Any experience with home blood pressure cuff

[krw]

>

Mine ran about ten points low on me. That's alright, the doc's always runs at least forty points high. ;-)

[Doug]

Keeping your reply for reference. Thanks Steve.

[krw]

Did she have a cardioversion or did they go all the way to the ablaision? The heart rate, if will count it, is a hint, yes.

[krw]

The nurse (or NP, depending) always tries the automatic machine, then does it manually. Then the doctor doesn't believe that and does it himself. No extra charge. ;-)

The fixed mine, after being on rat poison for a few months.

What's the fix for that? Airplane glue? ;-)

[krw]

A million times? That's almost 100 times a day, every day, for 30 years.

Omeron?

Lisinopril is cheap but my shoulders aren't. After taking it for a few months, I couldn't move them (took a while to isolate it to the Lisinopril). Every one of these drugs can have serious side effects. Let the doctors figure out which ones have the minimum side effects for you.

Just because she's right, doesn't mean she's not nagging. ;-)

[Ed Pawlowski]

At least two cardioversions and two ablations in the past year. Doctor did not have enough time to do all he wanted as the anesthesiologist nixed more time.

First problem was on vacation in 2001. We were in VA and she felt a bit tired for a couple of days. On the way home, she wanted to see a doctor NOW. Followed the blue H sign off the highway and ended up staying 6 days in a Maryland hospital.

Highest I ever saw here heart rate was 220 a couple of years ago.

She still takes a bunch of medications every day, including warfarin. .

[notbob]

For someone with so much high BP experience, you sure seem clueless. There is one very comman. blatantly obvious, almost universal symptom of high BP. A bloody nose!

I was about 46, sitting in my cubicle, at my computer workstation, with nary a care in the world. Suddenly, I was spouting blood all down the front of my shirt/tie. What the...!!??. I hadn't had a bloody nose in over 40 yrs. I wasn't sick. I was the picture of health, or so I thought. After a cow orker helped me stop the bleeding, my supervisor came over to see how I was doing. After listening to my baffled explanation/apology, he suggested I see a doctor, as I jes might be suffering from high blood pressure.

Well, these bloody noses plagued me fer another week till I finally got to the clinic. Sure enough. 200/150! Again, what the...?? Every time I'd had my BP checked, previously, it was a steady 125/75. So often and consistent, in fact, even I had become somewhat amazed. Now, almost overnight, I'm about to explode!

Anyway, not only is it a very common sympton, I get it at the drop of a hat. If I miss my meds fer even 2 days, bloody nose! I now care for my senile mom, from whom I no doubt inherited HBP, as she has it too. If she misses her meds even ONE day, bloody nose! So, it's not only quite common, but seems most everyone --'cept you-- knows about it. Now you know. ;)

nb

[Roanin]

When my wife was in the hosp last week to get a hip replacement, the automatic BP machines would not work on her at all. They tried about 4 of them before they decided to get a manual cuff. Then they could not even find one. The nurse had to go to another floor to get one. Pretty sad that we depend so much on computer stuff. Good thing it wasn't an emergency as it too about 45 minutes to get her BP.

R

[krw]

That's not a good indicator either. I had bloody noses constantly when I was a kid. No hypertension then and I grew out of it (having one artery in the nose cauterized helped). For years I've only gotten bloody noses when I get a severe cold. Nothing to do with hypertension.

When I ended up in the urgent care facility it was 260/200. Next stop, the emergency room and three days in the hospital. I didn't even feel the A-Fib until they told me about it.

It my be common but, by itself, it's not a good negative indicator of HT.

[krw]

That she's still on Warfarin indicates, with all that, they didn't fix it? One cardioversion was enough to fix mine. In five and a half years, mine hasn't come back for more than thirty minutes, or so. After the cardioversion, they just put me on Metoprolol and I've been on a couple of BP medications intermittently since (Amlodipine, now). If I skip the Metoprolol I can really feel it, though.

[krw]

Ouch. I know when I was in A-Fib I wasn't feeling like doing much (which worked out well because climbing ladders[*] while on Warfarin isn't recommended).

[*] I'd just "retired" and was painting the inside of my house and finishing up all of the "projects", getting ready get out of New England. ;-)

[Stormin Mormon]

Bloody nose can also be from calcium shortage.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

For someone with so much high BP experience, you sure seem clueless. There is one very comman. blatantly obvious, almost universal symptom of high BP. A bloody nose!

