What is the relevance of diastolic numbers?

It's well over 2 years since I was diagnosed with high BP after an NHS  health check and I always felt I was just part of the cash cow system that some drs surgeries seem to use these days. [Diagnose a patient with some long term condition/disease register them on the QOF system  and the practice receives £250]. OK I may have exagerrated slightly but it's the principle and I hated it then and still do. Thoroughly resented being told by a HCW with a patronising look "That I was 70".  Thanks for that but not really ready to be shunted into a care home yet!!  Have often wished I'd never gone for the check in the first place.  My dr at the time told me on the phone - I never saw him face to face - when I asked to try and sort the problem by lifestyle  [I'd had a 24 hr monitor which said the BP was 160/93] that I would never manage on my own.  I determined to try to prove him wrong. Have to say I didn't manage but I never went back to that dr whose attitude was 'just take the tablets and ask no questions'. It was the same when my HBA1c numbers were on the pre diabetic horizon; he said to 'watch the diet and come back in a year for another test, your numbers will rise and I'll have the metformin ready for you'. No thanks !

As for the Qrisk, it's interesting just to play with the figures. Given that NICE recommend a statin be given if you have a 10%> risk and given also that that risk increases year on year just because of birthdays, you just wonder they don't put the stuff in the water supply and have done!

My BP is currently well under control at <120 5=""> on the lowest Losartan dose. It's just the occasional high number that I find alarming. And I wondered at the significance of the diastolic numbers given that Qrisk etc tend to ignore them.

Do you know Jane I think we all get those occasional high readings I know I do  mine is 116/73  this morn  but I still

 worry about it  if only some one could pat us on the back and say you are fine  suppose we should listen to our own voice   in that case sometimes I get 165/ 110 if I really get anxious about it.... this  mild weather relaxes the blood vessels   just taking it puts it up and   as long as it does.nt stay up that is the point  says she who is always taking her bp lol

You are absolutely right Helen. We are always told that BP varies throughout the day yet when we see the occasional high reading it sends us into aspiral of panic. How silly is that ! And I'm just like you as it seems; I take the reading every morning and every evening at more or less the same time each day yet when I get the occasional high I will take it moreoften throughout the day. Probably not the best idea but I do it anyway in order just to see it drop - hopefully!

If it is out of your normal range I think that you are right to keep an eye on it. The consultant at the hypertension clinic I go to says tha you can never take it to often

Hi jane, like you I have spent months taking bp readings every day, or even twice a day.  Recently I have learned that it is more accurate to take bp readings like this - sit quietyly for 5 minutes and relax.  Take your bp reading and note it down.  Wait for a couple of minutes, relax and take another bp reading and repeat this again so that you have three readings taken over 10 minutes or so, keeping yourself relaxed.  Then you discard the first reading and average out the other two readings, and this will be your accurate average reading.  It is also recommended to take bp readings two or three times a week.  I have been doing this for the past two weeks and I am happy - I feel that I have some 'control' and that I am not at the mercy of my bp readings, if that makes sense.  I recently read a book by Samuel J Mann MD on Hypertension, which gives a lot of information about BP meds and how they work, and he recommends taking bp readings in this way.  Good luck with your blood pressure.

  Suzanne     

That is exactly how I was told to do mine and the longer you do them and the more you except your good readings as being accurate the better they are

One GP I saw said the same thing, I just wonder why these risk assessments choose to ignore diastolic numbers.  I would have thought 124 was cause for concern too.