Under Pressure

[howeird]

Went to the doctor's office for what they call a blood pressure clinic. It's simply going to the office, checking in, waiting for 10 minutes, having BP checked, wait another 10 minutes and have it checked again. First check was done with a large cuff on the machine in the hall, and the reading was quite high, similar to what I got at home. Second check was with Andre The Giant's cuff on a machine in the nurses' office, which showed an unbelievably low/good reading, so I had her try again. It was even lower.

So the question is: which machine/cuff to trust?

Comments

[lironess.livejournal.com]

The one that is similar to the one you have at home.

You can also ask them to do a manual one.....they do not like to work but will if they have to.

[howeird]

I would trust a manual one less. Sometimes machines just do a better job. Like I wouldn't trust a nurse to tell me what my blood sugar level was by licking my urine.

[melchar.livejournal.com]

Always trust the larger cuff. From what I've been told, the larger cuffs give a more even pressure and cause less pain. Pain will spike your blood pressure. So if you can't get a manual reading, go with the larger cuffs.

BP Machine or cuff

[(Anonymous)]

Actually, It's my understanding that the most important thing in measuring BP is that the vein being measured is in correct alignment to the cuff so it's different for each person. I have a lovely vein running stright other's have a different vascular stucture. So only someone like a well experienced nurse would really be able to make a good call. I don't think a machine can ever do as attentive a job as a person and even measuring it yourself at home takes a little get used to. But seriously, a really low reading at your age?

Re: BP Machine or cuff

[howeird]

But seriously, a really low reading at your age?
Low for me, not low for normal. 116/68. My reading at home last night was 144/88.

I have to disagree about the human being able to do a better job than the machine - keeping your eye on a moving scale while listening for the pulse to make two changes is not something humans can do very precisely.