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Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

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Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#81

Post by matheusmoreira »

midnightauro wrote: post #76
matheusmoreira wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actively talking during blood pressure measurements can cause false positives. Listening and sampling of temperature in parallel shouldn't. Target systolic blood pressure in hypertensive adults is still 120-130 mmHg. The stroke risk is certainly not "minuscule", people die a lot less when they take the medicine. Underlying issues are likely to be exacerbated by hypertension since it causes continuous damage to major…

I left a specialists office because the staff had a nasty habit of walking me UPSTAIRS and then straight into a chair with the cuff going on. I was pretty sick at that point and bedridden at times so going upstairs had my heart rate meeting Jesus for the first few minutes of activity. They tried to take me off my medications that could be “raising your blood pressure before you have a stroke”. I went to a sane office…

That's obviously gonna cause false positives. Physical exhertion causes the heart to respond to the greater demand for oxygen. I used to see patients in a clinic that had an elevator and stairs. Dealt with that every day.

Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#82

Post by matheusmoreira »

sgtnoodle wrote: post #77
matheusmoreira wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To base high blood pressure on one reading at the doctors office every few months is won’t get you the statistical significance you need. Depends. If it's high enough and there's other risk factors, it's pretty safe to immediately diagnose it as hypertension.

A few years ago I randomly suffered from total heart block, and over a couple months my effective heart rate gradually slowed down from 80bpm to 20-30bpm. When I ended up in the hospital, they put in a pacemaker and my heart rate immediately shot up to 110bpm. I was monitored to-the-nines in the ICU for several more days, and my blood pressure was like 160/120. I had the worst "caffeine headache" of my life. One of t…

That's an extreme high stress situation though. No one sane would attribute the higher blood pressure to primary hypertension when there are secondary causes that explain it. There are even cases where lowering the blood pressure can lead to worse outcomes.

Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#83

Post by matheusmoreira »

EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK wrote: post #55
car wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not a doctor but my personal belief is that hypertension is over diagnosed. A lot of people have “white coat” syndrome, and pharma companies love to get people on never-ending prescriptions. Thanks for letting us know that you are in fact not a doctor. Because your belief is patently wrong. Source: I am a doctor. https://baptisthealth.net/baptist-health-news/high-blood-pre...

I fainted and nearly died on several occasions from low blood pressure caused by overdose on blood pressure medications or its interactions with other medications/substances. With high blood pressure, I feel uncomfortable but never so severe. So there is definitely danger here.

There absolutely is. Especially in patients with orthostatic hypotension. Especially elderly patients with fall risk. Geriatric care is often a balancing act, managing the risk of complications from side effects of medications and the risk of the complications from the diseases they treat.

No treatment is risk free. Treatment is warranted when the risk/benefit analysis is favorable.

Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#84

Post by matheusmoreira »

stinos wrote: post #44
voidfunc wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have high BP, I sort of see where OP is coming from... you need a lot of BP numbers to gain confidence about how bad the situation is. A one-off doctor visit once a year is not enough but it is often how the diagnosis is made. My best recommendation for people is to get a BP cuff and just get comfortable with taking samplings periodically through the day. I take anywhere from 3 to 10 readings a day and over a month…

A one-off doctor visit once a year is not enough but it is often how the diagnosis is made Is that actually so? Around here, the very first thing which each doctor I know off is going to say after a high reading in such one-off visit is exactly your second paragraph, because they are well aware one-off readings cannot be trusted for a diagnosis and are typically higher because of white coat stress and whatnot.

I can't really speak for other doctors, only for myself. White coat syndrome is extremely common in my experience. The existence of false positives does not make hypertension "overdiagnosed" though, it's still underdiagnosed.

There's a legion of people out there with high blood pressure who don't feel a thing. This is why doctors employ high sensitivity testing for every single patient: office blood pressure measurements. If you get a normal result, OK. If you get high blood pressure, it could be hypertension so the doctor monitors more closely.

Screening works by testing everyone with simple, cheap, fast tests and selecting those with anything that even remotely looks like a positive result for more elaborate and expensive specific tests.

Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#85

Post by matheusmoreira »

itairall wrote: post #65
SoftTalker wrote: post #8

I’m not a doctor but my personal belief is that hypertension is over diagnosed. A lot of people have “white coat” syndrome, and pharma companies love to get people on never-ending prescriptions.

I just don't see what rational reason there is to say this when we have an epidemic of overweight people who don't exercise at all. This is only going to get worse too as people who grew up overweight and not exercising get older.

I agree, there is no reason to believe hypertension is overdiagnosed. If anything it's underdiagnosed. Even without the obesity risk factor, there would still be legions of people out there with hypertension who feel literally nothing. The existence of false positives does not change that, it's an expected phenomenon in any kind of testing, diagnostic or not. It does get worse with age: pretty much all the chronic diseases become more common as people get older.

Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#86

Post by westurner »

fibonachos wrote: post #79
JshWright wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like it was vegetarian, bordering on vegan.

This is correct. Or to paraphrase The Princess Bride, “Only mostly Vegan”.

The hemoglobin (blood Iron level) finger prick test is used to screen blood donations; they give you a free Iron test when you donate blood.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganism#Nutrients_and_potenti... :

> Vegan diets tend to be high in dietary fiber, folate, vitamins C and E, potassium, magnesium, and unsaturated fats.[34] However, consuming no animal products increases the risk of deficiencies of vitamins B12 and D, calcium, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids. [34][264]

> The American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics states that special attention may be necessary to ensure that a vegan diet will provide adequate amounts of vitamin B12, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, calcium, iodine, iron, and zinc. It also states that concern that vegans and vegan athletes may not consume an adequate amount and quality of protein is unsubstantiated. [265]

FWIU, high-red-meat diet outcomes are probably on average worse.

"The Plant-Based Athlete: A Game-Changing Approach to Peak Performance" (2021) https://www.amazon.com/Plant-Based-Athlete-Game-Changing-App...

Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#87

Post by mxmilkiib »

ktta wrote: post #57
devjab wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way ADHD medicine works in Denmark, I need to get my blood pressure measured at my doctors office every 3 months, and a while back when it was around the limit of being too high, they wanted me to do it at home for a period. So I asked if I could use one of these finger things, or even just a wrist thing and their answer was a clear no. Exactly because the number is essentially useless medically by our national g…

What's the name of the medication?

In the UK, my psychiatrist has been taking my pressure every 6 weeks when I go back as I try to find an ADHD drug and dosage that works. This has been the case for all the stimulant type meds I've tried. I'm now finishing up my 6th week on the basic dose of atomoxetine, the first non-stimulant I've tried, and I'm guessing I'll not have my pressure tested later this week.

I had off-book buproprion, not for ADHD but depression and anxiety, from the same psychiatrist from several months before they gave me an ADHD diagnosis, and didn't get my pressure tested then. Funnily enough I found that double the max UK dose (600mg/day, an accidental misreading of the dosage wording after a few months) worked perfectly with my so-called rejection sensitivity and hypermentalisation. Whether those symptoms were in some part generated by ADHD, it is possible, and whether my ASD or ADHD somehow gives me a buproprion hyposensitivity is questionable (as I have heard that ND folk can more often have a hyper and hypo sensitivity to drugs), but it didn't help my attention. I had to stop that when a) the manufacture of buproprion was halted due to detected impruties and b) so I could get to try ADHD meds. It made me very sad because I knew I would regress, I have indeed been emotionally unstable and prone to crises since and broke up with my partner in large part due to this.

Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#88

Post by aszantu »

mxmilkiib wrote: post #87
ktta wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the name of the medication?

In the UK, my psychiatrist has been taking my pressure every 6 weeks when I go back as I try to find an ADHD drug and dosage that works. This has been the case for all the stimulant type meds I've tried. I'm now finishing up my 6th week on the basic dose of atomoxetine, the first non-stimulant I've tried, and I'm guessing I'll not have my pressure tested later this week. I had off-book buproprion, not for ADHD but de…

some adhd symptoms are connected to depression and cptsd as far as I read. Might be one reason, the meds don't work for you. Does caffeine agitate or calm you down? That might be one of the clues - but I'm just starting out on the journey

Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#89

Post by mxmilkiib »

aszantu wrote: post #88
mxmilkiib wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK, my psychiatrist has been taking my pressure every 6 weeks when I go back as I try to find an ADHD drug and dosage that works. This has been the case for all the stimulant type meds I've tried. I'm now finishing up my 6th week on the basic dose of atomoxetine, the first non-stimulant I've tried, and I'm guessing I'll not have my pressure tested later this week. I had off-book buproprion, not for ADHD but de…

some adhd symptoms are connected to depression and cptsd as far as I read. Might be one reason, the meds don't work for you. Does caffeine agitate or calm you down? That might be one of the clues - but I'm just starting out on the journey

True. I can't have more than one decaf coffee because it will start to disregulate me.

Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#90

Post by aszantu »

mxmilkiib wrote: post #89
aszantu wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

some adhd symptoms are connected to depression and cptsd as far as I read. Might be one reason, the meds don't work for you. Does caffeine agitate or calm you down? That might be one of the clues - but I'm just starting out on the journey

True. I can't have more than one decaf coffee because it will start to disregulate me.

one of the cptsd 4f types has adhd/add and depression as one of the symptoms. another one might be food intolerance that's causing the add/adhd
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