I had a watch to track everything but it died after getting a band fir it so ordered another one that looks better. Have not yet come but on the way , good rating but slow to dpship due to covid.

[Hidden]

I have 3 of these Omron meters (smile.amazon.com/gp/product.... I have 3 by accident... I bought one, my wife wanted her own so I bought another, I lost mine, bought a replacement, then my wife stopped using hers, and then I found my lost one. So now I have 3. They were highly rated by a consumer mag, and they agree closely with each other.

Something to note is that repeatability is far more important than accuracy. I could bore you with details and examples but in short, you can get an idea of the accuracy by simply taking it with you to your doctor, have them measure your BP and then use your monitor to measure your BP right away. Do that for a few visits and you should have a good idea of the offset. Factor in that offset (if any) when measuring at home. As long as it is repeatable, you're good.

Measure at the same time each day (preferably at night before bed). Sit still for a few minutes (some people need 10 or more minutes). Elevate your arm to at or slightly above heart level. You can also measure in the morning after getting up if you want. Hypertension is defined as BP that will not go low at any time. Since it is lowest in the night and early morning, you can check at that time. I like to measure mine before bed because that gives me a more realistic scenario. But it isn't the highest of the day, and I'm usually finished exercising 4 or more hours before measuring.

Kind of a neat tool if you are interested in this stuff. My heart rate stays elevated well after a weight session. It goes up higher during a high intensity cardio session but drops down a lot faster than a weight session. I calculated the supposed ongoing energy expenditure from HR increase only and it was clearly on the side of heavy weights. It's not this simplistic and heavy weights should increase BMR much more than cardio (in my case).

For Zytiga therapy, if changing your prednisone dose doesn't work for BP, I have found that HCTZ works for me. HCTZ is a simple diuretic and doesn't seem to make me fatigued like the normal BP meds do (my cardiologist put me on Losartan at one time - worked but I was sleepy half the time). I can get by with 12.5 mg a day of HCTZ.

[dixiedad]

My PCP tells me the wrist BPMs are notoriously inaccurate.She insists I use the one for upper arm. Kind of a pain to use, but more accurate.

[Grandpa4]

I use a Microlife device. I think it is always a good idea to compare the BP you get with any device with the BP you get at you physicians office or fire station. I am also on abiraterone and my BP is higher than it used to be but not quite high enough to be hypertensive. I am talking with a cardiologist that specializes in this in 4 hours. We’ll see if he puts me on anything.

[EdBar]

I use an Omron BP cuff at home to monitor. I’ve had it checked against the doctors machine during visits and found it to be very accurate. Both my GP and cardiologist accept the results I get from it. I then record the reading on my IPhone under vitals in the Health app. It makes it easy to review readings over time and during different times of the day.I’ve had high BP for years, and it’s always much higher in the doctors office, so I rely on home tests for a more realistic picture. I’ve been taking Xtandi for about 7 years now and it has made my BP more challenging to manage, but my GP seems to have it under control.

Ed

[winkoliu]

This is my experience , I took Zytiga and 5mg prednisone, the BP went up and then I took 10mg prednisone, the BP went back to normal. You can change prednisone to 0.5mg Dexamethasone, It would help.

[dhccpa]

My blood pressure has dropped (along with my weight) during the last three years (I started Lupron in November 2018, but made major lifestyle changes in July 2019). Last July, my BP dropped low enough that my GP stopped blood pressure medicine (low dose) for the first time since 2010. So ADT doesn't have to cause high(er) blood pressure.

[CAMPSOUPS in reply to dhccpa]

That's generally true of 1st line ADT but talking here about abiraterone specifically which despite lifestyle changes and abiraterone's effect on potassium and other metabolics has a potential to increase BP.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[dhccpa in reply to CAMPSOUPS]

He mentioned Eligard, which I've also had. I've never had Abi and enza.

[dhccpa]

I'd call that a ringing endorsement of your brand of wrist monitor.

[dhccpa]

Great that you have confidence in it. I always wonder about home BP monitors but generally they seem to be accurate.

[j-o-h-n]

Mine is a rectum type..... I insert it and after a few minutes when I remove it, it gives me a year to date readout on my thumb drive (and I literally mean thumb). I then insert my thumb in the thumb drive reader and wham-o it's uploaded to my p.c. Cool.......Why do you suppose people only fist bump with me? BTW the thumb drive comes in all colors except nut brown...

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Tuesday 05/24/ 2022 10:38 PM DST

[Poowater]

On Zytiga bp high. Now, off it go ideal.