Thermometers and Blood Presssure Monitors - do we need them?

[lizanne]

Hi All

I realise from reading lots of questions and blogs on here that lots of people are checking their temps and blood pressure regularly to monitor their treatment.

Temps:

I used to check my temps regularly with a mrecury thermometer but found them difficult to read, slow to come up to temp and quite easily broken ( I dropped a few of them!!). So I sort of gave up in the end. Can I use a digital thermometer which I find much easier- would that be ok and accurate? And if so how oftern - just first thing in the morning on waking or more often?

Blood Pressure:

How important is it to check blood pressure - can I pop into the doctors surgery and use their ,machine (our doctor has one in reception you can use any time) or should I invest in my own BP machine to do it every day? If so is it possible to get a reasonably priced and accurate one?

Just wondering how important these readings are to help guage treatment and how many people do this regualrly?

Many thanks

[Moggie]

My brother died a few weeks ago due to undetected high blood pressure even though he had made regular visits to his doctors for other matters his GP failed to do a simple blood pressure check - result was massive heart attack and he was only 57. So yes it is very important to have your blood pressure checked regular.

Moggie x

[lizanne in reply to Moggie]

Hi Moggie

I am so sorry to hear about your brother, that is so sad ror you and all your family. Especialliy since blood pressure is such a simple test for the GP to do.

Take care

Lizanne

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

We find our ear thermometer to be consistent. And really, consistency is the most important issue. But comparing your results with one machine to the results others get with their machines (or mercury) is often less good - but usually acceptable.

If getting an ear thermometer, check on whether it needs covers - and how much they cost, availability, etc.

You should get a suitably validated BP machine. There are many available from about £14 upwards. They vary in how many memories, speed of use, wrist or upper-arm, connect to computer, etc. At around £70 or so, at least one model also has a validated atrial fibrillation detector built-in.

This is a list of BP monitors validated by one organisation - but most of the ones available from reputable outlets have some sort of proper accreditation/validation:

bloodpressureuk.org/BloodPr...

If you can afford it, always buy your own. You are not able to go to GP surgery in the middle of the night, at weekends, in the morning before you get up, if you are feeling really ill, etc. Realistically you are always going to have had some stress getting there which affects results. You are not going to go every morning at 09:30 to get a day by day series. Nor stay there all day while you see what the readings are every hour.

Rod

[lizanne]

Thanks Rod for such a detailed answer. I do have one of those ear thermometers and I find that a lot easier to use so I will stick with that. Time to invest in a BP machine now I think and it is something that will be useful for all the family and for me going forward as I really want to try and be more analytical in recording temps and BP as I move towards T3 only using the CT3M method.

Thanks again