Home blood pressure monitors

mikew

mikew

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My wife was advised by the nurse at her GPs to get a cheap one, she suggested Argos, anyone got any experience of these
 
I have an Omron M7 Itelli IT which is not the cheapest but worth the extra for me. I would advise getting a power supply for it and the batteries can drain fairly quickly. I tend to suffer from White Coat syndrome so my blood pressure immediately rises if a medical person tries to measure it. I did suggest to my GP that if the medical community want accurate BP readings they need a device that can measure it without the patient knowing. However, they generally accept my regular home readings. I bought mine from Amazon but Boots also sell a good selection.

Dave
 
I have the Omron M2 Intellisense.

I don't use it everyday but have found that though the battery is dropping and the pump seems to struggle.......a second reading the pump acts quicker! Having said that, I think I recall the user manual said use only Zinc Carbon battery not Alkaline :thinking:

I have used it to provide the surgery with readings to take an average from.

PS can't recall but think I bought mine from Boots.
 
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I have the same one as David, although I find the batteries last pretty well (but I only check my pressure every week or so). I always do three cycles of reading s and take the middle values as the most accurate, eg just now it was 159/84, 144/79, 142/84, so I've gone with 144/84 as the probably most correct. Slightly high but I manage to keep down to 5mg of Amlodipine daily by drinking grapefruit juice, which lowers the blood pressure naturally.
 
Omron M2 here. MiL has a Boots one which is pretty much identical but was (at the time) more expensive. Easy to use and seems reliable.
 
One bit of advice I was given by my GP when I had to get one was avoid the ones that go around your wrist, only get the type that has a cuff that goes around your arm. I got in from Lloyds pharmacy and it seemed to compare well with the one my GP used.

They also did 3 different sized cuffs which can be important for accuracy.
 
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Just to buck the trend, I have a Lloyds Parmacy one, which has the armband method and is pretty accurate. The batteries seem to last a good time as well.
 
I'm another one who suffers from white coat syndrome, so we have an Omron M2 also.
 
andya700 said:
Just to buck the trend, I have a Lloyds Parmacy one, which has the armband method and is pretty accurate. The batteries seem to last a good time as well.
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Same here. We've had ours about 8 years, I can only remember changing the batteries once.
 
Got the Omron M2 Basic here - seems to do a good enough job. Don’t use that much so no problems around battery life. Guess that it’s probably the same as most home devices - useful for monitoring for changes that mean needing to seek proper medical advice as opposed to giving an accurate “spot” measurement at any given time. (Having said that I’ve never checked against a “proper” one at the docs so never know - it could be spot on :) )
 
andya700 said:
Just to buck the trend, I have a Lloyds Parmacy one, which has the armband method and is pretty accurate. The batteries seem to last a good time as well.
Click to expand...
I have the same one (I think, although I use mine via a mains adapter). I've had it for years and use it daily, as my BP isn't quite what it should be. I had a Dr appointment today and the nurse took my BP. She had to take 3 readings before she was happy and I mentioned my cheap home one. She said that they are basically all as good as each other, but that home ones tend to become inaccurate over time because nobody ever gets them recalibrated.
 
Not a cheap one but I like my Withings BPM Connect. I like that it links to the app shows me the trend, and gives advice.
Medically certified, but I think most are.
It's just nice and tidy as well.
 
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Omron M2 here, no issues ;)
 
I previously had the Omcron M2 but after several year started to suspect that it was no longer accurate. It would have cost almost as much to buy a new one than have it calibrated. So that is when I bought a new Omcron M7 and pleased to find that the M2 had been reading 10% or more high.

On two occasions I was give a 48 hour monitoring by the NHS. The results were fine the first time but on the second occasion the device triggered at exactly ten minutes past the hour so I was then anticipating it so the results were higher each time except for when I was asleep which was difficult anyway attached to this big device. I prefer Doctor's using a sphygmomanometer as I cannot see the figure so do not know where he is at. The worst experience was being sent to a Nurse at work having hurried to another building up a hill and climbed 6 flights of stairs she decided to measure immediately using a small digital kit. The alarm was triggered which she explained was because she had a medium threshold set. She adjusted and the alarm was still triggered which was unsurprising. She knew I had been sent with possible HBP. My reading then was something like 210/120 so she telephoned my GP who I was sent to see immediately. He was far more relaxing and said my reading then was 150/80 and suggested that the nurse had overreacted but did start me on BP treatment which has grown over the years (now 3 types of drugs) but my home readings currently average 140/66.

