BP in right or left arm - does it matter?

tinamarie0914 · 10-15-2003, 03:18 PM

Hi - My BP has been increasing for about the past year or so and I've decided to start taking it myself to monitor it on a more regular basis. When I first started, it was pretty consistent at 138/94. I stopped for a few days and when I took it last night it was 144/101. I always take it in the left arm and last night decided to take in the right arm too, just for curiousities sake. In the right arm it was 158/122. I did it about three times in the right arm and all three times were just about the same. Is it common for it to be so drastically different between the right and left arm? I don't know if I should be concerned about the reading in the right arm.

Thanks for your help!
Tina

zuzu8 · 10-15-2003, 11:49 PM

Tina-
It's very normal to have differences under or about 10mm Hg between the arms.

It's less normal to have differences of 20mm Hg or higher-- especially 'or higher'. But, it is not always indicative of a problem either.

Right now, I'd be less concerned about the differences between arms than the fact that your BP has been climbing for the past year or so.... You should see your doctor and discuss what's going on. Even your "consistent" first home readings of 138/94 need to come down.

Both your readings (whichever arm) of 144/101 and 158/122 are very high and warrant a checkup ASAP.

Are you on hypertension meds?

zuzu xxx

tinamarie0914 · 10-16-2003, 01:11 PM

Hi Zuzu - thanks for your reply. No, I'm not on hypertension meds - no one has ever thought it was warranted. I had been having some chest pain, so I had a stress test done and the cardiologist told me I did better than most people much younger than me (I'm 40). The test and EKG were normal, although my BP were a little high then too. Because of my family history of heart disease, he told me to come back for a full workup, which of course I haven't done. I've got another surgery scheduled in early November and once I get all done with that I'll check this out.

zuzu8 · 10-16-2003, 01:38 PM

Tinamarie,
You really should have your BP checked out now, before any surgery.With a number as high as 158/122, you need to follow through with the cardiologist, as he suggested.
Please don't take any risks by putting this off..... In fact, most surgeons won't even do surgery if your BP is uncontrolled.

zuzu xxx

tinamarie0914 · 10-20-2003, 01:44 PM

Okay, ZuZu, you convinced me - as did my BP reading this morning of 148/108 - to see my cardiologist this afternoon. Of course, my husband's miserable job situation and my mom being in the hospital certainly isn't helping any of this! But, I can't be much help to everyone else if I don't take care of myself and I'm bright enough to know that - so off I go!

Thanks for all of your kind words and encouragement!