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I didn't reverse-engineer the protocol for my blood pressure monitor in 24 hours

james.belchamber.com

51–60 of 163 posts

Re: I didn't reverse-engineer the protocol for my blood pressure monitor in 24 hours

#51
post #31
post #2

Regarding white coat hypertension, the shot isn’t always necessary. Some people’s blood pressure just goes up from the stress of the clinical setting.

I got it when an eye clinic wanted to do my blood pressure (which is kind of weird in itself), which they did shortly after the glaucoma test which never works for me because I have an overdeveloped blink reflex and it turned up high. It really amazes me how people whose job it is to take blood pressure don’t recognize the stress situations that people are in might result in abnormal readings.

Beyond any clinical reason that your eye clinic might want to know your blood pressure (your vascular system is pretty important to your vision) - they may have been incentivized by the CMS to track blood pressure via the MIPS program which ties provider payments to specific documentation and screening measures.

AKA - the government might pay your eye clinic more if they screen you for high blood pressure. (Among other things).

Re: I didn't reverse-engineer the protocol for my blood pressure monitor in 24 hours

#52
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you've got one of these machines at home it seems you really want to run it a couple of times. Often I find the first reading I get is quite alarming but then if I sit for a bit longer and run it another 1-2 times I get a very normal reading.

FWIW, some "smarter" machines (e.g., [0, 1]) support taking three readings with a minute pause in-between and then spit out a single reading. [0] https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/716808/ [1] https://www.withings.com/us/en/bpm-connect

The $50 I got from the pharmacy does it too, if the reader doesn't want to spend $100+ on a device.

Re: I didn't reverse-engineer the protocol for my blood pressure monitor in 24 hours

#54
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had an astoundingly high blood pressure reading last year when I tore my bicep the day after the election and dragged myself to the ER. The staff freaked. I was like, "I had a normal reading two weeks ago in my doctor's office and I'm really in an awful lot of pain and worry right now". But it still earned me the "oh shit hypertension you must do extra pre-surgical clearance". It was kind of interesting watching my…

If they’re doing surgery it doesn’t matter why you have hypertension, or how temporary it is. The high blood pressure causes complications for the surgery itself.

That makes intuitive sense, if blood is under higher pressure they're going to need to work harder to prevent you from losing too much blood I would imagine.

Re: I didn't reverse-engineer the protocol for my blood pressure monitor in 24 hours

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they’re doing surgery it doesn’t matter why you have hypertension, or how temporary it is. The high blood pressure causes complications for the surgery itself.

That makes intuitive sense, if blood is under higher pressure they're going to need to work harder to prevent you from losing too much blood I would imagine.

Basically, yeah, that’s one of the concerns. Drug dosages and other things are affected too, but the most simple concern is “if we accidentally hit something and you start bleeding, above a certain blood pressure it won’t stop.”

Edit: Well, it will stop bleeding… once you lose enough blood.

Re: I didn't reverse-engineer the protocol for my blood pressure monitor in 24 hours

#56
post #2

Regarding white coat hypertension, the shot isn’t always necessary. Some people’s blood pressure just goes up from the stress of the clinical setting.

Recently I was talking with someone who speculated that "hot doctors never get accurate heart rate measurements"

It took me a minute to understand (and neither of us think this is 100% true) but it's both funny and a good point.

Re: I didn't reverse-engineer the protocol for my blood pressure monitor in 24 hours

#57
post #13

I have three blood pressure cuffs They all give me different numbers, by a lot sometimes btw you think they ever clean those devices? you think healthy people go to pharmacies? I won't even touch the signature pen, imagine what's on that

I had my blood pressure tested several times over the course of the month and each time it was high, weirdly high, like 160/100. If I drove in, weirdly high. If I cycled in, weirdly high. If I got another reading after sitting quietly in the waiting room reading my book for half an hour, weirdly high. They wanted me to start on all sorts of medications immediately. The second-last time, they got a reading of 220/130,…

Agree with all of the rest of your points, but a legitimate 220/130 is something that a typical doctor's office does observe* on occasion, so that (by itself) wouldn't have made them think their instrument was faulty. Some of those people would even be outwardly asymptomatic, as strange as that seems.

* those people would be considered to be in a hypertensive crisis, and sending you for emergency care would be the right thing to do, normally.

Re: I didn't reverse-engineer the protocol for my blood pressure monitor in 24 hours

#58

Testing blood pressure after a shot seems weird. I have high blood pressure, managed with a low dose of medication. I've had plenty of advice from my PCP and other actual doctors on how to take blood pressure - how to sit, how long to sit still, how to position your arm, etc. It is remarkable how many medically-adjacent professionals are bad at this. My dentist starts my sessions with a blood pressure reading - theor…

> Testing blood pressure after a shot seems weird. I was at the Dr last week and my first BP reading was 154/95, a second reading a few minutes later was 141/89. The doctor asked for one more reading before I left. The medical assistant gave me my vaccines and then took my BP, 130/81 right after a Hep B and COVID vaccine. I told the tech that needles didn’t bother me at all, she believed me after she saw my blood pre…

Needles don't bother me, but being made to wait 30+ minutes past my appointment time does.

They should measure it right when I walk in, before I find out how behind the doctor is.

Re: I didn't reverse-engineer the protocol for my blood pressure monitor in 24 hours

#60

So I did something similar (well less cool), but as old Software devs start finding our bodies don’t work as well after a while we will see more and more of this sort of “taking control” https://mikado-aktiia.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

I am not even that old, but already seeing need to take some things into my own hands. I find going to a GP is more or less just a semaphore for specialists, and those specialists have wait times measured in months to years. I would be insane to just do nothing for that timeframe.

Although I think you need to be quite critical to have such a mindset, and assume you are wrong rather than right.

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