Blood Pressure Monitoring at Home
Chances are that if you have high blood pressure, close to high blood pressure or you’re on blood pressure medication, your physician has asked you to track your blood pressure (BP) at home with a monitor. Recently, the American Heart Association (AHA) and a couple of other organizations made the same recommendation.
A home monitor enables you to take measurements at different times of the day so you can figure out if the medication you’re taking is controlling your numbers. If you’re not on medication you may want to check you BP on a regular basis with the monitor to make sure your numbers aren’t going up. If they do rise, it’s time to contact your physician and check in for an office visit.
One of the benefits of a BP monitor at home is that it helps confirm whether you really have hypertension by eliminating the ‘white coat effect.” (The white coat effect is when your BP rises as soon as you see the physician. Monitoring your BP also can detect spikes that may take place at certain times of the say.
Home monitors aren’t too costly. You can find very good ones for under $100.
There are also several types. You can find a list of devices at www. www.dableducational.org
or your physician may recommend a particular model.
Most doctors prefer automatic upper arm monitors with self-inflating cuffs – not wrist or fingers. Just by pushing a bottom, they take your BP and report the results on a screen and have some memory of those numbers. You don’t need a stethoscope. They are usually small and can store in a drawer.
On the other hand, if you have an irregular heartbeat, home monitors may not give you an accurate reading. For some models, they type you select could depend on your physical condition. If you’re overweight or very muscular, for example, you may need to find a monitor with a large cuff. If you don’t hear well, you may need a monitor with a screen and a digital display.
If your BP is well controlled, you may need to check it at home only a few days each month. If you’re just starting home monitoring, or if you’re changing medications, or if you have a chronic problem such as diabetes, you may have to change it more often.
I for one am all for using whatever tools I can that will give me a better chance at a quality life. That’s especially true if the tools are non-invasive like the BP monitor.
Just out of curiosity, how many of you use a blood pressure monitor at home? I’m now using the one we have at home. I’m borderline on the high side and my husband has been using it for years, so now I use it. I was amazed at how high my numbers went and for how long when I burned 3 fingers on the stove and had 2nd degree burns. The body is so incredible…great defense!
To your successful aging.
Ruthan
www.upsideofaging.com www.balanceyourhealth.com
Ruthan Brodsky helps entrepreneurs and health care professionals promote their services and products with information products and content marketing.
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