O
OrlandoTommy
Why do the docs say to sit down while taking your blood pressure instead of standing up?
Thanks,
Tommy
Thanks,
Tommy
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They want a reading "at rest".
When you stand, your BP and HR will increase, even if only slightly.
When you stand, your BP and HR will increase, even if only slightly.
O
OrlandoTommy
See thats what i thought, but when i stand my reading is normal 125/80, but when i sit its all wacked out at 145/95, maybe its my wrist BP machine acting funny...
Just curious, thanks though!
Just curious, thanks though!
I have the automatic cuff type of BP monitor.
Try sitting at the table with your arm on it. Breathe, relax, then start it.
Try sitting at the table with your arm on it. Breathe, relax, then start it.
Trinityheart8891
Well-known member
hey,
as far as I know, when you stand up your blood pressure changes because the size of your blood vessels change in response so blood doesnt pool in places like your legs, sitting BP is more accurate
Morgan, 20
as far as I know, when you stand up your blood pressure changes because the size of your blood vessels change in response so blood doesnt pool in places like your legs, sitting BP is more accurate
Morgan, 20
hensylee
Well-known member
at times, they might ask the patient to sit, then stand, then lie down in order to get a good picture of what's happening.
Blood Pressure Readings
Blood Pressure Readings
Some BP-taking thoughts...
First, check the cuff size. Many brands made in China contain cuffs that are not suitable for American arms, as they're intended for thinner fare. The instruction manual should tell you what arm circumferences the included cuff is accurate for.
Get a good brand. AND and Omron are well-recognized brands for accuracy. There are claims and counter-claims about wrist cuff and even finger cuff types, but the arm cuff machines seem to be the most reliable for most people.
The arm you're taking the reading from should be straight, not bent, with the inside of the elbow (your "elbow-pit") facing forward. This makes it easier for the machine to read the pressure. You can put a pillow behind the arm so it will stay straight without you forcing it. You should be at rest, not "posing" your arm for the cuff. On most models, the pressure line from the cuff should be in the front and centered with (but above) your elbow-pit. Make sure the cuff is fully above the bones in your elbow.
Don't take the reading through a shirt, or with the sleeve rolled up tight on your arm. Don't talk while (or just before) taking your blood pressure. This can raise the pressure to alarming heights. (I note that they are almost always chattering away with you when or just before they take your BP at the doctor's office.)
Don't take your BP right after coming up the stairs or lifting something heavy. Don't hold your breath while taking your BP. Don't take measurements after an argument, when you're angry or stressed, right after eating, or while watching an action-adventure TV show.
Do take readings at different times of the day and keep a log (note: it's not required to take it every different time every day, or even every day). Bring the log with you to both your cardiologist and your GP.
Don't let an occasional slightly high reading concern you overly, unless it's perilously high. You're a living creature, and your blood pressure will vary for a diverse variety of reasons. Beware of BP escalation spirals, where one reading worries you, so you take another, and it's higher, and you start getting nervous about it, and you run to the doctor, and the doctor's reading is even higher, and now he's concerned, and you're getting really scared now, and... well, you get the picture.
My son has classic "white coat fever," and we went though about seven hours of this with a pediatrician, who took his high-reading BP several times, followed by a cardiac specialist pediatrician, who tested him for blockages, and finally became adamant that he needed to go with my son to the hospital for observation and immediate drug treatment to lower his now nearly life-threatening blood pressure. None of them could see the obvious rising fear and the spiral, although I tried to explain it to them. So, I pulled the plug on it, with ominous warnings of the extreme and immediate danger I was putting my child in, and dragged the boy out of their clutches. Three hours after we got home, I took a blood pressure reading: completely normal. Fear is a powerful thing.
The object of telling you about this is not to have you disbelieve your doctors or ignore high blood pressure readings, but to urge you to try to apply common sense to situations that seem senseless. And consider that, if you do have some kind of a similar episode, and you do wind up on very powerful drugs, it's a 100% solution for a 1% issue. After a similar episode with my mother wound up with her in the hospital, the doctors, congratulating themselves on saving her from her high blood pressure attack, forgot to take her off of their miracle medications when she left, until weeks later she fainted away in the grocery store. Fortunately, she wasn't driving at the time. Her blood pressure was (of course) too low to maintain consciousness...
Don't rely solely on doctor's office readings as a diagnostic tool for starting or changing a blood pressure medication prescription. Insist on an overnight mobile blood pressure monitor first. Your home pressures are often much more reasonable than those taken in the office, and a single reading in an office is just a tragically poor excuse to apply life-altering drugs to a person.
Normal blood pressure is 120/80 or lower. The numbers in between 120/81 through 139/89 are termed prehypertension, but are not considered high blood pressure. 140/90 or higher is high blood pressure.
