My BP is going up and down all over the place. Last night I took two readings at around 7.30pm and had 117/70 (left arm) and 120/73 (right arm).
This morning I took another two readings at 7.30 am and had 158/91 (left arm) and 169/79 (right arm)
I always seem to get a lower reading from the left arm...
I should add that I take my pred at around 6.00-6.30am with breakfast and also have two cups of coffee in the morning which may or may not influence the readings, but the readings do seem to be rather extreme to me in the way they fluctuate, and the fluctuations seem to follow the same daily pattern.
Pred induced HBP enhanced by the coffee I wonder, and returning to a more normal reading as the pred decays over time..?🤔
I've just arrived at 6.0mg pred (on DL's 5 week taper) and feel quite stable if this is relevant, and my pulse rate is usually in the low to mid 60s.
The first reading you quote is a quite normal difference, Everyone's BP fluctuates over the day and should be at its lowest overnight before rising towards the time you get up. More informative would be your BP before you have your breakfast with the confounder of the coffee. And what does it do for the rest of the day? Do you take a single reading or repeat ones at each time?
I would take duplicated readings at intervals over the day and show them to your GP. There is a cause of different readings in right and left arms when the difference is consistently more than 10 points but lesser differences are usually due to age-related atherosclerosis (furring of the arteries) which restricts the flow of blood through the artery.
Very strange! I just replied to you but the reply has vanished. Wierd. I'll try again...
I've never taken a reading before breakfast so I'll try that tomorrow. I'll also try the multiple reading approach and see how they average out and report back. Until now I've been taking random single readings at no particular set time through the day but I shall try to structure my approach a bit more rigidly.
The trend seems to be highest in the morning (after pred and coffee) the same or a bit lower in the afternoons, and much more like normal in the evenings, which is why I made the assumption of pred activity decaying as the day wears on.
As PMRpro says they do fluctuate during the day -as per,… my morning one are always higher than rest of day…but as long as they are with normal range I don’t worry that much. Been on BP meds for years (family trait) -with a short break after a couple of surgeries when they went very low -so stopped by hospital and then GP for a couple of years -but then they crept back up.
I don’t do readings all the time -but about every 3months do a week to 10 days worth and forward to GP. Work out the average as well.
This month when I completed on eConsult -once I’d entered readings it calculated the average for me… progress 😊
Yes and it varies depends which device/browser you’re on - on my laptop there’s a pop-up which say something like -“do you want to leave page -changes will be lost” . Not a squeak on iPad/iPhone…,
I usually take two readings-and first is sometimes higher -although not always. One BP study I enrolled in (might have been led by ZOE ) - had to take 3 readings 5 minutes apart -and then submit the average.
The advice with monitor is take 3 and note/report lowest….
Yes, single reading - see my reply above. I'm going to try the multiple readings approach - seems a lot more sensible than simply taking one reading.
Update : I took three readings on each arm at 3.30 pm with the average for each being - left 128/83 and right 140/90
I then took another three readings on each arm just now (7.25pm) with the average for each being left 116/74 and right 124./83
I'm obviously much happier with the evening readings which seem so much more like normal readings than I am with the early morning readings which have me quite concerned, but I understand that the morning readings are very possibly skewed by my coffee intake, so I shall do them again tomorrow morning before breakfast.
Just a heads up, my differing blood pressure readings in each arm ( by around 10) led eventually to my diagnosis of Large Vessel Vasculitis, so it can sometimes be a red flag. Whatever it is, it should be closely monitored by your doctor.
It never entered my head to take BP on both arms sounds a wise idea im doing both arms now Im still busy with recording BP twice a day for the dc in a months time xx
It is only to see if there is a significant difference, If there isn't I think they suggest using the left arm as it is usually the higher because of the anatomy of the aorta and subclavian arteries. Which is also why they are always slightly different and it is normal.
I took 3 readings on both arms last night with a difference on the average of 4 points (systolic) and 8 points (diastolic) between left and right, so at least I'm under the 10 points difference factor, if only just. The readings are high enough to still be causing me some concern at about 140/90 (averaged out over both arms). I'm saving the readings up in my diary now to keep a proper record for possible presentation to the GP. I haven't got my act together enough to take early morning readings yet though..
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