How long should I wait to take my resting BP? - High & Low Blood Pressure Message Board

rjworell · 04-14-2005, 08:03 AM

Hey everyone, I love this forum, your all so helpfull. Here is my story and question.
I'm 37 and have been on BP meds for 20yrs. My mother had a heart attack 7 months ago and really woke me up... I went to my doctors office any he said my readings were a little high and I could really beat this if I lost weight and ate better. I took the challenge and lost 20pounds and work out lifting weights and running 2 miles 3 to 4 times a week..He dropped my meds from 50mg atenalol to 25 because my readings went down from 135/140 over 85/90 down to 115/65 consistently. Then he dropped them again to 12 and my BP stayed low. Then he took me off. Its been 6 weeks and I had an appointment yesterday and wouldn't you know it....my bp was 145/85 (Damn) He was not concerned at all because I had to wait in his office for over 2hrs to see him....

He wants me to monitor still once a week after I get home from work at the end of the day. I used to check my readings after I got home from the gym. Was this a bad Idea??

Also I have to sit at least 20 minutes till my readings are perfect. I check usually 4 times and it will start at 125/70 and go down from there or stay there. Can I average this and feel confident about my readings. Or should I take the first one and call it good.

I know that 125/70 is good. But I got use to readings below 120/80 when I checked after a workout. and I just want to know if I should be concerned.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Rich

Palamedes · 04-14-2005, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjworell

He wants me to monitor still once a week after I get home from work at the end of the day. I used to check my readings after I got home from the gym. Was this a bad Idea??

For me (and probably most people), a reading taken about an hour after a workout will be a very low reading. It's probably OK to average in an occasional workout reading - afterall, your BP is really that low for a while. But, to only take readings after a workout is not going to give you an accurate picture of your BP.

Pal

rjworell · 04-14-2005, 09:30 AM

Thnaks Palamedes, I appreciate your comments very much. I noticed last night I started to take my readings after work. My first was 124/70 then 7 min. later it was 125/68, then 7 min. later it was 116/68. So I averaged them out.
I bet that is more of my true readings.

Rich

mrmojo · 04-14-2005, 09:46 AM

i have found, and others seem to have the same problem, that the first reading on my monitor is wacko about 1/3 of the time

i wait a couple minutes between readings, throw out any that are way different than the others, and average the rest (usually 3)

at times if im not feeling well i will get a bunch of different readings, then i just average all of them

but you have to wait at least a minute between readings, maybe more depending on your build, as the cuff constricts the blood vessels & will cause subsequent readings to be higher if you dont wait long enough for them to relax back to their normal size

pal7778 · 04-14-2005, 11:01 AM

Congratulations on the good results of your hard work. You bp is fine, forget about it for a while. For the record, my is very low an hour after exercising, relatively high if I sit down quickly to take it after work. It drops off after I sit in the same place for several minutes--often as much as 15-20 mgs systolic. But all in all I wish I could achieve what you did.