Diy Blood Pressure Measurement

[Bagwan]

Last week my wife's blood pressure was measured using one of the new fangled machines that the private hospitals love so much as part of the tests that our private doctor requested. Since I have no faith in these machines (they are not regularly calibrated I understand) I asked the nurse for the readings. She replied 97/72 and I expressed my concern but the nurse said the reading was quite normal. I left her in no doubt that I considered otherwise. On return to the doctor I asked him to re-measure her blood pressure using the old tried and tested method and the readings were still low but not so alarmingly so.

He has asked me to purchase a blood pressure monitor and to take measurements of my wife's blood pressure morning and evenings for the next ten days. I questioned a monitors accuracy and to allay my fears he agreed that when I had got hold of one I should visit him and we would compare the readings between the device and his sphygmomanometer so that we could. if necessary, adjust the results that I got in respect of my wife. Has anybody got an opinion on this subject and know where I may purchase one and at what cost?

[metisdead]

I bought a wrist cuff monitor about 4 years ago at Boots, back then it was about 3,000 baht.

[Sheryl]

Sold in large pharmacies.

The wrist devices are less accurate than those that are applied above the elbow, especially in people with low readings (pulsations being weaker at the wrist than at the inner elbow).

That said, I question whether there is a real medical need to monitor your wife's BP or if the doctor was just responding to your level of concern. You don't mention what the second reading showed but a systolic of 97 is perfectly normal. Some people -- especially thin Asians -- routinely run 88-90 and are fine with it.

unless your wife normally has high BP, the only oddity in that initial reading was the pulse pressure (difference between systolic and diastolic) which was borderline low, but except in people actively loosing blood this usually an error in measurement. That can be due to calibration issues but can also;o occur because in some people there is a gap in the diastolic pulsations which will lead a machine to wrongly record the diastolic at the point where the pulsations briefly stopped/diminished. A good old fashioned pair of ears plus stethoscope won't make that mistake, but the machines will.

[davidthai]

I have high blood pressure and on the last visit to my Doc for a check up and more medicine i asked him if it would be beneficial for me to buy a personal monitor from boots and check my blood pressure every day , he replied in the negative saying these machines can not be calibrated and are not always accurate , he also said that i would probably get paranoia everytime it showed an increase when in fact it might be normal , it is best to visit him for a check every fortnight if i am concerned , but the medicine i take regulary keeps my blood pressure down , so i will take his advice and not buy one

[phetaroi]

I've had a very positive experience with the blood pressure monitors made by Omron.

For several years I had a problem with labile hypertension...quite bad really. My doctor recommended one of the Omron machines. I have now gone through about 10 in the last 10 years. Each has been calibrated...some more than once...well, I should say I took them to my doctor to calibrate at least once for each machine. They were always spot on.

Yes, you can panic a bit when your BP begins to shoot up...or when it begins to bottom out...if you have that kind of hypertension. But after a while you learn your body's reactions to BP, and it can then be used to relax your apprehensions. I will tell you that during a period of time when my BP was so out of control I was in urgent care 8 separate times, had I not had the BP monitor I might not have made it into UC some of the times it was so necessary. My doctor doesn't do house calls at 1 a.m.

But, you don't trust them, you don't really want to spend the money. So ignore my experience.

[Bagwan]

Update.

I bought an Omron blood pressure monitor at the shop situated in the Central Place with a Big C on 2nd Road given over to selling unnecessary beauty products, a million or so different shampoos, a similar number of different toothpastes, lots of smelly type liquids and corn plasters, where apparently the sales assistants think that I am either invisible or there for their convenience. Since it has never been one of the aims in my life's jouirney to be a public convenience, this mini emporium dedicated to feed ladies vanity (or insecurity), is not one of my favourite places to spend money. But I digress.

For a not unreasonable amount of the folding stuff, 2750 baht actually as if you need to know, I purchased a contraption to be used on the upper arm. If anybody else is insane enough to want to make themselves the owner of one of these devices you will find them right at the back of the shop next to the devices for removing those unsightly nasal hairs. Unfortunately the contraption was powered by 4 x1.5 volt batteries when I really wanted to follow the advice offered to me by an itinerant member of the UK Royal family of no fixed abode and come into possession of a mains powered thingy. Not all is lost however since there is a little hole where a mains adapter can be plugged in.

Last evening I tried it out on myself and my wife's 18 year old son and failed totally to electrocute either of us, nor could the device generate enough pressure to cut off the blood supply to our arms thus producing a nasty case of gangrene. The readings obtained were much as could be expected, he an admirable 120/80, yours truly, several generations further down the road, a tad higher. Then came the great moment and we hooked the darn thing up to her that does the ironing - referred to in concentric circles as Her Serence Highness. Quelle surprise! 105/78. That's more like it. All fears unfounded - until next time.

Report completed I shall now go for a lie down in a darkened room.

P.S. Where can I buy a straight jacket?

[phetaroi]

As an update, yesterday I went to a foot doctor at BNH, and of course they took my BP. Quite high -- 157 over something. But I knew that I suffer from "white coat hypertension", so I was relaxed about it.

To my surprise, they used the exact type of Omron BP monitor I use at home.

[rak sa_ngop]

My doctor recommended one of the Omron machines. I have now gone through about 10 in the last 10 years.

Wow, my Omron has lasted over 6 years with only one problem.

I took it to the Omron service centre on Surawong Road Bangkok, and although they said it would have to be sent back to Japan for repair, it turned out to be a faulty micro-switch which they managed to fix themselves.

They can also recalibrate your machine for you.

[Gary A]

I have a Lumiscope that appears to be accurate or at least accurate enough. It seems to read about the same as the commercial unit at the hospital. The cuff is the above the elbow type. I have tried to check the blood pressure for my Thai wife, but it won't read that low. The doctor says her blood pressure is quite normal for a Thai female.

[phetaroi]

My doctor recommended one of the Omron machines. I have now gone through about 10 in the last 10 years.

Wow, my Omron has lasted over 6 years with only one problem.

I took it to the Omron service centre on Surawong Road Bangkok, and although they said it would have to be sent back to Japan for repair, it turned out to be a faulty micro-switch which they managed to fix themselves.

They can also recalibrate your machine for you.

At the time they were wearing out faster, it was because I was suffering from labile hypertension and had to take it very frequently. And it was never the unit itself, it was the arm cuff.

Edited March 27, 2010 by phetaroi

[Old Man River]

As an update, yesterday I went to a foot doctor at BNH, and of course they took my BP. Quite high -- 157 over something. But I knew that I suffer from "white coat hypertension", so I was relaxed about it.

To my surprise, they used the exact type of Omron BP monitor I use at home.

I also suffer from "white coat hypertension". I take my BP morning and night with an Omron. About a year ago, I took the Omron into my doctor at Bamrungrad to check it. His measure, several times, was in the mid 160's over 95. Not good. My Omron showed just about the same each time. However the previous day at home it was 110 over 70 (I take meds) and when I got home that night, with the same machine, it was back to 110 over 70. It is amazing how our minds can drive our BP up without any medical reasons whatsoever (other than our insanity).