Blood pressure higher in dominant arm

This OP is talking about taking readings from both right and left arms, which is an entirely reasonable thing to do.  As to checking the pulse, 15 seconds may be fine for a quick read, but if one is concerned about one's pulse, taking the full minute count is always of value.

here here  I totally agree that is one thing we don.t want more anxiey lets keep calm and stick to the left arm only folks,,,, I have to admit I did try it

With what result?

slightly lower in the right but like I say time you change arms its difficult to get an accurate reading you would need 2 monitors at the same time and thats over the top      happy days

I have two as I kept the twelve year old one after buying a new one.  I need two hands to use the old one as the O ring that the air plug for the cuff fits in is now rather a loose fit and can shoot out when the pressure builds up so I have to hold it in place.

I still use it sometimes and It is still accurate when compared to the new one.

so you won.t be able to do the two arm challenge then, I am putting the right arm totally out of my mind derek... yes I have heard that lloyds chemist do a good one mine is omron but is getting old can.t remember how much it cost was best of a hundred pounds I think alot of years ago, think they are less expensive now... 

I bought an all singing all dancing one new Omron onEBay for £49. (retail about £130) It came from a doctor so was probably a sample he had been given.

From the Mayo clinic:

Ask your doctor for a blood pressure reading at least every two years starting at age 18. Blood pressure should be checked in both arms to determine if there is a difference. Your doctor will likely recommend more frequent readings if you've already been diagnosed with high blood pressure or other risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

55 years old in January Derek just done 20 mins on me bike, and it is 121/79  84   high bp is nothing to take lightly I hope you don.t mind me having a bit of a joke in my last post but laughing is a sure way to bring it down, going to badmington this afternoon to keep up my regime have a good day... hav.nt taken anything but bee propolis for it  in the last 24 hours...I do get myself stressed about it though, you seem to take it all in your stride....  have a good day all you lovely folks on this forum.

Joke away, laughter is the best medicine. I take it in my stride as I am still here at 80 after having had labile hypertension since 2000. No one has yet found a reason for it or a drug to stabilise it but I continue my quest and chase up any new procedures and try to be considered for them. I get told that I am not a suitable subject or that my BP is not consistently high enough. Players cigarette adverts used to say 'It's the tobacco that counts'.  Cardiologists say It's the average that counts.

My last 24 hour BP monitor average was 151/78 and that was on a day I did no walking and my wife had to wheel me down the hospital corridor   as I had injured my knee the day before.

My final hope is the Hypertension Referral Centre I managed to get referred to this year. Perhaps my recent MR scan will show something.

Yesterday my readings were:

Morning 171/74 42

Lunchtime after being out 145/76 45

Evening 199/110 44

Bedtime 146/79 43

Today

Morning 170/90 50

Afternoon after being out 107/58 61

No rhyme nor reason and no pattern to it

people say there is a pattern to it but I have yet to find it, this morning I have has 2 crushed garlic cloves in cranberry tea with a slice of lemon, to be honest I hate garlic but it did.nt taste too bad.. this was not for my bp but for a rotten urinary tract infection that I seem to have developed, sure no one will come near me today except vampires but luckily halloween has been and gone    joking again its what gets me through the day derek... 

Helen, I have a friend who has repeated bouts of UTIs.  After finding the cranberry juice of little help, she resorted to cranberry pills from the health shop and found them far more successful.

When I awoke in the early hours one morning last year with an obvious UTI of some sort (frequency, stinging, passing blood and uncontrollable trembling), I panicked because of having only one kidney and never had a UTI since childhood which led to a kidney being removed.  I drank a glass of warm water with a few squeezes of lemon juice and waited for the surgery to open. taking a specimen with me.  By the time I had the appointment and collected the prescription, all symptoms disappeared so I didn't take the pills.  I was left wondering if the lemon juice in warm water immediately upon the arrival of symptoms could have nipped the UTI in the bud.

I hope you feel better soon and well done you with the garlic especially when you don't like it! 

That sounds disgusting:-)

I take garlic tablets, green tea, cod liver oil and turmeric at different times.

Thank you Mrs O for your post I  am away to make more warm water and lemon juice the symtoms have subsided abit that is really interesting, sorry to hear about your kidney being removed no wonder you panicked, uti.s should be taken seriously..   the garlic is strong can still taste it where did you hear about the lemon water as a remedy??

yes well when we have to take remedies it never seems to be strawberries and cream does it ha ha

You may have found a new cure!

It may be a cause rather than a remedy:-)  I had a lot of UTI's prior to prostate surgery last year. One time I took a sample to my GP that he said was clear but a bit acidic. I said that we had eaten our first strawberries of the season the day before.  He said, that would be the cause of the acidity.

Cranberries are also acidic. The surgeon told me not to drink cranberry juice after my operation as he said it would make my urethra sting evenmore.

