Blood Pressure Question

How often when you go to the doctors do they check your blood pressure?


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Cookie

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I am curious to know how often when you go to the doctors he checks your blood pressure.
 
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Cass

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I would be curious to see the answer to this pole because high blood pressure, is also known as the silent killer of men and women and some children with inherited problems, and regular checking might catch it B 4 it became serious..
 
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Jimbo

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Well, cookie, until 2 years ago I never went to the doctor.( 20 years, since Navy retirement) Well, I had been on a few occasions for sprained knees ( each knee once!) and bronchitis once or twice. I suppose on those occasions, someone took my blood pressure, but nothing was ever noted. Then 2 years ago, my Dentist took my BP and told me it was high. Apparently, there is a law in CA that dentists have to check your BP with a checkup, on the theory that for many people like me, that may be the only time it is checked. SO, reluctantly I went to the doc, and found out SURPRISE I have diabetes....bad. Fortunately, both of those things are now well controlled with small doses of meds, and I am in much better health than I was.

CHECK YOU SUGAR!
 

Bob NH

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I am on blood pressure medication and sometimes wondered if it was working.

About 2 years ago I bought a ReliOn Model 412CREL digital blood pressure monitor at WalMart. It is the kind that you pump up with a bulb. Don't get the electric pump model becuase it uses batteries faster and is not as reliable.

It is easy to use. All you do is pump it up and let it bleed down and it measures and displays Syst/Diast BPs and pulse rate. It saves about the last 12 meausrements so you can check back on how things vary.

The one in the picture at the link looks like a newer version of the same model. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=896473
 

Terry

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Seems to me, they checked my blood pressure at the dentist last time too.
I need to get out more and get it a bit lower.
I may be old, but it should be a bit better than it is.
I picked up an elliptical, but I forget to use it.
It's easier to grab my son Taylor and go up skiing.

It's too bad Cookie, that they weren't checking when your husband was going in for his checkups. That should have been a "no-brainer"

crystal_terry.jpg
 

Ian Gills

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I'm only 33 and for the past year my BP has been high and rising. After fobbing the doctor off, I have three months to get it down else I need to go on the meds. So, I have finally stopped alcohol, nicotine and caffeine and am watching my diet. I'm too young for this.

High BP is uncomfortable to test (by definition it will need to squeeze the jesus out of you), so I can only test it at the doctors. The machines you can buy to diy make me freak out, squeezing my arm so tight and inducing very very high and inaccurate readings as I panic. Only a white coat with one of the manual pumps seems to work.

I only moved to the US a few years ago. In the UK (where I was born) you only go to the dotcor when you are ill. Not so here. So if I had not moved the problem would have missed.

American healthcare is damn expensive but if you can afford it, it is very good. Assuming they take your BP anyway!

I am sorry to learn of your loss Cookie. Personally, I think it was a huge oversight. If your late husband was short and fat like me, that doctor would have been testing his BP like a shot. A tragic case of stereotyping.
 
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Leejosepho

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I do not recall ever being in a doctor's office or emergency room without my blood pressure being checked. I have always known blood pressure and pulse as "vitals" to be checked at every visit.

A doctor first told me my blood pressure was high when I was about 17, and I heard the same from various doctors or nurses through the years until one doctor finally told me I would soon be dead (at 240/140) if I did not do something immediately about 30 years later. In other words, even the ones who commonly check it might not actually try to do anything about it.

One's health is ultimately one's own responsibility, and hypertension's "silence" should be made known to everyone.
 

Furd

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I have on occasion had my blood pressure checked by the dentist but it certainly isn't an every visit thing. And yes, I go to the dentist several times a year.

I also go to the doctor (internist) several times a year and the PA ALWAYS checks my blood pressure along with weight and pulse. Sometimes the doctor will double check the PA.
 

Jbfan74

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I am on meds for BP. Has been high for 20 years. Doc. has to change meds every 4 years or so. Everytime I go to doc's office, height, weight, temp, pluse, and bp are check by nurse. If everyt thing is within range, doc says nothing about them.
 

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I go to the VA and they never miss an opportunity to take my Blood Pressure. They put me on the Meds about 2 years ago. Not bad for 60 I guess.

I'm really sorry about your Husband Cookie, that's a shame and could have been so easily avoided.

I think Doctors should be doing this all the time, but please, let's not get the Government involved; they are already up our A**es so much, and everything they get involved in, just gets worse.

If your Doctor isn't doing his job, fire him and get one that is. Or you can hide your head in the sand and say nothing can happen to me, like so many of us Men do.

bob...
 

Ian Gills

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And there was me thinking I was the only one on this site with high blood pressure.

We all bloody have it!

Terry Love's Personal Plumbing advice forum, more like.

It's a shame they do not make a PRV for humans. Or a thermal expansion tank. I could sure use one.
 

Cookie

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Hube, the supermarkets machines are becoming a thing of the past. I think it was the Mayo Clinic who decided they were unreliable and the cause of having the machines removed. I have a girlfriend who is a pharmacist and that is what I was told.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/blood-pressure/AN00567

Which this is really unfortunate because sometimes, anything is better than nothing. Right?
 
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Speedbump

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Consider this: I go to the VA. After arriving and having just driven through some of the most Road Rage causing streets in the Universe, I go in, quickly get to see the Nurse who takes my Blood Pressure. It's 175/85. She says, ok, lets get your temperature and I'll ask you a few questions. At which time she takes my BP again. Now it's lower, not low enough so we go to more questions, she does a little computer work then takes it again. By now my veins have subsided back under my skin and she gets a satisfactory reading. Their new standards are now 139/89. So I slide under those numbers and now everything is fine.

Go figure.
 

