Re: Any recommendations on Blood Pressure Monitors?

[Guest guest]

I have heard that some of the electronic ones have improved, but I believe the cuff is not only the best but the most reliable and affordable. I have a cuff that has the stethoscope loosely attached to it. It makes it easy for me to take my own BP when my wife can't. I would go with an electronic type only if unable to use the cuff and if my doc could recommend a truly reliable model.

in Ga.

PS Hope you feel fit again soon, Pierre

Any recommendations on Blood Pressure Monitors?

I'm wondering what the best kind of home BP monitor is? Or should I just learn to use a cuff?

[Guest guest]

Thanks . I think I've " recovered " from my stress test now (and I'll

post a separate message about that).

I agree with you about a standard cuff and stethoscope being better. Of

course, the person using it has to learn how, and has to have good enough

hearing. In the medical industry, it's now recommended that people whose job

it is to measure blood pressure be certified (of course, it's a

recommendation that's widely ignored. Personally, I just use an electronic

one.

For anyone who plans to buy an electronic BP monitor, I would suggest

sticking to the established brands, like AND, Omron, Lumiscope, etc., and

paying a bit more to get an auto-inflating model. Having to inflate the cuff

yourself can actually raise your BP before you take it. You have to check it

for accuracy against your doctor or nurse's measurement though, when new,

and then every once in a while. There are some people for whom they are

totally unreliable -- and it's hard to know in advance. This occurs in

people where, for some reason, the machine has trouble accurately picking up

the oscillations from the brachial artery. On the other hand, they can

actually be more accurate than a doctor's measurement. At best, when doctors

measure BP, they rarely do it using the proper seating and resting

requirements, and on top of that, they can easily have a 10% margin of error

(not to mention that they what they tell you is often rounded off to the

nearest ten).

I strongly recommend keeping track of one's own BP, whatever method is used

(but I don't recommend becoming obsessed about it -- once a day is more than

enough, and even once every two or three days would be fine).

Pierre

Any recommendations on Blood Pressure Monitors?

I'm wondering what the best kind of home BP monitor is? Or should I

just learn to use a cuff?

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[Guest guest]

I agree that the manual cuff is the most reliable and affordable, however,

I choose an electronic model. I have to pump it up myself, and it

does the rest. I did check it at my doctors office, and it turned

out my doctors reading was lower than the machines. Even though the

readings aren't the same, mine would still tell me if there was a change

in my BP.

At some point, I'll probably learn the manual way, but for now my electronic

one gives me a quick and easy way to monitor my BP.

Curtis

wrote:

I

have heard that some of the electronic ones have improved, but I believe

the cuff is not only the best but the most reliable and affordable. I have

a cuff that has the stethoscope loosely attached to it. It makes it easy

for me to take my own BP when my wife can't. I would go with an electronic

type only if unable to use the cuff and if my doc could recommend a truly

reliable model.

in Ga. PS Hope

you feel fit again soon, Pierre

Any recommendations

on Blood Pressure Monitors?

I'm wondering what the best kind of home BP monitor is?

Or should I

just learn to use a cuff?