Home BP Monitoring

[clatow23]

Hi, all. I bought an upper arm blood pressure monitor which I took an appointment with the practice nurse last week to have checked for accuracy and the readings from my monitor and her manual were pretty close so she's happy it's accurate

Now I'm keeping a check on it at home after being put on a new medication and I am wondering if about the best way to do this

I sat at the kitchen table, feet flat on a footstep as I'm too short to put my feet on the ground. Arm flat on the table

I sat at the table for 5 minutes and then took my first reading. Waited 5 minutes and took the second reading and waited 5 minutes before taking a third reading

I got:

154/90 pulse 102

147/85 pulse 97

148/88 pulse 96

If I average the three I get 149/87 and pulse 98. Would that be the correct way to do it? Average the three and mark that as the reading?

[RufusScamp]

Sounds good to me, but I am no expert. I have a home monitoring kit, and usually it agrees with professional readings. A one-off reading is not as good as an averaged set as far as I can see. Can you talk to your cardio team?

[Splodge60]

An added suggestion is to take it once in sitting position Wait a couple of mins and then stand up and take it again I find that doing that once a day is enough and then just average them over the week Good luck

[JennyRx in reply to Splodge60]

I’m not sure I understand the logic of a standing reading The professionals always ask you to sit with feet on the floor and wait 5-10 minutes. That’s how I was trained to take bp.

[Buddy00 in reply to JennyRx]

When I was in the cardiac ward they mainly took BP readings while sitting or laying down but several times they took it in a standing position.

[Hidden in reply to JennyRx]

Iirc it’s done to check for postural drop in BP.

[Cat04]

Exactly as I was told to do it by the practice nurse. Well done!

[Hidden]

I have a home bp kit as well but I’ve always been told to take the bo when sitting and rested for 5 mins .

[Brixcos]

In hospital, once a week they took three readings - sitting, standing and lying down. It's for postural drop as someone said earlier.

[ShortSea]

By my understanding you are doing it right. Keep it up!

[seasider18]

I always put something over the screen so that I'm not watching what it is doing.

[gladliz in reply to seasider18]

I close my eyes and concentrate on my breathing.

[Mikedabike]

I have to stress that I have no medical training whatsoever. I used a blood pressure monitor for a period of time after my AVR. However I found that over time I almost became too dependant on the readings and began to worry too much if my readings varied slightly. Depending on your condition I guess it may be beneficial or even very important to check your BP. I did learn one thing though from a nurse friend of mine. For a proper set of readings, you should take readings in both arms, and also seated and standing. This naturally makes the whole process longer, but helps to identify things such as postural changes in your BP.