I assume that it is because of my weight, and the fact that my upper arms are heavy and soft, but I find having my blood pressure checked VERY VERY painful 9 out of ten times. I think something is being pinched, but it’s not just uncomfortable, it’s uncomfortable… then… OW OW OW OW OW HOLY FUCK GET IT OFF STOP I CAN’T STAND IT PLEASE STOP SHIT SHIT SHIT
I don’t think this produces an accurate reading. I think my pressure shoots up because it hurts so much.
And I’ve been reading up about cuff size and so forth and I’m sure I’m not using a big enough cuff.
Yes, I have no pain tolerance at all. But still, it really hurts. I can take it on my forearm, no problem, slightly uncomfortable. But what’s interesting is that everything I’ve read so far says that forearm measurements have been shown to be inaccurate UPWARDS, not downwards, and when I measure the forearm instead of the upper arm, and I’m not in pain, it’s 10-15 points lower than the reading on the upper arm when I’m writhing in pain. So it makes me wonder what the hell my blood pressure really is!
I am not a doctor, but I am also fat, with flabby upper arms, and I do not normally experience anything worse than mild discomfort when taking BP reading (although there have been rare occasions when it has been moderately painful). If you are experiencing lots of pain every time then I think either you are positioning the cuff wrongly (it ain’t easy to do by yourself), or your pressure is seriously high, so that the cuff needs to pinch very hard indeed (and needs to stay there pinching for longer) to get a reading (my BP is now under pretty good control with medication).
My guess would also be that yes, the pain will tend to raise your BP still further, but I don’t think that is the real issue here.
There is such a thing as being a ‘cuff reactor’. Some people can’t ever get a good reading from a single result because of fear of doctors, the stress of a medical test, etc. Fear of pain could also cause the same thing I would guess. I have never heard of a blood pressure test being painful but you are the expert on what you feel. Does the same thing happen on the other arm?
Yep. Since once in a while it works the same as it does on the forearm, just intense pressure that is kinda painful but completely tolerable, I’m 99% sure that my thin, loose skin is actually being pinched in some way as the cuff squeezes - like it’s folded, sort of, and the squeezing of the cuff finally shoves it over the edge into a serious pinch of the flesh, which hurts. A lot.
There’s probably millions of words expended on these boards about obesity from a hundred angles, but one thing I don’t think is talked about much is the actual experience of being fat, the details you’d never think of unless you have been fat yourself or been very close to someone who is fat. One of them is the way your skin thins out. especially the inner thighs and inside the upper arms. I guess the skin is thinner there on everyone, but the stretching of obesity makes it very fragile and tender and easily bruised. I’ve bruised myself just scratching an itch, and it’s very tender there.
Having my blood pressure taken is like torture. It is WAY TOO painful! I don’t know why, but I do know something that helps. As the person using the cuff to inflate it SLOWLY. Often they pump it very fast and that results in over inflating. If you ask them to do it slowly they typically pay more attention and it is less painful.
I know exactly that feeling, and it’s almost always a too small cuff or a nurse who doesn’t loosen the cuff far enough (for the style with the metal slide) before pushing it up onto my arm. The skin IS being pinched, and rolled over on itself, and yes, it’s that thin skin that starts just anterior from the edge of the tricep. It’s very ouchy.
*Insist *on an appropriately sized cuff. Yes, even if they have to go get it from another room. Not just to avoid pain, but because you will not get an accurate reading from a too small cuff. I’ve found more than one obese patient diagnosed with hypertension that is perfectly normotensive without their meds - after I check them with a correctly sized cuff.
It’s not just you, Stoid. Less than a week ago someone asked if they could ask me a strange question, which was “Do you find it really painful to get your blood pressure taken?” I said no, not at all, and she said it started being painful for her 10, 15 years ago. Hmm.
I have a meter at home and I can practically tell when my systolic number is going to be high because it tightens up like mad. I think this is because the cuff has to be tighter in order to cut the circulation so it can read the beats when it loosens to meet the pressure of the blood flow.
In other words, in my case anyway, the cause and effect you are describing is reversed.
I see I didn’t actually answer the question in the OP: Yes, acute pain will definitely cause a higher reading. So will muscle tension in the arm, having the arm at the wrong elevation, movement of the arm or not having your hand and fingers relaxed during the reading and/or holding your breath. So any or all of those things could be expected to happen if you’re in pain during your reading, and all will adversely effect the accuracy of the reading.
I don’t know whether the pain affects the readings or not. I know that the pain I feel these days is unbearable. It’s like having my arm in a vice. One nurse in hospital suggested trying my lower leg instead, but that was even worse, I honestly thought my shin bone was breaking it hurt so much. I was getting very high readings and the prospect of that much pain makes it almost impossible to relax, however much I try. I am currently having to do it at home 4x a day for seven days and my anxiety levels are through the roof.
hochiwich, first of all, welcome to the board! Glad you found us.
Second and most important: yes, both pain and anxiety will increase your blood pressure. And, frustratingly, the higher your blood pressure, the more it hurts to have your blood pressure taken. That “top number” is the pressure it takes to stop the blood flow. The higher the number, the higher the pressure, the tighter the squeeze, the more the pain.
So, deep breaths, meditation, a prayer…whatever you need to keep yourself as calm as possible. I find that using what’s called the 4 fold breath helps me. Basically, inhale for a count of 4, hold it for a count of 4, exhale for a count of 4 and then hold the lungs empty for a count of 4. Then keep repeating that until it’s over. It’s good at slowing down my breathing so I don’t hyperventilate (hyperventilation will also cause your blood pressure to go up, as your blood gets less oxygen, and your heart tries to compensate by beating harder and faster). It also helps to calm me, reduce my anxiety and my sensation of pain. It also takes up more of my brain power to count to four than I would have thought, and having that to concentrate on helps me to get my mind off the torture.
Are you using an automatic cuff at home? Is it the kind that goes around your upper arm or the kind that goes around your wrist? While I generally prefer the arm kind for better accuracy, in your case I’d consider asking the doctor if we could use a wrist cuff. While they’re slightly less accurate, it doesn’t sound like you’re getting really accurate readings with all that pain an anxiety anyway. Since the wrist cuff hurts most people less, it might be more accurate overall.
QFT. I’m rather Cushingoid (which includes fat arms) thanks to having to be on prednisone et al the past few years, and getting BP taken can be very painful. It isn’t so bad with a manual cuff (usually), but the electronic ones can make my eyes pop out of my head. And then they invariably error out, so we have to do it again. I have gotten weird stripy bruises/abrasions on the underside of my arm from cuffs.
I went to the podiatrist the other day, and used a wrist cuff for the first time. Awesome!
BTW, anyone else think sphygmomanometer is a fun word to say?
Yep, that’s what I read a while back when I was researching “painful blood pressure cuff” or something like that. After observations were made, a study was done and had found that the one commonality among all those who felt intense pain upon having their blood pressure taken was that they all had fibromyalgia. I don’t know how factual that is, but I thought it was interesting.
EVERY time I feel that excruciating pain when getting my BP taken and I mention it to the nurse, they ALWAYS blow me off, entirely unconcerned or, indeed, interested. I’m sure they’d just as soon I shut up so they can get to the next patient, then onto their lunch hour or home.
I wouldn’t bring this up if a 100% cause was not being claimed, but if a cuff is put on me in the wrong spot (particularly but not exclusively if I put it on myself - that can be a bit tricky) it can be quite uncomfortable. Excruciating? No, but different people have different pain thresholds. No way in H–l do I have fibromyalgia.