Which can you trust?
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An old fashioned, manually-operated sphygmomanometer in the hands of a disinterested nurse with a stethoscope on your brachial artery, or a modern, computerized, cuff-mounted blood pressure meter? I recently bought one of the latter and it consistently gives readings lower than the nurses usually report on the rare occasions I see a doctor. The manual refers to what is called "white-coat hypertension" - that observed phenomenon that is caused by the nervousness resulting from visiting a doctor's office. But I wonder how much of that is science, and how much marketing. Not that I'm worried about it - the highest I've ever recorded was 120/85, and that was minutes before my appendix burst in the hospital after spending three days in agony while doctors mulled over why I might have a belly ache. Normal in-office readings for me tend to be around 105/68, if I've had a cigarette recently. But this new toy is giving readings of 96/58 resting, and 84/56 after a few dozen pushups (though the pulse rate did jump up some to 96 bpm). I doubt that hypertension is likely to be a problem for me in the near future. But I was wondering if anyone else has tried one of these things, and maybe knows more about their accuracy than I. Any input?
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
Hi Roger! One thing that my doctor suggests is to take it in with you on an appointment and have your blood pressure taken both ways and compare the results. That way you'll know (sort of) how close it is to being calibrated correctly. I keep forgetting to do that with mine. Got one coming up so, I'll try to remember to do that as well. -Mike
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Roger Wright wrote:
"white-coat hypertension"
Many years ago - in land far away, I had to get a company medical. As usual, the good looking young nurse did all the workup. When it was time for the blood pressure, she put the cuff on my arm and then pulled it between her ample breasts while she wiggled around taking the reading. When the doctor eventually came in, the first thing he did was get out the cuff. I tried to tell him that the nurse had already taken my blood pressure. His reply in a disgusted voice was; "Yeah, but she doesn't know how to do it, she always gets high readings". My dilemma - explain why she got high reading and ruin it for the next guy or keep quiet and perhaps cause harm to the nurse’s career? I chose keeping quiet in the hopes that it would be an annual exam!
Melting Away www.deals-house.com www.innovative--concepts.com
Give her the benefit of the doubt, she would have gotten a lower reading from me.