Dave
 
ive got an omron as i take mine once a week regular as clockwork.
i think they are pretty good, most important thing is stop worrying about what monitor
and start thinking about why you need one and what you can do about high blood preasure
i recently had a small scare about high cholesterol and am addressing that by diet and lifestyle
on the back of that my blood preassure which was on the high of normal has dropped by quite a surprising amount all for

dropping a stone, laying off the booze and ditching most of my fat intake,
 
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As has been mentioned many times above any of the Omron, upper arm, range will suit your needs.

Important pre purchase question to ask yourself is what size cuff your wife will need and ensure that the one you buy comes with a suitably sized one. Using the correct size cuff is essential and buying another cuff later can become expensive.

Take a couple of readings and use the second one and the first can sometimes be off as the cuff settles and the system adjust to the compliance of it.
 
broc said:
I'm another one who suffers from white coat syndrome, so we have an Omron M2 also.
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In our local surgery we have an area named ‘The Pod’.
Its a screened off area in reception where you can sit down and relax before using the surgery machine. Results are added to your medical record automatically.

There are a set of scales as well.
 
boliston said:
manual cuffs are better than digital which is why a gp will use one
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GPs at our surgery use digital ones. I was in hospital for 5 days a couple of years ago on 2 separate wards. Had by blood pressure taken at regular intervals, all of them with digital monitors.
 
boliston said:
manual cuffs are better than digital which is why a gp will use one
Click to expand...
I don't see why, if they're calibrated and accurate there the same, digital being easier. Mine can almost fit in your pocket, all in one unit.
 
boliston said:
manual cuffs are better than digital which is why a gp will use one
Click to expand...

This was several years ago but I actually mentioned that to my doctor - I said I was surprised he was using a digital one. His answer was that although it's true that manual ones will give a more accurate reading, they are far more prone to user error. It takes a bit of skill to use them.

For home use he said always digital. He said he personally uses a digital because they are faster and less likely to induce "white coat hypertension" and most of the time he only needs a ballpark. If an accurate reading were important he said he'd ask one of the nurses to use the manual one.
 
BTW I was in Lidl half an hour ago - they have blood pressure monitors for £17. Tech stuff from Lidl is usually decent quality.
 
boliston said:
manual cuffs are better than digital which is why a gp will use one
Click to expand...


Not had a manual BP taken for 15 years or more, either at the GP or during a couple of hospital stays.
 
lindsay said:
I have the same one as David, although I find the batteries last pretty well (but I only check my pressure every week or so). I always do three cycles of reading s and take the middle values as the most accurate, eg just now it was 159/84, 144/79, 142/84, so I've gone with 144/84 as the probably most correct. Slightly high but I manage to keep down to 5mg of Amlodipine daily by drinking grapefruit juice, which lowers the blood pressure naturally.
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Really? I’m guessing you’ve taken medical advice as generally it is not advised to drink grapefruit juice whilst taking some medications. I too am on Amlodipine and was told not to.
 
Indeed I did read in the medication notes not to drink grapefruit juice, the reason being that it lowers BP; clearly the concern being that it might lower it too much. My view was that if it helps me to avoid an increased dose of BP medication, it's a good thing (because - and I'd be interested to know how commonplace this is - the medication causes oedema in my lower legs (swelling due to water retention
 
I was also advised not to take Viagra!
 
lindsay said:
Indeed I did read in the medication notes not to drink grapefruit juice, the reason being that it lowers BP; clearly the concern being that it might lower it too much. My view was that if it helps me to avoid an increased dose of BP medication, it's a good thing (because - and I'd be interested to know how commonplace this is - the medication causes oedema in my lower legs (swelling due to water retention
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this makes perfect sense as if you make a drug which lowers blood pressure the last thing you would want is your customers taking some alternative product that does the same thing
 
boliston said:
manual cuffs are better than digital which is why a gp will use one
Click to expand...
You may want to believe that, but it is not the case(nowadays) Hospitals, Ambulance Services, etc all use a digital sphygmomanometer.