Speedbump

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Yes I do, sometimes. I have one of the wrist rockets that were said earlier not to be too accurate. My Wife used to be a Nurse and has the old fashioned type that she uses on me from time to time.

I am a believer that if you don't have a history of family heart problems, you may be taken another way, so I don't put a lot of effort into checking my BP. It goes up and down (I suppose most people's do as they exercise in one way or another) so I don't know what a good reading really is. Apparently the VA isn't worried that mine is high when I arrive but sitting still for a while makes it go down. I'm very active and suppose mine is high all the time.

bob...
 

riccet

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I am curious to know how often when you go to the doctors he checks your blood pressure. I am going to explain why I am asking this and why it is so important people respond. Three 3 years ago, my husband, died from high blood pressure. He was thin, tall, and seemingly in good health. He only had a chronic eye problem and visited the doctor for it. He did not monitior his blood pressure. He weighed him, took his height, and his temp on each visit. He was 49 when he died, from undiagnosed high blood pressure which caused him to have a fatal, sudden heart attack. He was the love of my life. I am seeking to enact a bill, called Tim's Law. It would mandate the physicians to take a blood pressure reading at every visit. I need to know as much as I can how often this happens, and I thank you so much in advance for your participation.

I am sorry for your loss, but I am totally against you forcing another law down our throats because you suffered from an isolated incident.

You don't mention what kind of doctor your husband saw. I am 48 and I don't ever recall seeing a doctor, dentists and optometrists excluded, without getting my BP checked. In fact, I do not believe that any primary wouldn't check the BP. Your issue is with YOUR doctor. Do all you want to make her pay for what she didn't do, but leave my doctors alone1

This is like blaming all mechanics because your mechanic didn't check the motor oil when she replaced the rear-end and then the engine seized up. Then forcing every mechanic, by LAW, to check the oil even if they're just changing your wipers.

Look, if anything, this is a learning experience for us all, that we need to keep track of our bodies to keep them functioning properly. We cannot always trust others to look out for us. Thank you for the reminder, it has been a year since I got a check-up.
 
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Cookie

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You are entitled to your opinion. I have done my homework and what happened to my husband, happens so much more than you can imagine. I haven't yet put it into percentages but, I have been working on it. The GP's office are prominent physicians, who due to various reasons did not monitor my husband's BP. Now, you can blame it on my husband if you want, but remember he wasn't a doctor. You may not like laws but without them it would be chaos. *Once a year is not enough and you are welcome.
 

Cwhyu2

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I guess I am one of the few posting on this thred that does not have high BP.
At 50 plus it has been in the normal range since I first started checking
regulary.My father passed at the early age of 55,high BP,high colesterol,
stress lead up to heart attack.So I have watched all that and more since
my 20s,I feel fortunet to be in good health,except for the little achs and
pains we all suffer from as we get older.:D


Cookie,God bless

Clay
 

Dunbar Plumbing

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When I try to make a bowel movement my blood pressure goes up to 230 over 184. I dated a nurse at one time and thought it would be neat to see how much going to the bathroom causes temporary high blood pressure.

My head usually thumps for a minute following my heartbeat. I lose hearing in my left ear along with heavy shadowing in my eyesight but always goes away.

Anytime I get checked, it's always slightly elevated and most times blamed for general anxiety when having to go to the doctor's office.


I would say there's a necessity for checking the blood pressure when the patient is being seen for anything relative to a side effect in the focus of the heart.

If there isn't a direct correlation or non-relative to the situation, it's going to be quite difficult to create this safehold, even though it is a good one, but a costly one at that. <<<<<That's how the government looks at that.

The equipment
The training of staff
Time added to routine of service
Finding qualified help to do the task


The human body thankfully can operate with numerous problems and function. I could not hold my mechanic responsible for tire problems resulting from incorrect tire pressure, when knowing I myself should be checking it myself. It's an understanding.

Yes, we are not doctors and the doctor when they see you goes solely off symptoms and "why you are here". IF it is just in context of a checkup, of course, it's par for the course as a general checkoff list that picks up potential problems that might directly or indirectly cause an initial problem or one soon to come.

When I hear of those with heart conditions, all of them state they never took aspirin. Now, we all know that minimal doses of this product is life saving......it's general public knowledge and has been that way for years.

Doctors or other health related industries might object to this additional procedure for fear of obligation, disclosure and subjective hardship as the warning signs of high blood pressure would delay/cancel soon to come operations, surgeries or blood testing. It's encompasses a large thought process in many ways that probably has a slim chance of moving forward, but certainly worth the effort.

I did work for a RN and a OBYGN, husband and wife both work at the same hospital. The husband told me what to expect in the next 10-12 years.

Given the level of difficulty in regards to study to become a doctor, the massive debt that accompanies the schooling, the political atmosphere that is so commonly found within the walls of medical establishments....

The "why bother" attitude is coming due to malpractice insurance, the ability to step around the hands on situation because the effort plus the investment doesn't equate to the compensation and the massive responsibility.

Kind of like being on the front lines, the guys in the tanks are safer than the guys in boots on the ground. The carrot on the string isn't as glamorous as one might think, having to be held personally responsible from the birth to age 19 *stated by the obygn*.

Who wants that responsibility? Who wants 70-100 hours of week, always on call because your level of knowledge is important, your referral and recommendation needed at all hours of the day and night.

No one holds still for the doctor's personal time.

Personally, there's no way I'd want their job. For some they have to make $700,000 to a millon a year; They're time at home is usually sleeping, their time with family is usually on vacations, that's it for the most of them.

Tough, it's tough. You always have to be able to be contacted... you are always being corralled and disciplined by what the insurance companies state that YOU are charging. It's not up to you to decide.


The fellow and his nice wife, it was an interesting conversation last night.
 
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