On 21/09/17 23:55, Dave W wrote:
"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
news
On 21/09/17 22:16, Dave W wrote:
Nobody knows why the elderly get high blood pressure,

Yes they do. The blood vessels get plated with plaque. And narrow.

The cardiology specialist agreed with me.


The cardiology specialist told me.

On 21/09/2017 16:09, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Malcolm Race laid this down on his screen :
Take it to the Surgert and compare the reading with one taken
immediately afterwards with a surgery machine.
I have what the doctor describes as 'White coat syndrome'

Me too, to some extent, even when I measure it myself :-?

What are you wearing?



Apressure os say 1292/120 translates into n143/90 at home.* When I go
in I take a series of recent reaqdings with me.

That is my plan, but I tried that a couple of weeks ago and the values I
noted were way below correct values, down in the normal range. I'm keen
not to repeat providing them with erroneous data, hence my question of
how to check the calibration at home to be sure.

On 21/09/2017 22:24, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 21/09/17 22:16, Dave W wrote:
Nobody knows why the elderly get high blood pressure,

Yes they do. The blood vessels get plated with plaque. And narrow.



Plus people get less exercise when they get older. And they tend to put
on weight.

Malcolm Race wrote:
On 21/09/2017 15:43, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
I have the doctors panicking over my high blood pressure. So I dug out
a digi BP monitor we had for a few years #1. That had a problem with
its over pressure safety valve, which I repaired whilst waiting for a
new one to be delivered. It's readings were completely inconsistent,
so today (still waiting for #2 to arrive), I went out and bought an
over the counter #3.

#3 (a cuff auto digital) seems to provide consistent values, no rapid
wild variations, but how to be sure the displayed readings are correct?

I have already been advised that any of the larger pharmacists should
have a device to check the calibration of BP monitors, but I wonder if
there might be a way to check it at home?

Take it to the Surgert and compare the reading with one taken
immediately afterwards with a surgery machine.
I have what the doctor describes as 'White coat syndrome'

Apressure os say 1292/120 translates into n143/90 at home. When I go in
I take a series of recent reaqdings with me.

Malcolm

The readings you get from hospital BP macinees vary wildly.

"Tjoepstil" wrote in message
news
On 21/09/17 23:55, Dave W wrote:
"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
news
On 21/09/17 22:16, Dave W wrote:
Nobody knows why the elderly get high blood pressure,

Yes they do. The blood vessels get plated with plaque. And narrow.

The cardiology specialist agreed with me.


The cardiology specialist told me.

Are you trying to correct me, or are you talking about your own cardiology
specialist?
In my case he didn't tell me, he agreed with me when I said nobody seems to
know why the elderly get high blood pressure.

Also in answer to TNP, nobody knows why "The blood vessels get plated with
plaque. And narrow."?
--
Dave W

On 21/09/2017 17:19, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Brian Reay explained on 21/09/2017 :
I have any annual 'MOT' at my GP surgery. They offered to check the
meter I use at home if I took it in at the next check up. Without
being rude, I suspect you fall into the age bracket to qualify for the
same (free) 'MOT' check up, kill two birds with one stone- so to
speak. They do a blood test, pee in a jar test, BP, a few other
things- nothing painful.

Which is exactly what I am going through at the moment, it all began
with a sudden onset of severe vertigo. BP checked and deep concerns
about that. The vertigo issue was pushed onto the back burner, due to
the BP - luckily the vertigo has almost cured itself.


My diagnosis was more by luck. My place of work had a medical department
with one nurse and she put up posters offering a check for Diabetes, BP,
lung capacity and a few other common tests. This wasn't compulsory but
the appointments were in works time. My BP was sky high. I was told to
lie down for 10 minutes and the BP taken again - no difference. I was
given a letter for my GP. At this time I purchased my own BP monitor
and confirmed the readings taken at the medical check. I had no outward
symptoms of high BP.

--
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On Thu, 21 Sep 2017 15:43:40 +0100, Harry Bloomfield wrote:

#3 (a cuff auto digital) seems to provide consistent values, no rapid
wild variations, but how to be sure the displayed readings are correct?

