BP confusion
Strengthcamp001
Posts: 18 Member
While i was in one of the local pharmacies yesterday they got a device to measure BP .. so i decided to check mine , the readying was 136/92 which was surprising to me ... i exercise and i eat healthy so i asked the pharmacist how accurate is his device is and he just replied "pretty accurate ' ... so i went to a physician this morning to confirm this ... he told me your reading is 110/80 ... doesnt make sense at all that the readings can be that way off ..
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Replies
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Were you in a rush or anything like that?One reading of 136/92 is nothing to worry about. Normally you would be sitting for about 10 mins to ensure the reading isn't artificially high.
Go by your physician, not a pharmacist.9 -
Blood pressure readings can vary greatly with just a little stimulus or modest exertion. The machine can be calibrated just fine, and read differently over a few tries just because your blood pressure will change quickly over time. There's even a known phenomenon where people will have an elevated reading because a doctor is in the room. Don't worry over much about one high reading, but maybe try again more times to see it there's a trend.
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different times of day; different stressors can all affect your BP - if you want a good idea - then you need to do it roughly the same time each day in the same setting1
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A few years ago, I had the dubious privilege of spending a week or so on a Psych Ward (it's a long story). They took my blood pressure once a day, and kept getting really high readings: around 155/90, when I was normally a 130/85-type gal.
The blood pressure-taking procedure went like this: some randomly selected time between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning, a nurse would throw open the door, filp on the bright fluorescent lights, yell something to the effect of "Good Morning!," come in, and take blood pressures.
When I suggested they try taking my blood pressure at some time of day when I had not just been woken from a sound sleep by the Crash Of Doom, it was... 130/85.21 -
I had a very different blood pressure reading at the doctor where I was more stressed than at home in the evening after relaxing. If you are concerned you might check on a regular basis to see what is more normal for you.
https://www.suntechmed.com/blog/entry/4-bp-measurement/49-10-factors-that-can-affect-blood-pressure-readings
https://www.menshealth.com/health/g19545885/causes-of-temporary-high-blood-pressure/0 -
1. Your BP can vary throughout the day depending on your activity and stress.
2. The pharmacist is not going to tell you the store's device is inaccurate. I would go with the dr office reading.
3. What did your doctor say about the different readings, since that's the reason you went?1 -
As others have said, BP can vary within a range depending on a number of factors. FWIW, we have a home BP monitor. I had to have some tests done at a hospital so I took it along. Doing back to back measurements, it was within 1-2 points of the sophisticated hospital equipment.2
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My local pharmacy is full of old ladies trying to buy 173 rolls of paper towels with an expired coupon from a different store.
So, yeah, my BP would probably be that high if I tested it there.4 -
I worked as a Bio-med repairing hospital equipment.
BP reading can vary widely for several reasons.
BP cuff size, arm position, movement while taking the reading, talking and rarely machine inaccuracy.
Take your BP monitor with you to the doctors office and take a reading from both.
I would bet the readings will be close, unless you have a really inaccurate BP monitor which would be vary rare.
If you do find out your machine is wrong contact the manufacturer and they will take care of it free for life with most manufacturers.
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BP cuff size, arm position, movement while taking the reading, talking and rarely machine inaccuracy.
All of this. I had a hysterectomy last year, a couple of abnormally high blood pressure readings were instantly better when they used a larger cuff (and I don't even have weird arms or anything, so no idea what that was all about). I also know that I can't talk when the nurse takes my BP during my quarterly diabetes check, and there's absolutely no point the doctor taking it as just the sight of him increases my BP.1 -
There are several variables that can affect that BP reading: time of day, which arm you checked it in, size of the BP cuff, how stressed you were that day, did you sit and relax for a few minutes before the reading? Some people are even nervous and their BP goes up if checked by a nurse or doctor (they call it white coat syndrome) Also, manual cuffs are generally considered a lot more accurate than a digital cuff, assuming the person checking it knows what they are listening for.
The pharmacist saying it's "pretty accurate" is a pretty vague response and since pharmacists don't even routinely check BP, he probably doesn't even know much about the digital cuff you used. Now, if he'd checked it manually in the same arm you used for the digital machine and compared the results, I'd be more likely to accept his answer of "pretty accurate.
