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BP Monitoring Etc

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Kaylz

Kaylz

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Are there any (relatively cheap but reliable) smartwatches that can do BP and that? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated xx
 
Not watches but some of us have the Omron Blood Pressure Upper Arm machines, there are different models and prices on Amazon.
 
I hate having my BP taken and the second the cuff thing starts to tighten I can feel myself wanting to rip it off and so up goes the BP. A nightmare
 
grovesy said:
Not watches but some of us have the Omron Blood Pressure Upper Arm machines, there are different models and prices on Amazon.
Click to expand...
Thanks grovesy but I'm pretty certain there are watches available that also track other things and I'd prefer that to a an actual BP machine, I already have one of those available but they even struggle to find a cuff small enough for me at the health centre etc xx
 
Sharron1 said:
I hate having my BP taken and the second the cuff thing starts to tighten I can feel myself wanting to rip it off and so up goes the BP. A nightmare
Click to expand...
I know me too! But I'm starting BP meds on Monday so I'd like to keep an eye on things but preferably with just a watch xx
 
Good idea. I didn't even there ws such a watch thing. The nurse who takes my BP is v. patient she has seen it all before. She is usually happy with a second reading. I don't understand why i make such a big thing of it. Still it is just one of those things.
 
I don't think you can avoid having a cuff - didn't find anything when I was looking last year. You can get watches etc which will measure heart rate.
 
Eddy Edson said:
I don't think you can avoid having a cuff - didn't find anything when I was looking last year. You can get watches etc which will measure heart rate.
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Ok somebody must know. Remember no such thing as a silly question.Why does the cuff get tight?
 
Thank you. I sort of get the idea. Last time it was taken, she was satisfied with the 2nd reading or as she said 'well it's normal for you' .
 
Thanks again. The little pics were a help. Mind you I still don't like it
 
Kaylz said:
Are there any (relatively cheap but reliable) smartwatches that can do BP and that? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated xx
Click to expand...
Omron make a smart watch with an integrated BP cuff but it’s not what I’d call cheap at about £500
 
There are several fitness trackers doing BP, however, my understanding is, a BP reading from the wrist isn't as accurate as the upper arm. I guess it depends how accurate you expect it to be.

Amazon or eBay could be decent starting points for research.
 
ColinUK said:
Omron make a smart watch with an integrated BP cuff but it’s not what I’d call cheap at about £500
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Yeah my JSA wouldn't stretch to that, I struggle as it is on it lol xx
 
AndBreathe said:
There are several fitness trackers doing BP, however, my understanding is, a BP reading from the wrist isn't as accurate as the upper arm. I guess it depends how accurate you expect it to be.

Amazon or eBay could be decent starting points for research.
Click to expand...
Yeah I know there are ones available, I just wondered if anyone had used them and could recommend one as I dont know much about fitness trackers xx
 
I think the newer Omron wrist BP monitors are supposed to be pretty much as accurate as upper-arm units - anyway, Omron says they are FWIW, they have the same whatever-it-is certification, and mine calibrates very well with my doc's professional unit. Cheap! And convenient; a very nifty little device.

I think the main prob with wrist units was that they need to be kept level with the heart. The Omron units sense when it is/isn't level and shows this on the display, which makes things very straightforward.

Still needs a cuff for the wrist though - but a lot less of a hassle than an upper-arm unit.
 
Hi Kaylz, just bought a smart watch and in my digging around beforehand I came across a couple that claimed to measure BP. They don't use a cuff, they measure some optical property of the skin and try to relate that to blood pressure. As far as I could see, the technology was very much in the early days and far from reliable. It only appears in the more expensive end of smart watches and has yet to be taken up by Apple.

I settled on a Fitbitbit Versa which not only tells the time but records basic fitness data including heart rate. It will record walks and my sleep patterns. It needs to be paired with a phone for GPS tracking because it does not have GPS built in. This means that the battery lasts for a week rather than less than 24 hours.
 
I have a fitbit to track activity and sleep (fitbit charge), which also captures heart rate. But I'd be highly skeptical of BP devices that didn't involve a cuff. My DSN said the wrist devices were pretty poor too, she suggested just getting the simplest omron, but my arms are too big for the simplest ones, so I've got to get an M3 somethingorother for 35 quid on amazon. You can also get "small" cuffs for Omrons if you're struggling to find one that works. If they have an Omron wrist BP monitor I'd be interested to hear if it works reliably or not.

I did wonder if buying a BP monitor was going to be a bit... hypochondriac of me, but my DSN said that plenty of people have them and if you're on BP meds might as well if you can afford it.
 
zoombapup said:
I have a fitbit to track activity and sleep (fitbit charge), which also captures heart rate. But I'd be highly skeptical of BP devices that didn't involve a cuff. My DSN said the wrist devices were pretty poor too, she suggested just getting the simplest omron, but my arms are too big for the simplest ones, so I've got to get an M3 somethingorother for 35 quid on amazon. You can also get "small" cuffs for Omrons if you're struggling to find one that works. If they have an Omron wrist BP monitor I'd be interested to hear if it works reliably or not.

I did wonder if buying a BP monitor was going to be a bit... hypochondriac of me, but my DSN said that plenty of people have them and if you're on BP meds might as well if you can afford it.
Click to expand...

Nah, get one. BP is more important than BG after a certain point for health and it's well worth tracking it.

Like I say, my wrist Omron unit corresponds excellently to my doc's professional unit (reads just a couple of ticks higher, usually).
 
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