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I am 34 weeks pregnant and for the last 4 weeks, have had high blood pressure at doctor's appointments (around 140/ 85). No protein in urine, swelling or other signs of pre-eclampsia, so doctor is not too worried, but wanted me to keep a closer eye on it and recommended I get a blood pressure cuff for home use. I got a middle of the range digital one which fits on the wrist, which you then hold to your heart while sitting down. It says it only takes a reading when you do it correctly.
Well, I have taken my BP this way twice yesterday evening and three times this morning, and it is always around 109/ 70, ie markedly lower than at the doctor's. I have heard of "white coat syndrome", but never had this problem in my previous pregnancy or the early part of this pregnancy, and this is really a huge difference. I don't think I made any errors in doing my home readings.
So I am wondering if there is a difference in readings taken on the upper arm and the wrist? Or maybe my readings are more accurate as they are done on bare skin whereas the nurse at the doctor's off+ice does it through my clothes? The only reference to writs vs upper arm BP I can find is one study (Graves, 2001) which says "These wrist readings are not usually performed as falsely higher diastolic blood pressure readings may be obtained." ... but mine are lower, not higher.
I would like to find a good monitor. How do you go about deciding which one would be best? Are there any good sites that rate accuracy of blood pressure cuffs? I was going to check Amazon.
Take your monitor to your next appointment and check your BP with your wrist monitor right after the nurse checks it and you will likely have your answer as to whether or not your home monitor is accurate.
Just a quick update. I went to my doctor today and happy to report that the wrist cuff had very similar readings to both his digital upper arm cuff (reading taken by the nurse) and a manual reading taken with a stetoscope (reading taken by doctor). I took two readings with the wrist cuff, one before and one after the two readings taken by the doctor and his nurse, and both times, the upper number was about 5 points lower with the wrist cuff, and the lower number was within one point.
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