Assuming it's not dangerously high, one reading isn't necessarily something to panic about. Take a series of readings in the same arm each time at different times throughout the day (but keep the times consistent each day, ex: 8am, noon, 4pm, 8pm), using the same cuff each time, and be seated and relaxed for a few minutes before taking it. Keep a diary of all this so u can see if this slightly high number was a trend or just a fluke.
If your BP is trending high or you have any symptoms that concern you at all, go back to the doctor.0 -
Blood pressure readings can vary greatly with just a little stimulus or modest exertion. The machine can be calibrated just fine, and read differently over a few tries just because your blood pressure will change quickly over time. There's even a known phenomenon where people will have an elevated reading because a doctor is in the room. Don't worry over much about one high reading, but maybe try again more times to see it there's a trend.
I so have this. I get all the symptoms of low blood pressure, and I’ve done a bunch of testing to rule out other explanations. Slap a blood-pressure cuff on my arm, though, and I can physically FEEL it rise. I can’t “catch” it going any lower than 110/65, even though I’m quite sure by now that it must.
Stuff like this is why no one single data point should control your life. 🙂0 -
the cuff can affect the accuracy of the reading as well (too small; too big).0
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I bought a new BP machine (Omron 10) that takes 3 readings a minute apart and averages them before giving you a read out. That tends to do away with the one time high/low readings. I keep my BP readings in a spreadsheet and look at an average for the month.
My BP is always much higher at the doctors office. On my next visit, I plan on taking my home machine and see how close it is to the doctor's manual readings.0 -
I learned that I had high blood pressure when a friend's machine had me on the verge of a stroke and she sent me straight to urgent care. Their office was much lower (but still high). It's always been my personal experience that the digital cuffs read me higher than manual.0
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noneya2010 wrote: »the cuff can affect the accuracy of the reading as well (too small; too big).
This was my problem with giving blood. They would try to put the cuff on me, do a reading, get some insane number, and then go search for the biggest cuff they had. After losing almost 80 pounds (yay me!), they can just slap the cuff they have and get a good reading.
My doc had put me on hypertension meds. We need to revisit them because my reading was a high normal when I gave blood last week - before I took my meds.1 -
Question for everybody, does you doctor use an automatic BP machine or the manual pump cuff? I thought the new recomendations were that the automatic machines were not as accurate. I know every doctor I have visited in the last year has taken the BP manually with a hand pump cuff.
@patrickaa5 , does your doctor use the same arm as you do with your machine? There can be slight differences between arms.0 -
DoubleUbea wrote: »Question for everybody, does you doctor use an automatic BP machine or the manual pump cuff?
Manual at blood drive and GP office. One of the specialists I went to had a wrist unit. But it's mainly manual. Oh, and I'd say that most of the time they do my left (non-dominant) arm. That's also the way the gizmo at the drug store is set up, to measure with your left arm.0 -
DoubleUbea wrote: »Question for everybody, does you doctor use an automatic BP machine or the manual pump cuff? I thought the new recomendations were that the automatic machines were not as accurate. I know every doctor I have visited in the last year has taken the BP manually with a hand pump cuff.
My doctor (her nurse, actually
) uses a manual cuff. When I was first starting BP meds I took my automatic cuff in to compare the readings back-to-back. Mine was accurate for diastolic but read systolic about 10 pts low. 1 -
1. Your BP can vary throughout the day depending on your activity and stress.
2. The pharmacist is not going to tell you the store's device is inaccurate. I would go with the dr office reading.
3. What did your doctor say about the different readings, since that's the reason you went?
Agreed above. I recommend checking a few times before getting worried, but do check. An unhealthy lifestyle can lead to high blood pressure, as you mentioned, but you can still have high blood pressure (primary hypertension) and be a picture of perfect health in all other ways (like me).
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There's even a known phenomenon where people will have an elevated reading because a doctor is in the room.
That's me... think they call it "white coat syndrome".Manual at blood drive and GP office. One of the specialists I went to had a wrist unit. But it's mainly manual. Oh, and I'd say that most of the time they do my left (non-dominant) arm. That's also the way the gizmo at the drug store is set up, to measure with your left arm.
The wrist units are the least accurate!0 -
Automatic BP machines (robo nurse)are more accurate and consistent than a nurse with a stethoscope.
Old school nurses will argue that fact but Automatic BP machines do not have a human factor.
