Practice doesn’t necessarily make perfect, and this is especially true when taking blood pressure.
Many people don’t realize that WHEN and WHERE you take your blood pressure is as important as HOW.
This can lead to misdiagnosis where people who don’t actually have high blood pressure are forced on medications with serious side effects.
Today we’ll talk about the 3 most common mistakes people make when trying to measure their blood pressure.
#1 – The first mistake is taking your blood pressure only once per day. Because blood pressure levels fluctuate throughout the day, it is important to get a reading at different times during the day to get a better idea of what your average is.
It’s also a great way to pinpoint the times of day that cause the BP spikes so you can target those for lifestyle and stress adjustment if needed. You also want to make sure that you are checking it several times per week and not just sporadically.
#2 – The second mistake that people commonly make is to only have blood pressure taken at the doctor’s office, thinking that’s the only accurate way to get a reading. In truth, “white coat syndrome,” or an elevated blood pressure due to the anxiety of being in the doctor’s office, leads to a huge number of false readings. Getting a good home monitor and taking it frequently in the comfort of your own surroundings helps eliminate this mistake.
And follow your own readings. If your blood pressure at home is normally below 120/80 but your doctor wants you to take medications because his/her readings are higher, get a second opinion from a doctor who understands white coat syndrome.
#3 – Finally, make sure to read the instructions and follow them closely for all home monitors. User error contributes to a lot of avoidable mis-readings. You might even take the monitor to the doctor’s office and have the nurse or CNA help with your monitor for the first time.
Now if you actually have high blood pressure, you want to get it down as soon as possible. The simplest method to lower blood pressure naturally is a trio of easy exercises that drop blood pressure down to normal as soon as today…
Question: My wife has been on high doses of medication for a few years to treat high blood pressure. She will have readings of 180/140 sometimes higher. The doctors just say to take her medicine and try to loose weight. My concern is that after years of being on this medication – she still has never had a normal blood pressure reading. I do not believe she will improve by staying on current course. I am reading about other natural cures such as – “Ultimate BP”. any thoughts on how she can get off of her meds – and improve her blood pressure would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Larry R.
It’s so common Larry that blood pressure medications do not lower blood pressure down to a healthy level. So your wife is reaping very little benefits but probably suffering several side effects.
There are several things your wife can do. Consuming blueberries, drinking beet juice, and more and more. Scoop through some of the articles on this website to find more ways to lower blood pressure:
https://blueheronhealthnews.com/site/category/high-blood-pressure/
She can also take transfer factor Cardio and transfer factor tri-factor.
See site listed above
If there are any indicators of your wife possibly having a sleep disorder [‘sleep apnea’] … such as snoring, fatigue or sleepiness during the daytime, or lack of restorative ‘REM’ sleep [cannot remember having any dreams … even if she cannot remember the details of her dreams — she should at least be able to vaguely recall the fact that she dreamed several times while she slept the previous night] …. then she should immediately see her doctor to have an overnight sleep study done. If she is then diagnosed as having ‘sleep apnea’ …. then she can be prescribed a CPAP machine to use as she sleeps. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this! One of the most prolific causes of high blood pressure that is difficult to control with meds is SLEEP APNEA … and yet very few PCPs suggest this fact to their patients. Just as they are ignorant about nutrition … many of them are also ignorant about sleep apnea — and want to immediately blame high bp solely on weight, salt intake, inactivity, etc.. I was diagnosed by a blood pressure specialist [nephrologist] at the Mayo Clinic in June, 2012 …. and believe me — the medical care and expertise one receives at the Mayo Clinic FAR SURPASSES that of most the rest of the country! There are four Mayo Clinics: Minnesota, Arizona, Florida and Georgia. At any rate … at least try to get an appointment with a nephrologist near you … and explore the possibility of having an overnight sleep study. Most health insurance providers will cover at least a portion of the expenses — including the CPAP machine, if she should need one. Best of luck with everything …. and take care.