The cuff ones are next to useless. False economy to buy one, mate.

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On Thu, 21 Sep 2017 21:57:05 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

I bought a Boots upper arm type. very consistent and agreed well with
doctor's

Ditto with the Lloyds Pharmacy I got a while back. It also agrees with
the Omron one I bought more recently. Both disagree violently with the
Bosch-AEG wrist type one I've since binned.



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On Thu, 21 Sep 2017 17:24:40 +0100, RJH wrote:

My succession of doctors have absolutely no interest in cause - or at
least an easily identified cause from a basic annual blood test. The
current doctor's opinion is 'it's one of those things'.

The correct term is "essential hypertension" - high blood pressure they
can't find a causal factor for.



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In article ,
"Dave W" writes:

"Brian Reay" wrote in message
news

As an aside, I happened to meet someone involved in the design of a new
type of BP meter. He told me the 'cuff type' was generally accepted to be

I was in a trial for a new type developed by UCL.
You wear it like a large watch and it senses at your wrist, but
it measures the blood pressure at your aorta somehow, not at the
sense site. The challenge with measuring blood pressure is always
to get it as near to the heart as possible - the further away, the
less accurate (which is why wrist measurements are nowhere near as
good as upper arm measurements).

The prototype didn't work on me - you needed more fat in your wrists.
That was nevertheless useful feedback for the trial program.

potentially wildly inaccurate - there are too many things in the basic set
up which are not controlled- eg initial cuff fit, the point where the user
detects the 'change' (I can't recall the correct term he used), ......
While I accept he had reasons to criticise the 'old' approach (he was
working on the replacement), he knew I wasn't a customer and his points
did make engineering sense. He didn't share details of the replacement,
other than it worked by sensing flow as far as I could tell.

I can confirm that. I was discovered to have high blood pressure while in
hospital for something else. I always wonder if a given cuff will give
accurate results for both fat and skinny arms. Lidl had a recent offer of
a wrist-cuff meter for only £10 which I bought, but I found that the
readings
varied erratically from one to the next. When plotted on a graph my
average systolic is 140 which is "good" (compared with the doctors'
arm-cuff readings of over 180) but the peaks and troughs were about plus and
minus 40 on that, so I gave up using it.

Yes, they tried reading my blood pressure just before shoving a
camera up where the sun don't shine. Strangley, it was alarmingly
high. Measuring again afterwards found it was normal. They found
this surprising for some reason - I didn't.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Thursday, 21 September 2017 15:43:44 UTC+1, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
I have the doctors panicking over my high blood pressure. So I dug out
a digi BP monitor we had for a few years #1. That had a problem with
its over pressure safety valve, which I repaired whilst waiting for a
new one to be delivered. It's readings were completely inconsistent, so
today (still waiting for #2 to arrive), I went out and bought an over
the counter #3.

#3 (a cuff auto digital) seems to provide consistent values, no rapid
wild variations, but how to be sure the displayed readings are correct?

I have already been advised that any of the larger pharmacists should
have a device to check the calibration of BP monitors, but I wonder if
there might be a way to check it at home?

Try it out on a few other people. Young and old.

Andrew Gabriel wrote :
Yes, they tried reading my blood pressure just before shoving a
camera up where the sun don't shine. Strangley, it was alarmingly
high. Measuring again afterwards found it was normal. They found
this surprising for some reason - I didn't.

I now have three BP monitors and my own measured pressure varies quite
wildly. It seems I can cause the 'white coat syndrome' just taking the
measurements myself. I can take the first measurement, then a second
check within seconds of the first, will find the sys has increased by
20 to 30mmHg.

A big surprise for me, was how my pressure can fall from its usual
values, if I check it directly after even a slight amount of exercise,
such as doing some vacuuming the house, or after having walked 100
yards home from the bus. Measuring it right after a soak in a bath,
produces the lowest readings. I rather expected the opposite effect, a
large increase in pressures measured.

