Teach me about blood pressure, please

In My Humble Opinion
1

To start off - I’m not looking for medical advice. I’m under the care of a doctor and I’ve been charting my BP daily. I’ve shed a lot of weight lately and we’re trying to figure out exactly what, if any, dosage of meds I need to be on.

What I’m trying to understand is the significance of the numbers and I’m not having luck googling what I want to know.

For example, when tracking your BP, is it best to take it around the same time and under the same circumstances all the time? So if I take it normally right after breakfast, should I expect it to be significantly different if I take it mid-afternoon?

One site said you should measure it 3 times in a row, resting a few minutes between each time - if so, what would you consider to be your BP for that series of trials? It wasn’t clear on that site.

I had someone (non-medical person) tell me that of equal importance as the actual numbers is the difference between the systolic and the diastolic. That is, if you mostly get 120/80 for your readings, 130/90 would be a more desirable reading than 130/70. Is that correct or does the difference matter? Or is there a point where the difference does matter?

Were we not in Plague Days, I’d be asking my doc these things, but the practice is extremely busy and my idle curiosity shouldn’t be the reason for them getting backlogged. And I won’t see her again for a few months but I want answers NOW!

So, an explanation or a link to a site that explains it in simple language would be great. My google-fu has failed me.

2

This is what I use:

Monitoring Your Blood Pressure at Home | American Heart Association

Taking it at home 2 or 3 times in a row one minute apart will give you a good average of what your pressure is like at home. Often people get a little anxious when they know they’ll be taking it, even at home, so the first reading might be higher than the next two - that’s the reason for doing it several times.

Also make sure your bladder is empty when you take it - that can raise pressure as well.

And don’t get too focused or fixated on this - it will do you no good. You are looking for general trends, so one bad day or week isn’t important - it’s how things trend over time.

3

Sit up straight, feet flat on floor, no talking. Everything you learned in 3rd grade. Those all can affect your readings I’ve been told.

4

No, it is not correct that 130/90 would be a more desirable reading. Nope, nope, nope. A diastolic /80 or lower is always preferable to one higher (unless you get into hypotension which is usually /60 or lower )[some particularly cardio fit athletes can run lower and be fine]. The lower/diastolic is less wear and tear on your circulatory system (think of an overinflated bicycle tire stressed to near bursting-not good for long life]. So ignore all the that advice. The fine points of that difference is termed ‘pulse pressure’. Here’s a decent description of the concepts:

Wikipedia’s article on ‘pulse pressure’ is also good. Don’t stress over your numbers-that is well into doctor purview, even though you are an engineer :wink:. It’s human hydraulics-complex.

It is best to do it close to under the same circumstances as you can, unless your doctor instructs you otherwise, like s/he wants you to three times a week also take it after the treadmill. Pee, no caffeine, ya da, ya da, like ThelmaLou said and in that good article @romansperson suggested. Not over clothing nor with a tight sleeve pushed up.

It might be different in the afternoon, for all kinds of reasons, exertion, exercise, fatigue, stress (a biggie), caffeine, smoking, pain. I think just aggravation raises mine. So, if it is different, just note it and don’t worry about it til you’ve discussed it with your doc.

You are doing all the right things: losing weight, good diet [Boo slinks over into the corner], regular aerobic exercise [Boo looks for a deeper, darker corner], choosing a lifestyle that you enjoy.

And when you do go into the doctor, take your home BP monitor with you and calibrate it with the doctor’s. At least I don’t have to describe to an engineer how to do that.

Now write me back about what I left out.

5

You take the average of the three readings if you do it that way. You know, classic add them up and divide by 3 stuff.

My blood pressure meter even offers to do this for your if you take the last three measurements within a certain time period. The first option it will show you when you go back and look at your results is an average of the last 3.

6

@PoppaSan, not ThelmaLou :person_facepalming:t3: . It’s late, I’ve been rode hard by a three year old all day and put up wet. Sorry. @PoppaSan. You sound like my kinda retired schoolteacher. Me thinking you are @ThelmaLou is very high praise.

7

Hmmmm, I am sitting, feet flat, no talking, but reading the Dope - might have to rethink that last part…

BBBoo - Looking at my chart over the last 3 months, my pulse pressure tends to vary from (rarely) 30s to (less rarely) 60s. The article said higher values may indicate a problem, but it didn’t specify at what point that’s concerning. There’s a question for the Doc next time. Also good point about taking my device with me next time. I have no idea about the life and accuracy of the battery operated monitors.

I’m not concerned with the actual day-to-day numbers since they do vary a good bit (tho mostly under 120/80) and my pulse seems to hang in mid-50s to low 60s, which I understand is good. I do note the times I’m later than usual taking a reading, since they seem to vary most from my first-in-the-morning values.

And speaking of which, it’s time for today’s reading… :wink:

Thanks for the info and the link!

8

Thank you, my mission here has a positive effect. Not everyone that votes differently than , what I can surmise, you do is necessarily evil on all fronts.

TBH, I take my BP after I get home from work a little before midnight. If I’ve been listening to Tucker on SiriusXM or driving in bad weather I need to wait an hour otherwise it’s really really high. An hour and a Scotch later it’s lower than my just got out of bed readings.

9

I take mine various times of the day, but usually at night after work.

It varies but usually it’s around 113-118 over 60-65. The doctor actually wants it to be higher. After my stroke two years ago they wanted me to keep it around 130 and my medication was lowered. But it’s still low.

Other days it will be in the high 120s/70s.

I just took it to check it and it’s 113/60 (pulse 61). Years ago it was always high, but since the stroke and quitting smoking and drinking, it’s very low.

10

Hubby’s BP at his October appointment was a bit high. The doctor loaned us a device to take his BP every day for a month. The numbers were a little higher than she liked, so he got homework, to go for a brisk walk every day for 3 months.

At the 3 month check, he had lost some weight and the numbers were a little better, but still a bit high. So then he got the 24 hour BP test, which meant he had a cuff attached to his arm for 24 hours, and it took readings throughout the day and night.

We took the device back, and the doctor’s happy with the results, because his BP is in the range she wants to see, at least ⅔ of the day.

During this period we bought our own BP machine. And it has an app, like many other deivces, so we’ve decided that once a month we’ll do something similar to the 24 hour, but every 30 minutes, not every 10-15 and only during the day. We did this before the 24 hour test with the doctor’s device, so we can compare the results.

Speaking of all that, I think it’s time for a walk.