From a lemon or lemon juice?

yes cranberry juice has lot of sugar in it aswell, my dad has a permanent catheter after 2 failed turps ops they tell him cranberry juice but he does.nt like it so is on a low dose antibiotic everyday well he.s  not happy about it, but this has been going on for ten years. He was 90 last month but there is no doubt about the fact that the catheter has saved his life, never gets uti.s now he is on the low dose antibiotic.. by the way I used the juice of a real lemon,.. He used a speedy cath for a while but was.nt getting it all out and it gets infected,. can.t take cranberry if you are taking warfirin I don.t think..

how was you rbp when you had to go to the theatre for your operation on your prostrate my dad wad in the university hospital in Durham you have to walk to the theatre now no porters, he does.nt have high bp not even in hospital I not nice walking to theatre these days

Helen, I've been having a small glass of warm water with a few squeezes of lemon juice first thing in the morning for many years.  I once read it was the Queen's beauty secret, so I thought what's good enough for the Queen is good enough for me!  So having it at 4am in the morning when I awoke in such a state was just a natural thing for me to do.  It could have been a fluke, but as lemon juice, although acidic, turns alkaline in the body then that just might have helped to restore the bladder from an acid to an alkaline state.  Some months after this experience I again awoke finding I was shaking and wondered whether it was the start of another UTI.  Immediately I tried the same drink and nothing developed.  

Yes from a lemon, Derek.  Read my post above about lemon juice turning alkaline in the body.

Thank you for that Mrs O it certainly is going to be my habit everyday, 4am in the morning can be a scary time if you wake in a startle about symptoms  hope the lemon water does the trick, I get recurrent uti.s so I will drink that every am.... make sure if you put a slice of lemon in the water you wash the lemon first... was just saying how well the queen does for her age but they have doctors around them 24/7  have a lovely evening.

Sorry to hear of your fathers failed TURP's. I kept my enlarged prostate for ten years as I would not have a TURP. I waited for laser surgery to start and had PVP green light laser surgery in 2005. It was done on the Friday afternoon and I expected to go home the next day. As I was not voiding completely they kept me another night as I had a 150 mile train journey home.  Everything OK on the Monday and I went to the races. 

My prostate regrew and last year I had Thulim Laser surgery. Again I expected to go home the next day but I was still passing blood so they kept me another night and sent me home with a catheter in. I still get UTI's and prostatitis. I could not take Cranberry as I was on Warfarin last year but stopped it as it gave me joint pains. I did take cranberry this year when I had a UTI but as you say  it has too much sugar in it.  

My BP was quite reasonable each time I had laser surgery. Things like that do not worry me its like getting on a plane and everything is out of your hands.  Most of the nurses on the ward I was in admitted to having higher BP than they should and most smoked. I had the PVP in Newcastle and they wheeled me to the theatre on a trolley. The urologist who did mine also works at Durham or is it Hexam. I chose Newcastle as they were one of the first to trial laser surgery. My urologist later did a massive prostate on a 92 tyear old as he said it is a very gentle procedure.

As they say, the answers a lemon:-)

 We never buy lemons just use lemon juice from a bottle or a squeezy.

How much does the Royal Family's health rely on homepathy?

There was a snippet in the Mail the other day saying that years ago her sinusitis was treated by a homeopath with Malvern water and a homeopthic remedy.

Thank you, Helen.  We use organic lemons, but yes still very important to wash them first, as with all fruit and veg.  If we're having berry fruits and they're not organic I always soak them for a few minutes with a drop of vinegar in the water.  But then I always was a bit of a fusspot!!

Yuk Derek, I really don't fancy lemon juice from a squeezy.

I put it on fish before microwaving it and we use it on beef stroganoff.

Internet concensus is fresh is best. Some are concerned it takes the enamal off your teeth and it is said:

"Lemon juice in water helps you pee more, which is more or less the only added benefit you get from drinking it. It's good for times of bloating to help flush you out. Some people insist that it has to be hot lemon water and fresh lemons"

You can use lemon juice to cook fish. Ceviche is a South American way of semi-cooking fish or meat by using acid from citrus fruit

Yes, fresh every time for me as with all foods.  Lemon juice in warm water as a first drink of the day is a good detox.  I agree dentists don't like the idea, but I do follow it up with a breakfast containing 'live' yoghurt which perhaps may help to neutralise the acid risk to teeth.....which reminds me I'm off for a filling this morning!

My wife is off to the dentist this afternoon. The week before last one of her teeth broke off at the gum. The dentist said despite our protests that it was not necessary to remove the root and just added another tooth to her upper denture. Since then eating has been painful and last night became much worse. 

Hope she has a better time than I did last year when my crown came off. The dentist said that she could not fit another to it and set about removing the root, Thirty five minutes later she was bathed in sweat and I was not too happy either:-) I have very deep roots. She drilled into it to get a better grip and the root split in two. One bit came out the other proved stubborn. I was concerned about bleeding as I was on warfarin at the time but she put stitches in and plugged the hole.

