Blood pressure saga continued: part 1 of ?

Well, well. I don't know whether to be pleased or disappointed this morning. I've been off the blood pressure meds for a little over a week now so that I could complete the "loading phase" of creatine supplementation (read more about that here). A blood pressure reading gotten from a self-service blood pressure reading machine earlier this week--152/94 (left arm)--had me a little concerned. Today, however--only 2 days later--I get quite a different, greatly improved reading, at my doctor's office: 122/84 (right arm).

WTF? (excuse my French). Let the trouble-shooting begin.

I actually began trouble-shooting immediately by heading straight from the doctor's office to the self-service machine at the pharmacy. By the time I had walked there (about 1 mile) and taken my blood pressure again (left arm), am I to believe that my systolic pressure had gone up by something like 34 points, and my diastolic by 10 (the two readings I got at the pharmacy's machine were 159/94 and 140/90)? Something began to smell a little fishy . . .

Though my immediate inclination is to trust the doctor's office reading over the self-service machine's readings, here are some things I'm taking into consideration as I attempt to figure out what's going on and which is right. 1) it is possible to get different readings from each arm: how much variation should be expected is something I have yet to determine. But I have to say I'm highly skeptical from the outset that such wildly differing readings could be gotten from the arms of any reasonably healthy individual--aka me. 2) self-service blood pressure machines are not to be implicitly trusted. As we read on the Mayo clinic web site, these machines are "Not accurate enough to make health decisions regarding your blood pressure." 3) I've adjusted my breathing exercises since the 152/94 reading and am now doing them in closer conformity to the recommendations I've read. I do feel a better effect from these exercises when using the recommended method (twice as long to exhale as to inhale) than I felt using the less precise method I had followed previously.

Regarding 1): the self-service machine offers no possibility for measuring blood pressure in the right arm, so I have no way of testing whether I might get, using it, widely disparate readings from the two arms. I intend to address the matter by asking, next time I have my blood pressure measured at the doctor's office, that they measure it twice--once on each arm. That will give me a better idea whether there is a wide disparity in pressure between the two arms.

Finding out about that will help me to determine something about issue 2): if blood pressure readings from both arms are about the same, that will be one probable indicator that the self-service machine is poorly calibrated. Furthermore, if the blood pressure taken at the doctor's office from both arms is as close to the normal range as the reading I got at the doctor's office today using my right arm, there will be yet more reason to suspect the self-service machine is not to be trusted. To make an even more definitive judgment on this, I should run by the drugstore on my way home from the doctor's office and check and compare the blood pressure reading I get there with the readings I got from the doctor. If the pressure taken in both arms at the doctor's office is almost the same, and if it is substantially lower than the reading gotten from the self-service machine, it would be reasonable to conclude that this machine is simply untrustworthy and should be avoided.

Results from 1) and 2) above will not, unfortunately, help me to determine anything definite about issue 3). I might be able to guess after conducting the tests outlined above that the 152/92 reading I got from the self-service machine a couple of days ago was erroneous and, furthermore, that it was perhaps significantly higher than my actual blood pressure at the time. But that will remain speculation and will not provide me with evidence that the new breathing technique has helped to lower my blood pressure. In that case, I would simply have to rely on subjective impressions and say, since I've noted a greater feeling of relief and calmness in connection with the new breathing exercise pattern, that it is likely helping to lower my blood pressure.

Part 2 of this series on the blood pressure saga will, I hope, resolve some of these monumental dilemmas. Stay tuned for the next episode of . . . what's my real blood pressure!