High blood pressure often has no symptoms, so regular measurement is the only way to know your numbers. A home monitor gives useful information between visits, as long as the readings are taken correctly.
Choosing a monitor
- An automatic upper-arm monitor is usually more reliable than a wrist monitor.
- The cuff size matters: a cuff that is too small or too large gives wrong readings.
- Ask your pharmacist to help you choose and to show you how to use it.
Before you measure
- Avoid coffee, tea, smoking and exercise for 30 minutes before.
- Empty your bladder and sit quietly for five minutes.
- Sit with your back supported, feet flat on the floor and legs uncrossed.
- Rest your arm on a table so the cuff is at heart level, on bare skin.
Taking the reading
Do not talk or move during the measurement. Take two readings one minute apart and write down both, with the date and time. Measuring at the same times each day, for example morning and evening, makes the results easier to compare.
Understanding the results
One high reading does not mean you have high blood pressure, and one normal reading does not mean the treatment can stop. Share your log with your doctor, who decides on the targets and any change in treatment.
Seek urgent medical help if a very high reading comes with chest pain, severe headache, shortness of breath, weakness or trouble speaking.
