Make sure your blood pressure is checked correctly!!

[Quirky]

When your blood pressure is taken, it's very important that you be sitting in a chair with your feet on the floor for five minutes prior to the measurement being taken. NOT on an examining table with your feet dangling!

Want lower blood pressure? Ask your doctor to let you sit quietly for five minutes before it's taken — on a regular chair, not on an examining table, with your feet on the floor.

The result can be a systolic blood pressure reading about 14 points lower, potentially a big enough difference to avoid a diagnosis of hypertension, a new study reports.

The study, by a team of nurses from the University of Virginia Health System, was presented at a conference of the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association.

Guidelines from the American Heart Association and the federal government already recommend that patients sit for five minutes before having their blood pressure taken, and that they not be on an examining table.

But Melly Turner, a registered nurse who helped lead the study, said evidence showed that the guidelines were not always followed, especially in medical settings that do not specialize in treating high blood pressure. When the researchers examined the practices at Ms. Turner's hospital, for example, they found that blood pressure was routinely taken while patients were on examining tables, she said.


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/health/02reco.html

[2crazykids]

when I was pg with my DS I was incorrectly dx with high-blood pressure b/c the dolt that was taking my Bp every month was doing it incorrectly, totally stressing me out by it always reading high when it was not!

Make sure the person taking your BP is using the right size sleeve.

If she had been doing this all along I would not have been induced with pit 2 weeks early, had a traumatic birth, almost died giving birth b/c babe got stuck, couldn't breastfeed, the shit storm rages on and on. I'm just begining to heal from the ordeal and my babe is almost 4!

If you have large arms and are using a small sleeve you will get wrong readings!

[Quirky]

:eek Holy crap, mama. I'm so sorry for your trauma. :( :hug

[busybusymomma]

Thanks for posting that link Quirky. :) It's funny, but midwife and I figured out my BP is always better when she takes it when I'm sitting in our big armchair and my arm level on the arm of the chair. Who knew? :wink

[Satori]

They don't give you 20 seconds much less 5 minutes of sitting to check your BP at the high risk clinic I go to. My first appt my BP was high and I flipped and asked that it be redone, thinking she would just put the cuff on my other arm or waiting 15 min nope, she just hit the button on the machine again and wrote down the lower number she was of course going to get after having just squeezed all the blood outta my arm! Good thing I take my own BP at home and moniter it:)

[Milkymommi]

Make sure the person taking your BP is using the right size sleeve.

If you have large arms and are using a small sleeve you will get wrong readings!


Yep... and isn't it something when they say "oh, you need the large cuff" and then they slap the damn thing on so tight you might as well HAVE the smaller cuff on? Grrr :irked: This just happened to me at my gp's office. Im actually planning an unassisted birth but had to go in for a check on my kidneys ( unrelated to pregnancy). My bp came out high with that TIGHT cuff on and my legs dangling off the exam table not to mention my nerves were shot when I walked in the door just being there. So now I have my old midwife coming to my house to recheck me to make sure I really don't have high bp.

[Bunnybee]

Also, if you have small arms and they use a larger sleeve they will get false LOW readings! My BP is always normal in the a.m. but high after being up a couple hours! Of course my dr. appts are always in the afternoon!

[khaoskat]

My DR's office (family not OB/Midwife) told me that if you are over 200 pounds you should be having your bp taken with a large cuff.

At my DR's office my bp is always low (generally 100-110, sometimes as high as 116 over 70's and sometimes over 60's.). On occassion the nurse will take my BP twice because the first reading is so low.

At my OB's office they always use the regular cuff, take it just after walking back and sitting down on th exam table. So, it is generally around 122-125 over 80's.

[Gumby]

Mine was 139/89 when they used an electronic one and small cuff at the birth center today.

Manually, with a large cuff, five minutes and a potty break later it was back to the normal 110/68...geez...

I work at a high school and have the nurse take it sometimes :lol

[smudge]

I have high BP. This became an issue with my last pg and as a Preventive Cardiology Nurse I already know this about exam tables.
So one day I go in for my appt, and I think I am about 7mos along. The medical assistant (MA) leads me into the room and says "up on the table" I say "i'd rather not" and pull a chair over by the cuff.
She then says in a whiny voice " oh don't make me lean over, I'm pg too"- funny, she still had a very flat belly.
I then said to her "I am not sitting on the table for my BP as it will jack up the reading 15pts and I DO NOT need that kind of help, oh and you WILL need the large cuff".
She then sighs heavily, rolls her eyes and leaves the room.
All the while I am trying my darndest to do my deep yoga breathing so that my BP wouldn't be even higher.
DH was laughing his butt off.
I take my BP at home, I have been a RN for 17 yrs but I get terribly nervous/anxious at the Dr office....

[Annie37]

I am SO glad I read this! I had problems w/ high blood pressure w/ my last pregnancy,so I am "high risk" this time around. I always read several points higher at the dr's office versus at home or elsewhere. I will definietly pay attention to how/when my BP is read next visit. You would THINK medcal professionals would KNOW these things,wouldn't you?!

[districtmidwife]

Thanks for posting that link Quirky. :) It's funny, but midwife and I figured out my BP is always better when she takes it when I'm sitting in our big armchair and my arm level on the arm of the chair. Who knew? :wink

This is the correct positioning for taking a BP, with the arm elevated to the level of the heart, nearly perpendicular to the body. It amazes me how inconsistent providers are at taking blood pressures: nurses, OBs and midwives alike. Consistency is very important.

[jerawo]

I check mine at home, and you are supposed to sit in a chair for 15 minutes before checking with your arm bent at the elbow and chest level. Mine is so much lower at home than in any medical office.