I was about 46, sitting in my cubicle, at my computer workstation, with nary a care in the world. Suddenly, I was spouting blood all down the front of my shirt/tie. What the...!!??. I hadn't had a bloody nose in over 40 yrs. I wasn't sick. I was the picture of health, or so I thought. After a cow orker helped me stop the bleeding, my supervisor came over to see how I was doing. After listening to my baffled explanation/apology, he suggested I see a doctor, as I jes might be suffering from high blood pressure.

Well, these bloody noses plagued me fer another week till I finally got to the clinic. Sure enough. 200/150! Again, what the...?? Every time I'd had my BP checked, previously, it was a steady 125/75. So often and consistent, in fact, even I had become somewhat amazed. Now, almost overnight, I'm about to explode!

Anyway, not only is it a very common sympton, I get it at the drop of a hat. If I miss my meds fer even 2 days, bloody nose! I now care for my senile mom, from whom I no doubt inherited HBP, as she has it too. If she misses her meds even ONE day, bloody nose! So, it's not only quite common, but seems most everyone --'cept you-- knows about it. Now you know. ;)

nb

[Ed Pawlowski]

She also has a blood condition Lupus Anticoagulant Anti Cardiolipin Antibodies

When we first married, she had five miscarriages and they never found a reason. Thirty five years later, they found out why. The condition was not known at the time and no tests for it. Because of this, they keep her PT in a very narrow range of 2.5 to 3.0. She also has to be tested by blood draw rather than a home machine as the machine cannot perform accurately with her blood.

[Peter]

The most accurate pressure reading was with the now verbotten mercury column type of display. However, accurate BP measurement depends both on the meter reading the pressure and on the correct detection of the point where the pulse sounds are first able to be heard and when the first disappear. The digital ones may be more accurate than the aneroid because the springs in the aneroid type can go out of adjustment more easily. If you use a machine that requires using a stethoscope, at the age at which most of us need to monitor our BP, our hearing is not as sharp as it used to be. Unless you've got close to normal hearing, and are in a quiet room, you're likely to miss the transition points when you first hear the pulse and the transition point where the sound of the pulse first disappears. You might also misposition the stethoscope. For home use, a self-inflating automated cuff with digital measurement is more likely to provide an accurate reading.

[notbob]

I might also stick a shotgun up my ass and blow my brains out, but I don't.

The problem I see with automated units is they deflate at a set rate. A manual unit, that rate of deflation can be controlled. So, if the auto unit deflates and the sound/bounce of the heartbeat occurs after or before the true pressure --old springs, battery, whatever-- the true reading is wrong. I can slow a manual unit's deflation down to a speed where the heartbeat point is more easily dectected and a more accurate pressure is read.

Jes my take on it. You do as you like. I get my new manual unit on Wed. I already tossed the Amron. ;)

nb

[krw]

It can also be from thin arteries or arteries very close to the surface in the nose[*]. When I was younger, a little head cold would do it for me. It's really only been ten years, or so, that I haven't gotten fairly regular nose bleeds.

[*] or perhaps even a (too) close encounter with a fist. ;-) I used to turn other kid's shirts red.

[krw]

Yikes! That doesn't sound good at all.

My mother had seven miscarriages in the seven years between number three and number four (me). Dad didn't stop trying, though. ;-)

That's normal for having active A-Fib (IIRC, they wanted mine between 2.0 and

2.5). When I was in A-Fib I had blood drawn every two days. The better the vampires got at finding the arteries in my hands the harder they got to get blood from. ;-) They would have me run my hands under hot water for five minutes before they'd even try.

I sure hope they keep her on en even keel. That sounds like a PITA. Good luck!

[George]

Maybe in an Amron but the typical Omron is electronic and there are no springs. And in typical digital device fashion if it thinks the batteries are low it simply doesn't work.

[Norminn]

?? That's not good....did they ever use a blood pressure cuff as a tourniquet? Hard to miss that way unless the patient has no BP.

[Ed Pawlowski]

As long as she stays on blood thinner, it has no affect. At 66, she has no plans on getting pregnant either, but I think we should try. Every night.

Thanks. All the medications make her tired a lot, but otherwise, everything seems to be OK.