Which BP cuff is more accurate?

[Red Flag 1]

a light year or so ago, us old guys could get the systolic right by just watching the deflection of needle on the BP cuff analog gauge.

[Kat]

Originally Posted by MAB32

Doc,

that's the way he wants me to do it via my own manual BP cuff. Take it everyday for a week and then send him the numbers. It is like he doesn't believe in manual monitors anymore and wants proof.

That may be to eliminate "white coat hypertension" you may experience in the office. The technique they often use in the office setting is so poor it can't be trusted, so home monitoring can be helpful.

[JJ_BPK]

Originally Posted by Kat

That may be to eliminate "white coat hypertension" you may experience in the office. The technique they often use in the office setting is so poor it can't be trusted, so home monitoring can be helpful.

I have had this problem for some 10 yrs. At home I get much lower results than in the office. I have had two different cuffs and annually take them to the Doc to verify BP against his units. Minor but consistent variances..

I may have it too. It may also be the fact that when you arrive you have typically have a 20-40 minute wait time before you are seen. The waiting room is usually full (20-30) people and it looks like something you would find at a free clinic. Plus, it smells in there. I think I just might search out another doctor because it is just not conducive to good health there.

Also, by the time I see the Doc, I am usually a little upset at having to wait that long to be seen and the rudeness of the people in the waiting room.

[Kat]

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

I have had this problem for some 10 yrs. At home I get much lower results than in the office. I have had two different cuffs and annually take them to the Doc to verify BP against his units. Minor but consistent variances..

The true way to do BP is lie in a dark room, unattended for 30 minutes... When has that every happened, never. A 24 yo medical assistant rolls a cart in, puts on a cuff that may be too small for the arm you have, read it.


The home units are quite accurate like you say. My only concern is when office reading high doc may pile on RX. I have done meditation and lowered mine significantly. Good luck with navigating your health care.

[JJ_BPK]

Originally Posted by Kat

The true way to do BP is lie in a dark room, unattended for 30 minutes... When has that every happened, never. A 24 yo medical assistant rolls a cart in, puts on a cuff that may be too small for the arm you have, read it.


The home units are quite accurate like you say. My only concern is when office reading high doc may pile on RX. I have done meditation and lowered mine significantly. Good luck with navigating your health care.

Well aware of cuff sizing,, I make sure the large cuff is used every time..

As to meds,, I challenge the doc every visit, remind him of how long I've been on the meds and ask about kidney & liver markers..

[Kat]

Originally Posted by MAB32

I may have it too. It may also be the fact that when you arrive you have typically have a 20-40 minute wait time before you are seen. The waiting room is usually full (20-30) people and it looks like something you would find at a free clinic. Plus, it smells in there. I think I just might search out another doctor because it is just not conducive to good health there.

Also, by the time I see the Doc, I am usually a little upset at having to wait that long to be seen and the rudeness of the people in the waiting room.

Smells? Like medical or human ? That is unsat no matter what the source. You need to get out as soon as possible.

VA or civilian? Could be either I guess. I know my office is clean, nice, polite but the wait can be stressful. Some of us don't like to relinquish control of the situation and that is deleterious.

Yes, interview the new doc, check the wait times before agreeing to be seen. I go out of town as I followed my military doctor to her new TOC. Worth it as she knows me for 20 years, inside and out.


Good luck on your search.

Civilian and smells of humans who haven't bathed in a few days. I have been seeing him for over 25+ years now. His brother was my partner for a while. He has made two major screw-ups this year alone with my wife. Both potentially very serious to her health. He is a "teaching" doc over at the university and spends more time on that. Kat, your right, it is time to find a new Doc. I have been to several of my specialists within the last 4 months and my BP was always 130 something over 80.

I am thinking of opening a new thread on "How to choose a great Doctor", but can we do it here or start the thread?

[Kat]

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK

Well aware of cuff sizing,, I make sure the large cuff is used every time..

As to meds,, I challenge the doc every visit, remind him of how long I've been on the meds and ask about kidney & liver markers..

I didn't mean to infer YOU didn't but sometimes they will use a smaller. Good that you ask, again just in general not specifically aimed at you. Not everyone is on top of things as you are.

[Kat]

Originally Posted by MAB32

Civilian and smells of humans who haven't bathed in a few days. I have been seeing him for over 25+ years now. His brother was my partner for a while. He has made two major screw-ups this year alone with my wife. Both potentially very serious to her health. He is a "teaching" doc over at the university and spends more time on that. Kat, your right, it is time to find a new Doc. I have been to several of my specialists within the last 4 months and my BP was always 130 something over 80.

I am thinking of opening a new thread on "How to choose a great Doctor", but can we do it here or start the thread?

OK, so a 3d world environ then. That was the old TOC here years ago, I am in SoCa, and even though it was 100% military it was bad. It was as you described it, a train station in Bangladesh. family would bring 10 people into the exam room, all to be seen in a 15 visit. "As long as we are all here..."

I had a similar this summer, RX sent me to ED, 24 hours of tests, worry. Glad your wife made it out, some don't when mistakes are made.


If he is preoccupied with his first love teaching ( or so it seems) he may be just going through the motions at the office. Bad medicine.


I am new here so don't know policy but I would think a separate thread would be easier. Sort of divide it, as far as what works, what doesn't and how to navigate. Sounds good to me.

[NurseTim]

Originally Posted by PedOncoDoc

Manual blood pressures, when properly taken, are always more accurate.

Using an appropriateky-sized cuff is also important, but this is typically more an issue in pediatrics than in adult medicine.

I would trust my cardiologist and any time my primary care provider wantsa to change a medication related to my cardiovascular system I would contact my cardiologist and ask for their recommendation on how to proceed.

Funny, I had a patient that I could not muscle their pressure to a near normal reading. So, I thought, "Well, lets call in the experts." And sent the Pt. To cardiology. They did squat shit. Not the first time I've rolled snake eyes sending a hypertensive to "the experts" I have had much better results sending them to nephrology.

[NurseTim]

Originally Posted by Kat

The true way to do BP is lie in a dark room, unattended for 30 minutes... When has that every happened, never. A 24 yo medical assistant rolls a cart in, puts on a cuff that may be too small for the arm you have, read it.


The home units are quite accurate like you say. My only concern is when office reading high doc may pile on RX. I have done meditation and lowered mine significantly. Good luck with navigating your health care.

If you are engineering the "perfect environment" to take a blood pressure, well you are wrong. That's not life. Life is adverse. I want BP medications that will keep my pressure WNL (within normal limits, not We Never Looked), after I've don't my part with diet and exercise. Ideal conditions are all well and good, but it is not life. The point is to keep my pressure as close to normal when the butt munch I front of you slams on the brakes.

I had another patient tell me their BP was normally borderline low. Comes into see me and it was ridiculously high. This Pt was newly homeless, tried 3 different agents. Then I found out there was a domestic violence component involved. I did what I could to get the Pt. Into a DV shelter. When I saw the Pt. A week later, the BP was normal and the was no anxiety radiating off of the Pt. As well.