Going for laser prostate surgery the next week was a much less traumatic experience.

Casting my mind back I remember my mother and MIL drinking lemon juice in water in the mornings.  Not from fresh lemons but a big bottle with the brand name PLJ...Pure Lemon Juice.

Google tells me that it still lives on Tesco's shelves.

Great your laser treatment worked, yes they have some good hospitals up in the north east, I have the royal berkshire here in Reading, The nhs gets alot of bad press but  they do alot of good never hear much about  that...

Had my lemon garlic and cranberry tea again feeling   

There is a group called Prostate Problems. The story of your fathers two failed TURP's would be of interest to others there if you care to post it.

I hear of lots of failed TURP's and the after  problems of the sucessfull ones.

I lived in Scotland then and asked to be referred the Freeman in Newcastle for it. It is an excellent hospital, even the food was good.

The two hospitals I have been a patient in in Sussex were very good. The big problem is still waiting times for outpatient appointments and the time between tests before anything is done, My aortic stenosis was diagnosed in London in March 2011 when trying to get on a hypertension trial program. My GP then had to refer me to our local hospital and it took 54 weeks from first out patients appointment to progress to my surgery. Your life is on stop during that time. It would have taken much longer if I had not been pushy and phoning between appointments asking about getting a cancellation and eventually finding that that the letter referring me for surgery had not been sent after a month.

The paperwork and administration is the main stumbling block with results getting lost, letters not sent.Twice letters from my GP to the hospital were never received. My wife and I have each been told at times that we had dropped of the Radar.

 

Thank you I will post on that forum Derek, the problem with the nhs is obvious too many patients to treat, yes the freeman is an amazing hospital, never been in it myself though and a friendly bunch of geordie staff I bet, I was in Middlesborough general for my big operation along time ago, it is not there now, a new housing estate stands on the site it is The James Cook hospital for that are now,they do alot of prostrate and bladder work in Sunderland as well which is also good..

Can't believe the things I read in your posts sometimes - so many of your problems mirror mine.  This time it's the teeth with their very deep roots.  When one of my crowns broke off to the gum and couldn't be replaced, I so feared having the root removed that I left it for a couple of years, after having a really horrid experience at the hospital during an apisectomy.  I finally plucked up the courage and saw a consultant privately at the same hospital.  He had a helluva job to get the root out, and had to have a second go at cutting deeper into the gum.  Was stitched up but it started bleeding at the chemist when I collected the antibiotics he'd prescribed and took some time to stop.  However, at least it all healed well eventually.  I've got 5 remaining crowns so I dread it happening again.  The filling today took 40mins and I did feel quite light-headed when I got out of the chair with even my vision feeling strange on the way home.  It's still feeling quite proud even though she spent ages putting the tape in and out and asking me to bite.  I've got to try and get on with it otherwise she said it's another crown.  I already have a tooth the other side of my mouth which in spite of being filled and, according to the dentist, looking good, has obviousy got a fracture somewhere deep as I can't chew anything hard on that side.  Putting up with it for as lng as possible, wimp that I am.  The filling itself today was £130 so I hope that isn't money down the drain.  It's expensive getting old what with teeth wearing out, eyes dimming and the chiropodist - they all know how to charge.  Hope your wife got on ok . 

The prostate is the one area where I accused a consultant of ageism. A lot of men are leading miserable lives on drugs that cause them bad side effects rather than giving them surgery even if it is TURP.

About ten years ago a friend in Middlesborough had prostate problems and was having to self cathertise four times a day. They said that TURP was the only procedure they would ever do and they refused to refer him to a hospital that did laser surgery. He ended up paying over £5K to have it done privately. Since then the James Cook have seen the (laser) light and now do it.

The Geordies are very friendly people. I almost went to live there once as a company I worked for relocated from London to Cramlington. I decided that it was too damn cold with that East wind howling in from the sea.

I'll do long PM about my dental experiences and my wifes even worse ones sometime.

I shouldn't bother, Derek - it will raise your blood pressure and mine!

:-)

The root that my wifes dentist said could be left alone ten days ago after her tooth broke off now has an infection that has caused an abcess. Now on an antiobiotic prior to having it removed. She is not a happy bunny.

Oh do give her a hug.

Yes it is cold up there Derek, that would only serve to put the bp up so I will stay in the south and return home in the summer for visits only...

No Helen you don't need two monitors. You take it in one arm and then the other, if the difference is 10 or higher it might  mean problems with heart or vascular disease.Always good to be on top of any problems before they get worse.

It is physiciologically wrong to measure both arms simultaneously.  Please read how the heart functions, and do further research on proper blood pressure measurement technique.  Here is one very thorough exploration of technique:   http://wellnessproposals.com/health-care/handouts/blood-pressure/adult-blood-pressure-manual.pdf