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Do you monitor your BP?

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MarkGeordie

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Just curious, do any of you monitor your BP at home?

What with what’s going on, delayed diabetes appointments, etc, mine hasn’t been checked in over a year now.

Have been debating whether to invest in a home monitor.
 
I do, because I have a minor degree of hypertension for which I take a touch of Lisinopril. It was significant when I was working, but not now I’m retired.

It’s not a massive investment, you can get an accurate BP monitor for less than £50. Omron are the best, doctors use them.
 
I do, but only because my husband is on BP meds and monitors his. I’m not too worried about mine because it’s always been on the lower end of normal, but if OH says, 'my BP's up, it must be the machine,,,' I can point to my figures as a 'control'
If my BP tended to be in the higher side of normal, I think I’d be tempted to check for my own sake.
I bought our Omron when there was a drive for people to take an interest in monitoring their own BP, and our local pharmacy had them on a half price offer, so worth looking out for deals.
 
Thanks to you both for the recommendations

I’ve actually seen some Omron ones for between £25-30 but that’s for the basic digital ones. Should I be going for the more expensive ones they offer?
 
Not necessarily, depends which bells and whistles you want. Memory, multi-user, battery or rechargeable. You don’t benefit on accuracy the more you spend. £30-50 is the target spend. But only Omron.
 
Not necessarily, depends which bells and whistles you want. Memory, multi-user, battery or rechargeable. You don’t benefit on accuracy the more you spend. £30-50 is the target spend. But only Omron.

Thanks for that I appreciate it.
 
I do have for years, I check at least once a week. I too have a Basic Omron bought later year when my Buer one suddenly packed in. I never used the memory on my old one, I log on my result into Mysugr app and record in a personal planner I record my exercise, and weekly weight.
 
It does not matter what brand you buy, so long as they are clinically validated.

I used to take a medication which required weekly monitoring, so I was told to buy one to do it for myself. That one was an Omron, simply because it was the brand the G.P. surgery uses, though the hospital does not.

As I had changed medications I lent it to my parents when they had medical problems, I was being periodically monitored at hospital clinics anyway. However because I am shielding I was told it would be good to monitor myself, as I cannot attend anywhere, but unfortunately my monitor was now 150 miles away.

This is the list I was sent from my surgery of recommended clinically validated monitors:


It was a little out of date, as some of the models had been discontinued, so in end I bought an AND UA-611. It was the cheapest I could find which was validated, even though it was not on the list. But it seems it has been maintained during lockdown as it is now on there. Although it is in the under £100 category, it only cost about £20.

But any clinically validated meter is as good as any other regardless of brand or price. The more you pay the more features you get.

My Omrom has two sets of memories for different users, and buttons to allow easy access to scroll though past readings, with date stamps, as well as being able to show averages across several readings. It also had a 'wrap' cuff, which is like a self-tightening tube so you just put your arm through it and are ready to go.

The AND one though only has a single, smaller, memory, no date stamps, and because it has a single button, scrolling through past readings is painful. It also has a traditional type of cuff where you have to put your arm through a fabric sleeve then manually tighten it and use a velcro fastening.

Both have irregular heart beat detection, and indicate whether a reading is good, okay, or bad. The Omron also had a storage case which the AND does not, though it needed it because of the shape of the cuff means it cannot be flattened. Overall the AND kept in its original card box box is slightly smaller and easier to store than the bigger soft case for the Omron.

Those are the sorts of differences the price makes.

Personally I always take three readings, a few minutes apart, simply because that is what the surgery always does when I visit. I then note them down so I can send them off to the surgery as they requested. So the memory features are not important to me. And I live alone so have no need for separating readings by person either.

The fabric cuff is more fiddly to fasten than the wrap one, but the difference is not so much that it is worth paying extra for. In hindsight I think I overspent on the Omron one.
 
I do use one at home; the Lloyds Pharmacy version. Before my annual review with the nurse I give her half-dozen or so results and she averages them and puts them on the system. Home use avoids the 'white-coat' problem. Also medics don't always follow good BP test practice. You need to rest for a good few minutes before the test, not talk and have two tests and take the average.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I’m going to have a look around and at the recommendations.

I’m truly thankful Becka for your detailed reply and link.
 
Omron here also.

The standard advice says get an upper arm unit rather than a wrist unit, but with the newer ones I don't think it matters very much as long as the thing is clinically validated, and my wrist Omron is a nifty little gadget.
 
Another basic Omron user.

I do my readings before appointments, as I seem to have a bit of white at syndrome. I take three and average these out and that is what the Practice and my consultant use rather than doing it at the appointment. Much more realistic.
 
I used to have the white coat syndrome (or blue uniform syndrome as the nurse always took my BP ) I started to test myself and showed the results to the nurse who was happy with the results and now I dont test but My BP is always ok at the surgery probably because I am not worried about it being high anymore
Carol
 
I bought a second hand monitor on eBay - for the same price as a bog standard one I’m now the owner of a fancy Withings one which is entirely self contained (no tube - no box) and Bluetooths the results to my phone.
When this one eventually fails I’ll just pick up a basic one though. As long as it’s calibrated it’ll do the job just fine.
 
Mine is few years old and is a Pro-Logic, that looks and apparently does exactly the same as the Omron in the Boots advert above. About 2 years after I invested in it (under £20 but recommended by the GP surgery docs) some clinical org was doing a round up and testing people's home monitors for accuracy, and pronounced mine 100%.

I'm supposed to write a selection down and drop em off at reception occasionally, who never seem to know what they're sposed to do with them ..... anyway consequent to all 'this lot' I have not been near the place or even driven past it since March 7th.
 
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