I tried the three excercises and it did not help me. However the fluctuation is very genuine. From 115/65 to 150/80 wwithin twenty four hours. No doubt the worst item to put up blood sugar in my patient test using a Vegatest machine is sugar. Definately not salt. Only one in twenty went up with salt but every single person raised their blood pressure off the dial with sugar. How much sugar do most people eat? Hugh Halliday.NDE. http://www.declarenzge-gmfree.co.nz
Larry, good that you arrived to the conclusion that allopathic medicine does not work. It did not work with me either. Try and find a good Chinese medicine doctor who will adress the core issues, get a lot of sun (vitamin D) and omega-3 and make sure your diet contains quality proteins and fats, with no sugar, gluten, soy and processed foods. Also switch to Atlantic salt and olive oil (extra virgin) only. Good Luck
I use a wrist monitor, using normaly arm on a table , waist high my
pressure reading is always around 106/60.
If I hold my arm slightly higher,the reading will drop to 90/50.if I hold my arm lower the reading will go up as high as 190/80.The arm monitor does not show such a difference,but still some.
Peter
People's diet today is saturated with sugar. Do not think that by using 'sweeteners' you can escape from sugars damaging effects upon the body, and its contributing to scores of human ailments, blood pressure being but one. It is insiduously added to virtually everything, and it is the cheapest, bleached, depleted, product on the market. The food industry knows that the two most powerful sensory foods that man eats, are sugar and salt, and guess what the food manufacturers overwhelm their products with?
On top of that, they use the cheapest and most processed sugar and salt they can find, for natural sugar and natural salt are important to one's diet, salt, more so than sugar. Actually natural high quality salt will lower your blood pressure, my recommendation is to buy 'Himalayan Salt' in reality it is not a salt but a food. It has 82 vitamins and minerals and trace elements, not that supermarket poison that is virtually pure sodium, and has given ALL salt a bad name. For sure keep off that poison. To help you further I recommend the finest book on nutrition and health that I have ever read, by a man who has spent over fifty years of his life studying the diet of man from the arctic to the tropics, covering millenia, it is called; 'Trick and Treat, by a Barry Groves.
Declare NZ,and Peter. I agree with you both. I am a retired nurse. We were taught to place the BP cuff central on the upper arm. I have both manual and digital monitors, and their positioning is different to get the same result. The digital must be placed immediately above the elbow crease, where the manual is placed a couple of inches. With the wrist monitors it is very difficult to get the arm in the correct position, and will give massive reading variations with small amounts of arm lowering or raising. Similar with the digital arm cuff. Place it a 1/2 ” higher than specified, and you will have a huge reading variation. When I was nursing the cuff placement was not considered terribly important, but I only used manual machines then. The digital monitors seem to be extremely touchy. I don’t know of any doctors who use them. Also, regarding sugar. I agree that I think sugar can also raise blood pressure exponentially (50Mg/Hg+) as I have completely normal BP (@130/80) throughout the day, with intermittent high spikes (180/100.) I am a migraineur. This could explain it, which means I also have have reactive hypoglycaemia….something most doctors know nothing about..some do. So there is primary hypertension – caused by blocked arteries, and secondary hypertension – caused by something else. Many people are becoming hyperinsulaemics because of high sugar intake, giving them hypertension. So diet changes are imperative. I manage my hypertensive episodes as best I can with a low sugar intake, and I also eat lots of avocados and high pectin fruits for my arteries. The fruits are a bit of a problem with their high sugar content. But they keep my BP stable and LDL low.
Excellent article! I love how you point out these important things. I never knew this until now. Thanks for sharing this important information.
All of the above is good info, but there is some things you should do. First, sit squarly on the chair seat with your back supported. Second, keep you feet on the floor, don’t cross your legs or ankles. Third, the cuff should be at the same level as your heart. Some doctors will take your arm and support it almost at you brain level
If you take your home BP machine to a pharmacy, most of them will do a parallel test. Some of the newer digital machines are awesome.
Thanks for this information. I need to right my wrongs.
Very useful information to all concerned.
Thanl you for your article. I also thank Mr Michael Cook for his input. I find his remarks very pithy and practical.
I have started using a resperate machine.Has anyone any information or success storys.I have stopped taking arbesartin as the adverse effects were not nice
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