Blood Pressure Monitoring

[FoxLee2]

I have to take blood pressure readings, 3 times, morning and evening for 4 days and then record the lowest reading on a form. Of the 3, sometimes it's the upper reading that's lowest and sometimes it's the lower reading so which measurement is more important. Last evening's readings were 140/73: 124/74: 114/76.  Should I record the middle one?

 

[newmodarmy]

It's a lottery. I had to monitor mine and I got similar variances. They suggested ignore the first and use the second, but if I then did a 3rd and 4th that were different what should I record? I used to take 5 and take the median 

[Canary42]

I'm currently having to monitor mine - it's hopeless, I get quite different readings in succession - I tend to record an average.

Incidentally, your readings are lower than my typical ones.

[ubasses]

Mr U has to take 2 readings am & pm for 7 days, usually twice  year.  He just downloads them from machine to laptop and e-mails the lot to the surgery to let them decide what they want. They always accepted without complaint.

[FoxLee2]

My readings are lower than in the surgery which was 156/79 so I suppose that's the main thing. I think I'll go for the second reading which was the middle for the higher and lower amounts. Thanks for your responses - it's good to know others have the same problem. And now it's time to do it again.

[ubasses]

Mr U would be thrilled if he got anywhere near your readings, despite all the drugs he is on it never seems to shifts.

[billy d]

I have to do this with some frequency.

The nurse asks me to take an average at the end of each period, usually 5 days, One for am and one for pm. Seems a good idea.

[FoxLee2]

billy d - do you note one reading each time and then take an average of those five for am or do you do three readings each session and note them all and do an average of 15 for the am and 15 for the pm.  It's like being back at school and having homework to do!!

[Hopkirk]

I take several readings. If any is very different from the others I ignore it and do an average of the others.

[calmck]

Cuff needs to be the right size. Too small may give higher reading. Do not take am reading immediately after waking up. Take three readings 3 to 5 minutes apart. I would give doctor all 3 readings so they can interpret. The top number is the systolic reading, lower is diastolic. Roughly lower should be between 60 and 80 and higher 120 to 145 but variations of normal can and do occur. White Coat syndrome when your B/P is high in the doctors office is recognised as occurring in some people. As a dearly departed would say" Monitor the situation"

 

[FoxLee2]

I googled what to do before starting and info was to wait 30 mins after eating and pay a visit to the loo and then take a reading. Bp was only a little bit high according to the nurse and I'm already on tablets so shall just plod on.

[ladybirder]

The explanatory chart in this link is useful.

https://www.bloodpressureuk.org/your-blood-pressure/understanding-your-blood-pressure/what-do-the-numbers-mean/

 

[FoxLee2]

Thanks for that ladybirder - very interesting info.

[Vagus]

My GP told me to take my blood pressure three times, waiting a minute between each.

He said to then ignore the first two readings and just record the third reading.

So for your evening readings yesterday, I would only record 114/76

[anneasquith]

Instructed to document lowest reading, just do that . 

[Canary42]

This is the sort of thread I love - one person expresses a problem and lots of us come crawling out of the woodwork with a similar issue. Amazing.

 

Trouble shared is trouble halved    😀   😀   😀

[FoxLee2]

If it was that simple anneasquith, I wouldn't have posed a question. The systolic and diastolic numbers are not both the lowest on each occasion.  So which of the two numbers is more significant and should be noted down.

[anneasquith]

114/76 is the lowest number. There are only 3 of a difference in the diastolic reading.

[Vagus]

Foxy, if it was me, I'd just record the third result as there's very little difference between the 73, 74 and 76 numbers.

If you're really unsure then ring the surgery and tell them you're confused about which reading they want.

[davebro3]

your blood pressure seems fine - why is it even an issue?

[FoxLee2]

It was a bit higher in the surgery.