I find I bruise and have awful pain when they use upper arm cuffs. So I bought wrist cuffs to a GP appointment. She said they’d have no problem in using them which is a great relief. The wee monitor is small enough to bring in to appointments.
I found that the pain probably affected the results too.
I wonder if they are using the right size cuff. There are different sizes.I know the Hypertension Society used to not recommend the wrist ones, worth checking on. Hope you get it sorted
They have two sizes and always try the bigger one for me. It seems obvious that if you have a series of readings on the same machine there’ll be consistency. So I’m mightily relieved my GP supported me.
The pressure from the cuff sends my fibromyalgia into overdrive. I cry out in pain and bp rockets. Not accurate for me.
Try the wrist cuff- I asked nurses in infusion to use lower arm, they checked with Duty dr and they said fine. The pain certainly drove up my bp
same here. I even take it to hospital with me! My gp calibrated it to check its accurate.
I use the wrist cuff and it's so much easier than battling to get it on the upper arm
Glad to hear this. If we use the same device it’ll show whether things are going up or down
It keeps me calmer- must be more accurate
I'm pleased to hear they are amenable to this.
They call me in as soon as I've arrived, on the bus, walked up the stairs to the clinic, squeeze my arm with the monitor so hard it hurts and then say "Your blood pressure is a bit high".
I'm not sure why they even check it in those circumstances tbh, unless you have high blood pressure that needs monitoring. The readings don't reflect my normal blood pressure and just cause a temporary spike - which, however they dismiss is as white coat hypertension, is still not great for your heart.
Exactly the same for me. I loathe having my BP checked in surgery - it hurts like hell and is always high. It’s way lower when I do the four-day observations at home, even using an arm cuff! I have a wrist cuff type as well so will compare results.
I had this problem it used to be agony. I asked GP to use bigger cuff and once a young GP used the cuff over my jumper that he creased into a lump so the cuff kept going up and down. He did say sorry but I'm quicker now to say stop.
wow, that is actually wrong, they shouldn't be using the cuff over clothing, clothing should be removed!
Pleased they’re ok with a wrist cuff for you. I always have raised BP at the GP’s for the same reason as others, the sheer effort of getting to the GP’s is the reason and I’ve told them so on several occasions. I find I arrive ten minutes early so it gives me a little time to gather myself but BP cuffs are painful so it’s never going to be an accurate result.
I end up in tears every time I have my blood pressure checked! My GP will not believe it is hurting me and speaks to me as if I am putting it on exaggerating! I warn him before hand but he just says it will be fine. To some GPs Lupus means lazy, drama Queen, hypochondriac. I get so annoyed because I really try to not complain but the pain is so bad. Doesn’t matter what size cuff it hurts.
I got bad bruising and photographed that but they were still there the next time I went so impressed the nurses to take me very seriously. Do no harm!!!
Request a different doctor or nurse, there is no need for your doctor to belittle you - he needs more training in patient care.
Wrist cuffs have gone a long way, and are much more accurate now. Most of the gps at my surgery use them. I use both my arm and wrist occasionally to compare, and the results are very similar.
I had a very unpleasant experience with a health care assistant taking my blood pressure at my GP surgery. She did almost everything wrong. She chatted to me the whole time, I wasn't sitting in the right position, I wasn't asked to relax for 5 minutes before hand, she did it over clothing, repeated it three times on the same arm causing pain and bruising (painful for a couple of days afterwards) and didn't twig that there was something wrong when each time the blood pressure reading went up massively!
I have told my GP that I will never ever allow my blood pressure to be taken with a digital machine in the surgery again. Those machines have algorithms in them and like any other algorithm, they can hallucinate. Yep, if the machine doesn't get the reading it thinks it should, it basically makes it up.
Here is some research that shows how bad the practice is, but it also shows what they should be doing that most don't.
pesquisa.bvsalud.org/portal...
I have an academic acquaintance (she teaches at a medical school) who ended up in A&E. They took her blood pressure with one of these machines and it was over 200. they said they had to give her an injection or she would die. She told them that she has very low blood pressure, they had to use a manual one. Arguments ensued. Eventually they gave in and found a manual one and sure enough she had really low blood pressure.
If they had given her the injection she could have died.
We need to use patient pester power and make sure our clinicians are taking our blood pressure correctly.
I had a ulnar nerve transposition on my left elbow and they always insist on doing the blood pressure on my left arm which is excruciating- my right arm is not good either and it’s so painful on that arm as well - so I think I’ll ask about the wrist reader
My husband. mentioned to our GP that we had a wrist monitor and his response was put it in the bin!
well a lot of health professionals disagree.
I prefer the wrist cuff too. I find the arm cuff absolutely excruciating!
That's good that you have found something that you can take with you when you go to the drs darling xxxxx
I was so relieved and wanted to share. Hope you’re not uncomfortable and recovering xxx
I found Omron do a fixed cuff one that doesnt pinch and bruise as much. The worst cuffs are on the 24 holter monitor ones.☹️
BP arm cuffs hurt me too so I've had several different high readings on many occasions. When in hospital having a knee replacement operation the nurse put it on my good leg ankle to get my reading!? Was great & didnt hurt!?
Yes they explored that with me
I bought an OMRON wrist cuff device and it gave me accurate results that corresponded with the GP one. It links to my phone so I can see my results over time. I can also print out a report to give to the surgery when they request home readings. My blood pressure has been about the only thing that has been good all my life, despite being overweight. The Rheummy nurse suggested I keep an eye on it when I began taking Leflunomide.
Wrist blood pressure (BP) machines are accurate to within -2.5 to 3.5mmHg of upper arm BP machines and achieve correct BP classification in over 80% of people compared to ambulatory BP monitoring. Ref: Oxford COVID-19 Evidence Service Team Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford.
But they do need to be positioned at heart level. If the arm is dangling down you may get a falsely raised reading.
Hi, Cathie! I have heavy upper arms and depending on who takes my BP, it can hurt to the point where I want to scream just as it finally deflates. Good to know about the wrist cuffs. Thank you.
I hope you get somewhere. Strikes me as something that needs sorting! THey go on enough about being calm when you have bp done and sorting this would really help.
Be calm? After you’ve waited a half hour or longer, struggle as you walk into the office, and with heart pounding, they immediately take the BP? Definitely, something needs sorting! 😊
I’m not criticising the nurses here - I usually get to sit down, a wee chat and bp responds. If it’s unusually high we do something else then try again. My main problem has be the cuffs and I can now see a solution
Thanks for this Cathie.......I end up with circular bruises on my arm every time. Have you used them successfully as an inpatient?
I’ve only attended as outpatient but my ( young femaleGP) says they use them in the surgery although I’ve never seen them routinely. It can’t be right to be left with bruises like we have and I’d be surprised if it didn’t affect our bp. X
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