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BP Apparatus

Posted , 5 users are following.

unnipreetha
unnipreetha

I am not a Doctor -I am on medication for hypertension. As I need to monitor my BP , I have decided to purchase a Dial Type BP meter . -- I have learned from a Doctor to check the BP with a steth - I have shortlisted Heine Gamma G5 and Heine Gamma GP and Litmann Classic 2 SE steth.

Kindly advice on which on is better Heine Gamma G5 or Heine Gamma GP

0 likes, 14 replies

14 Replies

  • jane243
    jane243 unnipreetha

    Posted

    I have an Omron M6 Comfort upper arm blood pressure monitor,have had it for almost a year and find it easy to use and reliable.  I paid £44.95 for it at Amazon. I saw it at Boots recently for around £100.00 !!  I bought this on the recommendation of my son in law and would thoroughly recommend it.
  • lubyj2
    lubyj2 unnipreetha

    Posted

    Personally, I like having the automatic one by Omron, similar to what Jane243 mentioned. The one I have is the Omron HEM780, but I heard they were discontinuing it, which could explain why it's about $100 more than I paid for mine.

    Anyway, they did make an upgrade to the Omron HEM780, which is the Omron BP-785. You can get it on Amazon here: http://amzn.to/1cUUfGu. 

    The automatic ones are just so easy to use! I've had mine for 5 years, and it gives me so much peace of mind just knowing that if I feel like my blood pressure is high one day, I can check to see what it's doing and then take appropriate action.

    Or, sometimes I even find out that I have no need to worry, which is soooo good to know! I think having a blood pressure monitor at home can actually be a stress-reliever!

    Sorry I couldn't help with the 2 types that you were choosing from, but I hope this gives you choices also. Good luck! smile

    • helen_07568
      helen_07568 lubyj2

      Posted

      having a blood pressure monitor at home can cause alot of anxiety taking it once is the trick if people get high readings they keep  on taking it and it goes up higher...  rest for 15 mins before you take it if you have been climbing stairs etc    good luck to you all and don.t   get anxious over high readings  trust your blood pressure to come down.

       

    • jane243
      jane243 helen_07568

      Posted

      But don't just not take it at home, a surgery reading can invariably be much higher, mine goes through the roof when the doc takes it yet is fine at home. When I first got my monitor a friend who had had hypertension for 20> years said i shouldn't do it, yet she had developed gout and never made the connection between it and the Benzofluro...[whatever!] that she had been on all that time. She then had a hip replacement op and was told she didn't have hypertension at all. So all the years of the diuretics and subsequent gout [well documented side effect] might never have happened had she had her own monitor at home. 
    • helen_07568
      helen_07568 jane243

      Posted

      yes anxiety has mine thro the roof 180/100 at docs and sometimes high at home so have to keep an eye on it worry is worst thing are you on medication for it jane

       

    • unnipreetha
      unnipreetha lubyj2

      Posted

      Hi Lubyanka,jane

      my doctor is completely against automatic BP monitors. He says it is not at all reliable. However I would ask him a about the models suggested by you guys

      thanks

       

    • jane243
      jane243 unnipreetha

      Posted

      Mine is absolutely fine with it, as are most doctors I believe.
    • jane243
      jane243 helen_07568

      Posted

      Yes I take Losartan Helen, 50mg . I'm fine with it although I did take Ramipril to start with and it  gave me a dreadful cough.  No side effects with Losartan though and I only need to go to the drs every 6 months now. It's just a year since I started on medication.
    • helen_07568
      helen_07568 jane243

      Posted

      hi Jane so if you have an average of 140/80 over 24 hour period does that mean you need medication,  you   mentioned this on an earlier post mine is all over the place.  Anxiety is my problem and worry makes it hit the roof I am really want to get off meds I~ take it and home and get normal readings but alot of 140.s   95.s when anxious.  Maybe ask doc to monitor it did you have a 24 hour monitor Jane?