Blood pressure medications all have varying side effects, and they also lose effectiveness over time and have to have their dosages increased or have you switched to more potent medications. You do want to take as much BP medication as your body may require to maintain reasonable blood pressure, but no more than you absolutely need.
Best wishes,
Blood Pressure Readings
Some BP-taking thoughts...
First, check the cuff size. Many brands made in China contain cuffs that are not suitable for American arms, as they're intended for thinner fare. The instruction manual should tell you what arm circumferences the included cuff is accurate for.
Get a good brand. AND and Omron are well-recognized brands for accuracy. There are claims and counter-claims about wrist cuff and even finger cuff types, but the arm cuff machines seem to be the most reliable for most people.
The arm you're taking the reading from should be straight, not bent, with the inside of the elbow (your "elbow-pit") facing forward. This makes it easier for the machine to read the pressure. You can put a pillow behind the arm so it will stay straight without you forcing it. You should be at rest, not "posing" your arm for the cuff. On most models, the pressure line from the cuff should be in the front and centered with (but above) your elbow-pit. Make sure the cuff is fully above the bones in your elbow.
Don't take the reading through a shirt, or with the sleeve rolled up tight on your arm. Don't talk while (or just before) taking your blood pressure. This can raise the pressure to alarming heights. (I note that they are almost always chattering away with you when or just before they take your BP at the doctor's office.)
Don't take your BP right after coming up the stairs or lifting something heavy. Don't hold your breath while taking your BP. Don't take measurements after an argument, when you're angry or stressed, right after eating, or while watching an action-adventure TV show.
Do take readings at different times of the day and keep a log (note: it's not required to take it every different time every day, or even every day). Bring the log with you to both your cardiologist and your GP.
Don't let an occasional slightly high reading concern you overly, unless it's perilously high. You're a living creature, and your blood pressure will vary for a diverse variety of reasons. Beware of BP escalation spirals, where one reading worries you, so you take another, and it's higher, and you start getting nervous about it, and you run to the doctor, and the doctor's reading is even higher, and now he's concerned, and you're getting really scared now, and... well, you get the picture.
My son has classic "white coat fever," and we went though about seven hours of this with a pediatrician, who took his high-reading BP several times, followed by a cardiac specialist pediatrician, who tested him for blockages, and finally became adamant that he needed to go with my son to the hospital for observation and immediate drug treatment to lower his now nearly life-threatening blood pressure. None of them could see the obvious rising fear and the spiral, although I tried to explain it to them. So, I pulled the plug on it, with ominous warnings of the extreme and immediate danger I was putting my child in, and dragged the boy out of their clutches. Three hours after we got home, I took a blood pressure reading: completely normal. Fear is a powerful thing.
The object of telling you about this is not to have you disbelieve your doctors or ignore high blood pressure readings, but to urge you to try to apply common sense to situations that seem senseless. And consider that, if you do have some kind of a similar episode, and you do wind up on very powerful drugs, it's a 100% solution for a 1% issue. After a similar episode with my mother wound up with her in the hospital, the doctors, congratulating themselves on saving her from her high blood pressure attack, forgot to take her off of their miracle medications when she left, until weeks later she fainted away in the grocery store. Fortunately, she wasn't driving at the time. Her blood pressure was (of course) too low to maintain consciousness...
Don't rely solely on doctor's office readings as a diagnostic tool for starting or changing a blood pressure medication prescription. Insist on an overnight mobile blood pressure monitor first. Your home pressures are often much more reasonable than those taken in the office, and a single reading in an office is just a tragically poor excuse to apply life-altering drugs to a person.
Normal blood pressure is 120/80 or lower. The numbers in between 120/81 through 139/89 are termed prehypertension, but are not considered high blood pressure. 140/90 or higher is high blood pressure.
Blood pressure medications all have varying side effects, and they also lose effectiveness over time and have to have their dosages increased or have you switched to more potent medications. You do want to take as much BP medication as your body may require to maintain reasonable blood pressure, but no more than you absolutely need.
Best wishes,
L
Lisa in Katy
I also heard that you're supposed to sit comfortably still for about 5 minutes before taking your BP to allow it to stabilize. Yet, when you go to the doctor, you are sitting in the waiting room, they call your name, you stand up, set down your magazine, and trek back to the examining room, they ask you to "hop up" on the table, and they immediately take your BP, all the while asking you questions about how things are going. Mine is always high. Then when the doctor comes in after I've been sitting for a little while, wishing I hadn't put down the magazine, he looks at the number, takes it again, and it is fine, because by then it is a resting BP. What's the point of taking it immediately after you get to the room?