On 23/09/2017 09:09, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Andrew Gabriel wrote :
Yes, they tried reading my blood pressure just before shoving a
camera up where the sun don't shine. Strangley, it was alarmingly
high. Measuring again afterwards found it was normal. They found
this surprising for some reason - I didn't.

I now have three BP monitors and my own measured pressure varies quite
wildly. It seems I can cause the 'white coat syndrome' just taking the
measurements myself. I can take the first measurement, then a second
check within seconds of the first, will find the sys has increased by 20
to 30mmHg.

A big surprise for me, was how my pressure can fall from its usual
values, if I check it directly after even a slight amount of exercise,
such as doing some vacuuming the house, or after having walked 100 yards
home from the bus. Measuring it right after a soak in a bath, produces
the lowest readings. I rather expected the opposite effect, a large
increase in pressures measured.

If you are going to take two readings within seconds do one on your
right arm and the second on your left arm. I haven't got the
instructions in front of me but I seem to remember reading that when
repeating tests on the same arm you are meant to leave it for a few
minutes with the cuff removed before the repeat measurement.

A quick google confirms that BP tends to fall after some exercise.

What is more telling with exercise is the heart rate and how long it
takes to come back to a low (at rest) reading after exercise.

--
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On 23/09/2017 10:07, alan_m wrote:
On 23/09/2017 09:09, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Andrew Gabriel wrote :
Yes, they tried reading my blood pressure just before shoving a
camera up where the sun don't shine. Strangley, it was alarmingly
high. Measuring again afterwards found it was normal. They found
this surprising for some reason - I didn't.

I now have three BP monitors and my own measured pressure varies quite
wildly. It seems I can cause the 'white coat syndrome' just taking the
measurements myself. I can take the first measurement, then a second
check within seconds of the first, will find the sys has increased by
20 to 30mmHg.

A big surprise for me, was how my pressure can fall from its usual
values, if I check it directly after even a slight amount of exercise,
such as doing some vacuuming the house, or after having walked 100
yards home from the bus. Measuring it right after a soak in a bath,
produces the lowest readings. I rather expected the opposite effect, a
large increase in pressures measured.

If you are going to take two readings within seconds do one on your
right arm and the second on your left arm.* I haven't got the
instructions in front of me but I seem to remember reading that when
repeating tests on the same arm you are meant to leave it for a few
minutes with the cuff removed before the repeat measurement.

A quick google confirms that BP tends to fall after some exercise.

What is more telling with exercise is the heart rate and how long it
takes to come back to a low (at rest) reading after exercise.



From the Omron manual on their web site

To take a measurement, you need to be relaxed and comfortably seated,
under comfortable room temperature. Avoid bathing, drinking alcohol or
caffeine, smoking, exercising or eating 30 minutes before taking a
measurement.

Wait 2-3 minutes before taking another measurement. Waiting between
measurements allows the arteries to return to the condition prior to
taking a measurement.

The arm cuff should be placed on your arm at the same level as your heart


--
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alan_m explained on 23/09/2017 :
A quick google confirms that BP tends to fall after some exercise.

I understood what I read, to suggest that BP would be helped to fall by
a long term exercise regime, rather than immediately after a quick bit
of exercise. I thought exercise, more blood flowing = higher pressure,
but maybe I misunderstood.


What is more telling with exercise is the heart rate and how long it takes to
come back to a low (at rest) reading after exercise.

My heart rate doesn't seem to vary much always between 80 and 100 no
matter what I am doing.

On 23/09/2017 10:20, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
alan_m explained on 23/09/2017 :
A quick google confirms that BP tends to fall after some exercise.

I understood what I read, to suggest that BP would be helped to fall by
a long term exercise regime, rather than immediately after a quick bit
of exercise. I thought exercise, more blood flowing = higher pressure,
but maybe I misunderstood.


What is more telling with exercise is the heart rate and how long it
takes to come back to a low (at rest) reading after exercise.

My heart rate doesn't seem to vary much always between 80 and 100 no
matter what I am doing.

My resting pulse rate is around 60 to 70, mild exercise gets me to 100.

--
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