       

    • jane243
      jane243 helen_07568

      Posted

      Hi Helen. When you say an average of 140/80 over 24 hours does this mean on a 24 hr monitor? I was  told to take it twice a day [although in the beginning  I took  it 3 times] early morning and at  bedtime, Each time I do 2 readings just a minute or two apart and record them. After a week  I take just the LOWEST of the pair of numbers and take an average. I do this for a week before the drs appointment and take all the numbers to the dr. The individual numbers are all over the place as you say but there is a pattern.  Some weeks i find the morning  readings are quite high, especially the diastolic numbers but then the evening readings compensate by being very low. Another week it is the reverse. The dr says "It is not an exact science". Initially i had a  24 hr monitor which cnfirmed what the nurse had found, namely 163/96 which is stage 2 hypertension. I was sickened as I've never been on medication for anything before and I hated the idea of it but reading up I realised that it was for life or life was likely to be shortened!  I was lucky that just one pill has dealt with the problem, my son in law has to take a full cocktail of them. So in one week the highest reading taken  into the average  was 142/92 and the lowest 103/66 with the rest somewhere inbetween giving an average of 123/75.  They want to see an average of below 135/80 - or was it 85? I know stress can make the numbers rise but I believe they don't stay high when the stress is reduced. 
    • lubyj2
      lubyj2 helen_07568

      Posted

      Helen, have you tried taking a few moments and just doing some deep breathing for your anxiety? They've proven that doing the slow deep breathing actually helps with stress and anxiety, and it is hugely helpful to me whenever I get stressed.

      One of the recommendations is to breathe SLOWLY in to a count of 4; hold for a count of 4; then breath slowly out to a count of 4. And...you guessed it - do it at least 4 times. 

      When I do that, I can actually FEEL the stress kind of melt away. Of course whatever you are stressed about is still there, but it helps you to concentrate on finding a solution to the problem. If the stress is your blood pressure, instead of telling yourself it's going to go higher, do the opposite and tell yourself it will go lower. It's amazing what  your mind can help you do!

      Hope that helps a little bit! : ) I know it sounds simple, but sometimes simple works.

    • jane243
      jane243 lubyj2

      Posted

      good advice lubyj2. I would certainly endorse the deep breathing, works wonders for me.
  • MrsO-UK_Surrey
    MrsO-UK_Surrey unnipreetha

    Posted

    Hello Unnipreetha

    Sorry, I'm a bit late seeing your post but just wanted to say that I used to have a dial type meter with steth but I couldn't get on with it because hearing my heartbeat put me off!  Perhaps I wasn't using it correctly.

    However, I also now have an Omron M5-1 Intellisense upper arm monitor and, apart from a rather tight cuff (I'm not overweight) it appears to be very reliable in that I have checked it out against the consultant's readings.  For instance when he records a reading of 200/90 with his machine, mine will confirm the reading.  Unlike your Dr, my consultant is completely in favour of us taking readings at home in view of the 'white coat' element experienced by so many of us at the surgery/hospital. 

    The consultant has now given up taking it at the hospital as although it has gradually come down at home since being on medication, it still goes flying high at the hospital.

    I take my readings in a similar fashion to Jane except that my consultant told me to take three readings each a minute or so apart and then take an average of the lowest two readings to produce a daily record for him.  I have now reduced the times I take it to once a week as I feel that taking it every day can be stressful in itself.

    I so agree with lubyj's advice about deep breathing. Like her, I can also feel such breathing melting the stress away.  In fact every time I think about starting to concentrate on relaxing, I sense my body completely unwinding with shoulders sinking - it's as though I must be tensed up most of the time! rolleyes

    Good luck with whatever monitor you decide on.

    • helen_07568
      helen_07568 MrsO-UK_Surrey

      Posted

      Yes Mrs O we can be tense even though we think we are relaxed, just look at how high bp is at clinical settings. Maybe we should all sit back submit to it all, deep breath and our bp readings might come down abit.

      Good   luck to you all,  remember bp changes with every heart beat so it is difficult to get accurate readings. relax relax relax

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