I was out with a Paramedic last year and I ended up taking the BP as I had got more experience in taking a manual BP than he had. (and he takes BP's nearly every day) Manual BP taking isn't even taught on some Paramedic courses now.
 
JonathanRyan said:
This was several years ago but I actually mentioned that to my doctor - I said I was surprised he was using a digital one. His answer was that although it's true that manual ones will give a more accurate reading, they are far more prone to user error. It takes a bit of skill to use them.

For home use he said always digital. He said he personally uses a digital because they are faster and less likely to induce "white coat hypertension" and most of the time he only needs a ballpark. If an accurate reading were important he said he'd ask one of the nurses to use the manual one.
Click to expand...
Automatic ones are also very prone to user error.

Common errors include using the wrong size of cuff, fitti the cuff too loose, failing to line up the index mark on the cuff and trusting the first reading given.

I have had to tra a number of staff in the correct use of them over the years.
 
lindsay said:
Indeed I did read in the medication notes not to drink grapefruit juice, the reason being that it lowers BP; clearly the concern being that it might lower it too much. My view was that if it helps me to avoid an increased dose of BP medication, it's a good thing (because - and I'd be interested to know how commonplace this is - the medication causes oedema in my lower legs (swelling due to water retention
Click to expand...

You might also want to avoid liquorice.

This man was eating way too much

www.webmd.com

Health & Diet

From healthy diet plans to helpful weight loss tools, here you'll find WebMD's latest diet news and information.
www.webmd.com www.webmd.com

the NHS recommend avoiding it if you have any blood pressure issues.

www.nhs.uk

Can eating too much black liquorice be bad for you?

If you're over 40 and have a history of heart disease and/or high blood pressure, eating more than 57g (2 ounces) of black liquorice a day for at least 2 weeks could lead to potentially serious health problems.
www.nhs.uk www.nhs.uk
 
munch said:
You may want to believe that, but it is not the case(nowadays) Hospitals, Ambulance Services, etc all use a digital sphygmomanometer.

I was out with a Paramedic last year and I ended up taking the BP as I had got more experience in taking a manual BP than he had. (and he takes BP's nearly every day) Manual BP taking isn't even taught on some Paramedic courses now.
Click to expand...
they will most likely use a digital device for convenience and i would imagine that being in a noisy ambulance or on the street would not be ideal for easily using a stethascope - i find that there is a lot of variation on a digital device if you take multiple reads compared with a manual cuff which has much better stability as they don't rely on 'best guess' technology
 
I have 3 Omron M2 Basics, cost about £22 ea from Amazon. They’ve all been accurate as far as I can tell. I have 3 because I bought one years ago, and inherited a slightly later model. I bought a new one last year because my GP said “are you sure it’s accurate, when did you last test it” so I just got another. They all three give essentially the same reading as near as one can tell using serially and the pulse readings are spot on when compared with each other and with an Apple Watch and pulse oximeter.

All the ones used at my GPS are Omrons.
 
BTW, batteries last ’forever’ but it they tend to show ‘half battery’ for a long time. Don’t use rechargeables!
 
lindsay said:
I have the same one as David, although I find the batteries last pretty well (but I only check my pressure every week or so). I always do three cycles of reading s and take the middle values as the most accurate, eg just now it was 159/84, 144/79, 142/84, so I've gone with 144/84 as the probably most correct. Slightly high but I manage to keep down to 5mg of Amlodipine daily by drinking grapefruit juice, which lowers the blood pressure naturally.
Click to expand...
I’ve never heard that grapefruit juice lowers the BP,! It’s contra-indicated in combination with a lot of medications, usually the reason given is that it dangerously potentials the medication — si it may be correct that Amlodipine + grapefruit does that. Though with some drugs it has the opposite effect.

Several of the pills I take ‘ban’ grapefruit and I have recently been told to avoid Seville Oranges with my chemo for the same reason! So no marmalade since all the good stuff has that, some other citrus probably have the same effect, especially since many are hybrids.

Its nothing ‘mysterious‘ about the juice, it contains natural enzyme inhibitors that affect the metabolism of the drugs which I guess is why it can lower or increase the effect of drugs depending on whether they need to be metabolised or not.

Hospitals don’t serve grapefruit juice with meals.
 
I also recommend the free app IBP for iPhone & iPad (maybe Android too?) which I’ve used for years to record blood pressures and has never failed. Does means, graphs etc.
 
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