The important thing is acceptance and control – accept that you need to make severe lifestyle changes and take control of your own health now!

Blood Pressure Monitors

One valuable item you can acquire quite early on is a personal blood pressure monitor in order for you to measure your own blood pressure without having to visit your GP. These are usually simpler than the equipment your doctor uses which makes them less intimidating and easier to use. Nowadays a number of small and convenient battery powered models are available which can automatically detect when an artery has closed or opened so don’t have to use a stethoscope. The usually consist of a battery powered module with a digital readout attached to an inflatable cuff. A battery powered pump inflates the cuff and when if detect that the artery is closed being to release the pressure slowly making pressure measurements as it does so.

It is important to buy a good quality, accurate model which is well made from a reputable manufacturer

 Additional features such as the ability to measure pulse rate and the ability to record a series of measurements can be included; this will allow you to track how your blood pressure varies during the day. These can either be stored in the device or transcribed onto a spreadsheet or chart for reference.

 On getting a blood pressure monitor and beginning to record readings you’ll begin to note that your blood pressure varies considerably during the day. Generally blood pressure is lowest when we are sleeping and then rises throughout the day reaching a steady level however exertion, activity & stress will all cause it to fluctuate. This is why it is important to take your own readings, your doctor takes it once in a certain set of circumstances, and you can take a number of readings and observe the trend. I’d recommend taking three readings a day, one on waking, one at lunch time and one in the evening. You should wait one hour after smoking and half an hour after coffee before taking the reading.

 When you next visit your GP it might be a good idea to take your personal blood pressure monitor along with you. Then when he takes your blood pressure reading you can compare it with a reading from your own device for calibration. It may be slightly out, this is to be expected, but a large difference should cause concern as to the accuracy of the device which you should address. You should also if possible let him see the collected data from your daily measurements to get an overall picture.

 You may notice that your blood pressure as taken by your GP is higher than what you would normally expect. Most people find visiting a GP stressful which is enough to raise blood pressure by a few points, Doctors have a name for this, and they call it white coat hypertension.

 Try and understand what causes changes during the day, you may notice a sudden peak in one measurement, how did you feel at the time? Where you stressed? Tired? Hungry? Record your thoughts and state against each measurement if you can.

 Now that you can measure your blood pressure we are ready to look at the actions we can take to reduce it and importantly we now have feedback we can see how effective each of these measures is.