Blood Pressure Monitor.

Yes my DH has had one a couple of times. No bother at all. Except he drove me up the wall as he announced every time it went off.

The good thing was that it showed his BP wasn't as high as thought

Thanks Whitewave. My bp hits the roof in the surgery and that's why I have to have it fitted.

That happened to me a few years ago.I was starting the menopause and was thinking about HRT. Dr. Suggested an internal examination then decided to take my BP first. Never had high BP before but it was certainly high when he took it that day! I had to visit the BP clinic and have several checks and all were normal and have been since then.
The nurse at the clinic suggested that I was the victim of 'white coat' blood pressure. I think she was right.

Yes its juts a bit of a nuisance as it gets in the way other than that nothing to worry about and your GP will get a more accurate picture than a one off reading.

Well it's nothing to be frightened of, but if like me you don't things being "done" to you, it can be a bit annoying. Some machines beep before they measure and I could feel myself getting agitated before the bag even started to squeeze, but on the plus side it warned me to keep still so I didn't have to do a second reading. Others are quiet and just rumble a bit when they start measuring. If the cuff feels tight around your arm you can undo it and re fit it, don't allow it to pinch too much or you might end up with a bruised area on your arm. In fact I even worked out the intervals to take it off and have a shower when I felt like it. Good luck.

I have had a 24 monitor fitted and it is nothing at all. The things I have had done to me in the last six months make 24 hour monitoring sound like a walk in the park.

DH has had one a couple of times and it is no problem. Nothing to worry about.

Thanks all and especially harrigan who I know is going through a really tough time.

My friend has been winding me up about the BP Monitor but I can see from your comments that it's a simple procedure.

It's also given me a few questions to ask such as the possibility of bruising.

I'm finding most medical things hard going because I don't have my husband now to talk things over with.

Any other experiences would be most welcome.

There shouldn't be any bruising or after effects at all- it will be fine and you will wonder what you worried about. Here's a comfort cake for you[cake]

[cake]

!!!

Thanks Teetime.

The bruising I had was I assume due to the cuff being too tight. There was a metal piece that the material part folded back over and I guess it was rubbing down the inside of my arm. It might have simply been because I have weak small blood vessels. Just loosen it off a bit if you feel you need to.

Falconbird..had 24hr BP monitor only a couple of weeks ago and it was fine. Yes a little irritating at times but only woke me once during the night...must have slept through the others!! Like whitewave's husband BP not as high as feared....in fact quite normal. Don't be worried you will be fine
Hope all is well

I had one last year. The only problem I had was that the batteries ran out at lunchtime! I took it back and they didn't have another one, so they never bothered doing it again.
So make sure they have checked the batteries.

I have had it done x2 within the last 3 years but never overnight. It is really easy and when I knew that it would be recorded every 30 minutes, I tried to make sure that I was not sitting down with a cup of coffee and I was driving, hanging washing out, shopping for groceries or whatever so that a more realistic measurement would be taken.

You soon get used to the cuff inflating so you just stop what you are doing, let it do its job and then continue as normal. Good luck.

LOL I've got one on now, I dont mind it at all except when it gets in the way of my knitting..

Very funny as mine showed a huge spike at 7am on the read out. GP was half scared to ask what was going on - I was actually bicycling up a very steep hill - I suspect he thought it might have been something else entirely!!!

Further to my original post. I had the BP monitor on for 24 hours and my BP turned out to be normal However although my cholesterol has gone down, it's 6.5 the doctor is talking about Statins.

Anyone taken or taking Statins. They have a mixed press and I would love to hear some personal experiences.

DH is on a half dose of statins as a trial as he was worried about side effects especially muscle pain/weakness. All VG. No SFX and cholesterol halved!

OH is on statins since a surgery last Summer he's had no side-affects and is happy to keep taking them on recommendation from his vascular surgeon.