BP machine manufactures would quickly go out of business if their machines were incorrect.
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Automatic BP machines (robo nurse)are more accurate and consistent than a nurse with a stethoscope.
Old school nurses will argue that fact but Automatic BP machines do not have a human factor.
BP machine manufactures would quickly go out of business if their machines were incorrect.
As an RN I will attest that the machines are accurate, with a big caveat;they do not handle the very high or the very low well. A notably high or low BP is always back checked with a manual check (or several). A well trained nurse with a properly sized cuff and an old school sphygmomanometer and stethoscope is widely accepted as more accurate. In fact, if you call the physician for an abnormal BP, high or low, you'd better have checked manually because the doc will ask.1 -
My mom was given a digital cuff by her doctor and it would read just whacky readings, like 185/55. When my husband took it manually it was normal. She bought another cuff and it was fine for a while but then also started to be whacky. It seems like the digital cuffs can go badly awry, even when they were fine to start with.0
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Automatic BP machines (robo nurse)are more accurate and consistent than a nurse with a stethoscope.
Old school nurses will argue that fact but Automatic BP machines do not have a human factor.
BP machine manufactures would quickly go out of business if their machines were incorrect.
I'm not sure that's valid - multiple studies have found that digital thermometers used by hospitals are very inaccurate, yet they are still used almost universally.0 -
I took my little digital bllod pressure monitor with me to the doctor's office last week because I've told her before that the only time my blood pressure is high is when I'm in her office. Sure enough, it was high, and almost exactly the same on both devices. When I went home, my blood pressure was 114/73 with a pulse of 60. She's now content with me just keeping track of my blood pressure at home, as my monitor keeps track of all the previous readings, and she could see that I have normal blood pressure at home! High blood pressure can be a serious problem, but I really don't think a doctor's office is the best place for me to have it tested! FYI, most fire stations will check your blood pressure for you for free; just call ahead to make sure. And the machines in the stores are usually pretty useless, especially because you've been running around shopping, and probably fighting traffic, too, and the blood pressure cuff is only one size.1
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There are tons of things that impact blood pressure readings. Crossing your legs, talking, holding in pee, your feet not touching the ground, your back not being supported, taking the reading right after moving around are all things that can impact your blood pressure reading. Last time I had my blood pressure taken the nurse put me on the exam table with no back support, legs dangling, and talked to me the whole time. Guess what, it was much higher than the last time I had it checked with my feet on the floor in a regular chair.
When the American Heart Association lowered the threshold for high blood pressure, my understanding is they did so with the caveat that MOST blood pressure readings are junk and medical facilities need to start following proper procedures to get accurate readings. That part didn't get enough attention unfortunately.1 -
Systolic blood pressure goes up when you aren't sitting still, and that's the case even for people with the healthiest blood pressure otherwise. If you walked to the pharmacy, then that could be it, along with possibly improper technique. There is a reason the doctor has you resting or sitting for a bit before taking blood pressure.1
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I used to get very high blood pressure readings because it was so painful when the nurse pumped up the pressure to get the systolic reading. Then I figured out that I needed (and had to insist upon) an extra-large cuff for my extra-large arm, and my BP problems cleared up for a while.
When my doctor's office switched to the automatics blood pressure machines, despite their using the proper extra-large cuffs, it were so painful that I was fighting back tears. And - wudja believe? - I got high readings again. It got so that I could feel my anxiety level rise when the nurse just started bringing machine over. I eventually watched the numbers, and then asked why the machine had to go above 250 every time when my systolic reading has never exceeded 186 (and that was a fluke due to a too-small-cuff).
Turns out they didn't have to do that: the machines were just set to go up past the highest reading they'd ever recorded. I wrote what turned out to be a very convincing e-mail to my doctor (it may have helped that the subject line was "How does torture-level pain affect blood pressure readings?"), and the whole group of clinics he belongs to have changed the way they program their machines.3 -
DoubleUbea wrote: »Question for everybody, does you doctor use an automatic BP machine or the manual pump cuff? I thought the new recomendations were that the automatic machines were not as accurate. I know every doctor I have visited in the last year has taken the BP manually with a hand pump cuff.
@patrickaa5 , does your doctor use the same arm as you do with your machine? There can be slight differences between arms.
Yes, they always measure the left arm. The same as I do at home.0
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