I may have a problem.
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I tense up when the word 'blood pressure' is spoken in this house. I find the subject very frustrating.
Last summer when Bob was not well he got obsessed over blood pressure. He likes to use a wrist cuff, I prefer using an arm cuff. At one point I took our blood pressure cuffs into the office of his cardiologist and the nurses checked them against the cuffs they use in their office. Still the problem persisted. Finally I spoke to his geriatrician about it and she told me to put the cuffs away and only take his blood pressure if he was symptomatic. That sounded good to me so I had a talk with Bob and we agreed that's what we would do. Later I discovered he was using the wrist cuff in his room and not telling me. He has a thing about gadgets so I said "What the heck, play all you want," and I never challenged him on it.
Recently he's not felt so well so we're back on the blood pressure merry-go-round. He's brought the wrist cuff into the living room where he can report the readings to me. He's apparently some what symptomatic. How much is hard to tell. His readings are always on the low side and the cardiologist likes that, you just can't let it go too low or you have a problem. His descriptions of his symptoms are often difficult to interpret. I do better just watching him. I can usually spot a real problem but it's these iffy in-between episodes that get to me. It's far better if we don't take his blood pressure every day. Today I'm thinking about throwing that wrist cuff out in the street and let the cars run over it.
He took it this morning with the wrist cuff and got 69/37 Pulse 72. I looked at that and figured it couldn't be correct, although he was complaining that things were "sort of hazy." I finally took it with the arm cuff and got 89/41 Pulse 60. That sounded better to me.
Do you or anyone in your household have blood pressure issues? How do you deal with it?
He took it this morning with the wrist cuff and got 69/37 Pulse 72. I looked at that and figured it couldn't be correct, although he was complaining that things were "sort of hazy." I finally took it with the arm cuff and got 89/41 Pulse 60. That sounded better to me.
Do you or anyone in your household have blood pressure issues? How do you deal with it?
