Blood pressure fluctuation?

Dave_19 · May 11, 2006

Last week I thought I had low BP, with a reading of 118/68 (test method was the machine at pharmacy). Today at the doctors It read 140/100. Is it possible for BP to actually fluctuate this much? I tested again at the pharmacy right after that and it was 121/83. Regardless I don't think its too high but Im wondering if I should just use one method and use the avg of 3 readings or some thing? any recommendations for home testing equipment? Thanks.

manboy270 · May 12, 2006

Those pharmacy machines aren't designed for big arms-I don't know how accurate they are anyway. Same shit happened to me 2 weeks ago but not as high. BP does flucuate but I don't know how high. You should go to Walgreens and by their BP monitoring kit-not the $$$ electronic jobs. It's like $17, and has the same gizmo the docs use(cheaper version I'm sure) plus a "how to" manual and a notebook to chart results.

HELLA SWOLE · May 12, 2006

those pharmacy ones are shit, they are only for up to 13" arms

STEVO 47 · May 12, 2006

I never rely on the blood pressure machines at thoughs damn stores
but when I went to my primar. care doc. for my back mine read 120
over 80. two days later at the ER. they took it at a reading of 140
over 90, and besides my back I feel fine. I think it depends on stress.

Dave_19 · May 12, 2006

just to be safe I bought a digital reader that is designed for large arms. It has a large cuff. It was not a bad deal either. My doctor also prescribed for me a small ammount of tenormin, im still trying to find a med that works for me. My big concern is that im natural now and have been for a long time, along with eating healthy so if I have high BP now, I cannot imagine how it would be on a cycle.

bigp3 · May 12, 2006

Mine goes all over the place and has since I was 18 or 19. My dad has the same issues. It could be a genetic thing with.

My by problems always seems to be sodium related. I am hyper-sodium sensative and I found when I eat meals with extra sodium even if it is just dumping some ketchup or BBQ sauce on stuff my BP will shoot up for a few hours. I would go buy a BP monitor at your drug store and check it 3 or 4 times a day after meals. Keep a log and watch what happens for a month or so. The first time I did this I found mine would be 140/100 one time then 120 of 75 the next etc. Once I isolated that sodium was the problem for me and kept it in check I managed to keep mine in the 120 over 75 range all the time.

Hope this helps.

Ashop · May 12, 2006

Dave_19 said:
Last week I thought I had low BP, with a reading of 118/68 (test method was the machine at pharmacy). Today at the doctors It read 140/100. Is it possible for BP to actually fluctuate this much? I tested again at the pharmacy right after that and it was 121/83. Regardless I don't think its too high but Im wondering if I should just use one method and use the avg of 3 readings or some thing? any recommendations for home testing equipment? Thanks.

I've had mine flucuate from 120/70 to 200/120 for no known reason. Sometimes these testing units will vary in measurement. Good idea to buy a digital one for around $50 to have around the house.