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Commonly used arm positions can overestimate blood pressure readings: study

(medicalxpress.com)
330 points wglb | 2 comments | 14 Oct 24 17:57 UTC | HN request time: 0.397s | source
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geye1234 ◴[14 Oct 24 21:09 UTC] No.41842047[source]▶
Quite a few people here report getting anxious even when taking their BP themselves:

https://www.innerhealthstudio.com/phobia-taking-blood-pressu...

I'm one of them. I bought a device with memory and covered the screen with a piece of card. Then I take BP for two weeks and ignore the first few days' readings. I seem to get used to it after a few days. This gets me readings that are very close to 120/80.

I've had anxiety about blood pressure ever since running for an appointment, while being on the first day of a new job when I was really amped up, and so (of course) had a dangerously high reading. I still remember the guy's eyes widening as he looked at the screen. Ever since then I've hated having BP taken and I can feel my BP and pulse increasing the moment I step into a doctor's office. Fortunately my doctor understands and doesn't try to push pills on me.

I wish there were some way of measuring BP without knowing it's being done. The act of measurement can greatly affect the result, which is counter-productive in several ways (not the least of which is un-needed anxiety).

York Cardiologist on Youtube is good on BP, and why apparently high BP should not automatically mean pills, although undoubtedly it sometimes should. (Usual disclaimer: this is not medical advice, ask your doctor about your specific situation.)

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1. timrichard ◴[15 Oct 24 09:17 UTC] No.41846628[source]▶
I take BP readings for someone who gets anxious about them too. The system we've arrived at is that I play music that relaxes them during the readings. They don't look at the numbers. The first one will be high, so I usually ignore it. I take several readings, look for a couple of consistent ones, then discard any outliers.
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2. geye1234 ◴[15 Oct 24 12:28 UTC] No.41847859[source]▶
Trying to relax always makes me more anxious since it reinforces the idea that there's a danger to be avoided. Over time I've learned the techniques of ERP, which basically does the opposite.