There is a beat to beat variation in pressure in atrial fibrillation as the heart volume output will vary due to the irregular heart contraction. As such ther is some difficulty in measuring blood pressure and prior to 2012 the automatic machines were inaccurate and not recommended
Newer machines need to be designated as suitable, so check yours is. They will have an algorithm to average the reading over a few beats.
Your target home bp should average 135/85 ( U.K. Nice guidance) if you are under 80 years of age and so your readings are not far off that and given there are only 3, this seems ok.
I would suggest you take your readings over a few weeks and repeat the reading in 5 minutes if it is above your target.
The beauty of home bp monitoring is that you can see the effect of lifestyle factors on your bp and would usually be able to explain the variation. In addition if you lose weight, reduce salt or take up meditation, you can see the effect of this and thus minimise your medication.
You need to know the alarm limits of your machine to interpret the meaning of the "high red" comment. Ideally you would want to set this to your own target levels.
A major factor in variation can be positioning of the cuff and arm relaxation/position, so check this is correct.
Your GP s comments sound appropriate, but hopefully you will become the expert in managing your own blood pressure. Over treatment may result in dizziness and falls, so you want to get it just right.
I've just spotted your previous posts and see you have been on and off diuretics. They will lower your blood pressure, so you should notice the change with restarting them.
There is no reason why you should limit it to when you are not in af. It would be interesting for you to know your rate and bp reading when you're in af as well, but check your monitor is designated accurate with af.
Since you also have heart failure I'm pleased you are also monitoring your weight.
Golfish_ In the USA the blood pressure is recommended to be 120/80 or a bit lower ex. 110/70 butnot too low Why the difference between the 2 countries' recommendations do you think?
Goldfish_ Yes I have 43 science journal references. You can find them on page 41--42 of Life Extension magazine November 2016 issue. This can be found on the web at LifeExtension.com search for "why 24 hour blood pressure control matters"
I couldn't get this journal to load, but it looks like an alternative rather than standard medicine journal, so not one that doctors would regard as good science. It seems to be a commercial company selling nutritional supplements .
There maybe lots of references but are any of these in major peer reviewed journals?
The American Society for Hypertension guidelines are the ones that USA doctors will respect and use
Goldfish_ 1)New England Journal of Medicine:20103629170;1575-85
2)new england journal of medicine 2015;373(22);2103--16
3)Circulation 2007;115(21);2761-88 This is C. Rosendorff et al; "Treatment of hypertension iin the prevention and management of ischemic heart disease : a scientific statement from The American Heart Association Council for High Blood Pressure Research and Councils on Clinical Cardiology , Epidemiology and Prevention
4)Journal of Hypertension:2003;21(4);651-63;by J. Chalmers et al. (ISH) InternationAL sOCIETY OF hYPERTENSION.- statement on blood pressure lowering and stroke prevention.
5)Dtcsch Med Wochenschr:2005: 130(46);2657--61:
M.Hausberg et al;" Large artery wall properties what is relevant for the classic management of hypertension?"
6)Atherosclerosis:2015:239(2)375--85:H.Kurokawa et al:"Telmisarten enhances mitochondrial activity and alters cellular functions in human coronary artery endothelial cells via AMP-activated protein kinase pathways.
6)World Journal of Pharmacy and PharmaCEUTICAL sCIENCE:2015: 4(1);:1248--57; M.A. Laskar et al. "Insilico screening of some plant based products as angiotensin receptor blockers against cardiovascular diseases"
I have about 300 articles . I am not going to type them all in. There is a vast amount of available research, if you care to look for it on the internet. If you prefer to keep your blood pressure at something like 140/90 or higher, have fun. If you do not believe that highblood pressure such as this is slowly remodeling your heart and arteries into an unfavorable direction--and is creating endothelial dysfunction- and raising angiiotensin II and other infolammatory biomarkers--and you do not believe any natural substances and lower the ill effects of too much inflammatory interleukins, cytokiines and others, then have enven more fun have more fun later. If you choose to ignore science and how it is that the human body works--remember you have medical insurance or are in a country with free medical care for your diseases--so your diseases' treatments will be paid for. I am concentrating on disease prevention, health longevity, etc.
I didn't mean to upset, but these will be your personal targets based on research articles rather than the national targets, but I fully understand your wish to go for the lower levels.
In the U.K. there are clear national target numbers on which all audits are based. I get the impression things are less didactic in the USA.
goldfish_ You did not upset me. What are audits? Every doctor I have seen in the usa, general family dr., cardiologist, electro- physiologist etc has told me my bp should be 120/80---115/75. The way the human body works is it remodels itself every second you are alove, It is just a matter of if it goes in a good or bad direction,. As for your ignoring the scientific studies--the ones I sent you ref. to are from many countries- and as to not looking at any research yourself--I would say you are just playing a mind game--where you present an alleged probleem then ignore all scientific evidence for the solution ---this is not a cardiological problem--just a psychological one. It is often used by people who do not know or want to know anything..
goldfish_ My comment sounded like this was my question BUT I meant a criticism of whoever told you high (above 180/20) is okay, because I was concerned about what will happen to those with this high blood pressure , as I know, based on how the human body functions what will happen. In the USA as well there are doctors who have given me advice which, if i had followed their instructions< i would have been severly ill or dead. It pays to know enough to be able to figure out whether or not you should listen to your doctor. Unfortunately this involves a bit of work, which sometimes feels like you are inschool and should be getting a certificate or a final exam, but is well worth the effort in improved health and avoiding the so called "diseases of aging":--(which, by the way are really deficiencies that can be avoided). You may want to do some reading on your own Try google scholar, and also anti-aging firewalls.colm--also uptodate.com (pay for it ).
If you were in Germany and went to a doctor who saw high blood presure ( above 120/80), the doctor would give you some natural substances to lower bp before trying meds and would also give you a battery of blood tests to test the levels of stress hormones, sex hormones and a complete thyroid panel. If any of these is out of wack they are corrected before using rx. meds. Most people over a certian age tend to be hypothroid anyway. This is a much more intelligent approach, as it keeps you healthy longer..
I started this post and it has now been hijacked i keep getting your replies...please start another post with the persons name you wish to converse with
MY GP who is excellent told me to take it twice five minutes apart and discount the first one. I do a seven day three times a day chart for her every six months this way. I always use the same arm (left ) because my right always has a higher reading. I suspect your first reading is in error if it really was 98 and not 78 but otherwise they look in range.
I think we all get a bit OCD about BP and for sure the guidelines have been steadily dragged down for the last twenty years or more. They used to say 100+ your age over 90 but would freak out at that these days and would ideally like us at less than 130/80 from my experience.
According to a speaker yesterday at HRC weight is more important as reducing this reduces BP and AF. And they put Mars Bars out in the lunch kit. lol
Yes, they have dragged the parameters down. When I was pregnant (30 years ago) 150/90 was considered acceptable. They only got worried if the bottom figure went over 100.
You say 30 years ago but 2 years ago when I was in the coronary unit they kept me in until my BP bottom figure was under 100 so not much changed there!
Nowadays with the better monitors they automatically do three trading s with a gap of about 15 seconds in-between and if one of those has "issues" or "discrepancies" or hits out of range limits it does a fourth!!!
Just think - if they stuck to this at every hospital and GP appointment, they would never get through all the patients! This is why I always take my own BP and show the results to the doctor.
It all makes it very difficult for the patient. Making lifestyle changes such as losing weight or modifying diet is fine. If a lowering of the BP is the result, medication may not then be required.
When should a patient accept medication? BP varies naturally. Too little seems to be done to find out the cause of high BP in individual cases, the doctors just throw medication at it.
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