Using A Digital Blood Pressure Monitor To Control High Blood Pressure
Continual high blood pressure, if untreated, can lead to many serious illnesses down the line. Liver damage, kidney destruction, heart disease, and strokes are just a few of the consequences that can result from a failure to treat hypertension in its early stages.
That’s why it is so important for people suffering from the disease to take their prescribed medications and carefully monitor their hypertension levels, to ensure that their pressure stays within normal limits. One way of doing this, of course, is to have regular check ups with your doctor.
Nearly all doctors will take your blood pressure as a standard part of a regular checkup. But, a second way, that you can monitor your hypertension yourself is to purchase one of the many home digital blood pressure monitors which will allow you to monitor your blood pressure in between doctors visits.
This has a couple of advantages. One, is that many people suffer from what is called white-coat hypertension. In simple terms, this refers to the increased anxiety level that many people experience when they visit a doctor. In fact, it is one of the reasons that many people rarely visit a doctor.
At any rate, this increased level of anxiety causes their pressure to rise beyond what it would normally be. As a result of this false reading, the doctor may put you on medications that you really don’t need to be on. If your doctor feels that your high readings are caused by anxiety by being in his office, he may request that you use a home monitoring device in order to get a more accurate reading of your real pressure.
The second advantage of having a home monitoring device is in instances where your physician is trying to locate the cause of your hypertension. In this case, he may prescribe that you wear a digital ambulatory blood pressure monitor that can record your pressure over the course of a day. He will also ask you to keep a daily diary indicating your activities at the time of your measurements.
Such a record can provide the doctor with valuable information as to exactly what events are triggering your pressure spikes. A device like this is also extremely helpful in guiding the doctor as to the correct medications to use, as well as the amounts of medications. By reading the monitor, he can easily determine that medicine A, for example, has a negligible effect on your hypertension. He will then be able to suggest an alternative which may do a better job.
A home digital device should never be used as a substitute for your regular doctor’s visit. But, in many cases, it is a great tool to use to help keep your hypertension under control.