Blood pressure and pain.

[Mannequin18]

Hi all, I just wondered if anyone experienced excruciating pain whilst taking their blood pressure.

I do, to the point of not wanting to do it, and it might also increase the readings.

I have PA and hypothyroidism, both autoimmune.

[buster_uk]

Do you mean pain in your arm as the cuff tightens?

[Mannequin18 in reply to buster_uk]

Yes, in my arm, really bad.

[lesbud1]

if it is because the cuff gets too tight it does get painful if it can not read it easily. it will be on a timer so should cut off eventually. you should be sat relaxed for about 5 mins before you take you BP and if you are worried about it hurting this could also increase your BP and then it might not be able to read it. I do know how you feel as I have often had serious pain when a BP can not be read. it can be a pulse that is weak or a pulse that is too fast or that a BP is low or high and not in its range. hope this helps

[Mannequin18 in reply to lesbud1]

Yes, thank you.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

I hate automatic BP monitors because I find them incredibly painful - so you certainly aren't alone - the cuff inflates too far so the pain starts and then the blood pressure goes up making them pretty useless devices in my case - beaten only by a totally incompetent GP who used a manual BP monitor but also overinflated the cuff to the point that the tube came out and then rather than releasing it left me there whilst he tried to insert the tube - to the point where the blood circulation had been cut off for so long I was suffering pins and needles.

You aren't alone though I think we are probably in the minority

[Mannequin18 in reply to Gambit62]

Thank you for your reply. I think I will get a wrist one.

[Deetha]

I used a wrist BP machine. It’s easy to use and most are quite accurate- I think there is only a 2% - 5% margin of error (both up and down). And I “white coat syndrome” in sight! I don’t like the arm cuff o e either... had to wear one for 24hrs and wanted to rip the darn thing off after 4😂

[Mannequin18 in reply to Deetha]

Thank you for your reply. I will try a wrist one in future. I can't bear the thought of doing a pressure test again, the pain is too much.

[Ryaan]

Yes I’ve always felt it, just never thought about it, and I thought it’s just me alone.

Does hurt !

[nkindia]

I regularly check my BP, infact every day. This has been going on for almost a year when I noticed that my bp was going up for no reason ( it used to be 130/90 without medication and then it went up to 180/110) Now, I have realized that this may have happened due to B12 deficiency where homosystine level goes up. I have started taking Amlodipine 5mg.

Anyway, I noticed that I never had any pain while checking my BP (I use cuff type) then lately I started noticing uncomfortable sensation when the cuff tightens. It's as if the blood supply is getting cut off. We can also check bp at the ankle. In fact doctors do that to find ankle/ brachial index ( which should be between 0.9 to 1.3) If you Google it you will get all the information.

[Mannequin18]

Thank you. I think that would be more comfortable.