High blood pressure? – It's time to get a home monitor
High blood pressure? It's time to get a home monitor
The internet is helping patients understand more about their conditions and as a result they are more prepared to take an active role in their own medical management. This is being made easier by the availability of often sophisticated, yet user-friendly devices that they can use to keep tabs on important measurements.
Of course, many people still prefer to leave such responsibility to the healthcare professionals - the most complicated piece of equipment in most homes is probably a set of bathroom scales or a digital thermometer. However, these days you can test your own blood sugar, your urine, check for pregnancy, asthmatics can have their peak flow recorded on a laptop, you can even measure your stress levels and of course, you can measure your blood pressure.
New evidence
Information available online is still contradictory on the subject of whether it is useful or safe to measure blood pressure at home with a machine costing no more than $30-$40. Earlier machines were tricky to use properly even for professionals, so they were not deemed suitable for home use and this opinion is proving hard to change now that machines that are easily operated by one person and are robust and reliable are commonly available. A number of clinical trials have been conducted to see whether these monitors are suitable for mass use in the home setting and there is now an increasing body of evidence that proves that today's home blood pressure monitors are accurate and can help to improve BP control. There is no doubt that the Home BP monitor will soon become as widely used and accepted as bathroom scales.
Taking more responsibility
You probably need convincing as much as the doctors do to take on such a responsibility. Remember though that one is not suggesting that you do away with the doctor's help altogether this is just a way of gathering more useful information about your condition and being more actively involved in managing your health. Let's look at some of the reasons why you should measure your blood pressure at home.
Confirming diagnosis
Firstly, as I have said, the experts are coming round to the idea, thanks to research results. One benefit that has been shown clearly is the value of home monitors in helping to diagnose people who have white coat hypertension'. That is, their blood pressure goes up only when they go to the doctor's and yet, it is completely normal at other times. Such people risk being diagnosed hypertensive when they are not.
In fact, the respected advisory body in the UK, the National Institute of Clinical Excellence NICE, whose guidelines influence practice greatly, have recently acknowledged their value. Though they primarily recommend a form of home monitoring known as ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), they state that home monitoring information is valuable for the confirmation of clinic readings and as an affordable alternative to ABPM.
Affordable
Some people think that these machines are expensive. Certainly sophisticated one with more features, like record storage and retrieval are quite expensive but a perfectly good monitor may set you back only $30-40.
Better control
It is not just about the diagnosis, however. One clinical study has shown that having a blood pressure monitor at home can improve blood pressure control significantly. Knowing what your pressure is on a regular basis acts as a reminder to stick to medication and other control measures or to see the doctor all of which encourages better control.
Reassurance and motivation
Reassurance is another benefit, as having hypertension is a worrying situation for many people and the anxiety may increase blood pressure. A home machine provide information that all is well, or the comfort of knowing that one will detect any rise in BP so that it can be swiftly controlled.
In taking more responsibility for looking after your blood pressure, it is motivating to being able to set targets and to watch the results of lifestyle changes. It will encourage greater efforts and help with the willpower to maintain them over time.
Useful information
Regular measurements of blood pressure give a detailed picture of the trends of your pressure changes over time. This information can be of great help to both the physician and the individual in determining what affects the blood pressure positively or negatively and helps in making better informed treatment decisions. Once the doctor is happy that your measurements compare reliably with those done at the clinic, you may find that you need to make fewer clinic visits; often, the appointment is scheduled just to take a measurement something that could have been done in the comfort of your living room. Even though you may need fewer visits to the doctor, when you do go you will have much more useful information to discuss.
Do a good turn
On a final note, it's worth also having a monitor to help others: Family members and friends can benefit from using your monitor for a checkup. Of course you should advise them to manage their BP with their doctor, but if they do not have a monitor, a few tries of yours will show them how easy they are to use and may convince them to get their own.
Convinced yet?
So, if you have high blood pressure, but not a home monitor, consider the logic you wouldn't try to manage your weight without a set of scales, so it should strike you as equally sensible to have a home blood pressure monitor to help you keep your high blood pressure under control. You can get information on reliable validated brands on the internet. (see link below).
You don't have high blood pressure? Well here are two more thoughts. First, as you get older (over 40) you should be measuring your BP regularly so you might consider having one so that you can keep an eye on things. But if you don't need one, then you probably do know someone who has high blood pressure: well, now you know what to get them for their next birthday!
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