Omron Blood Pressure Home Monitor

Having a blood pressure home monitor is a good health investment for those who constantly need to monitor their blood pressure. A couple of years ago, I have bought one for my mom so she doesn't have to go to my cousin's house everyday to have her blood pressure checked.  I bought her the wrist type.  It seems she's not using it that much and I figured she probably wants the visit to my cousin better. Hahaha!  Well, at least she gets some exercise walking back and forth.  Anyway, I didn't take back the BP monitor although I was contemplating on it because now I have to monitor my own blood pressure having been diagnosed with essential hypertension.  

A few months back, I make my daily trips to the company dispensary just to have my blood pressure taken.  When the nurse uses the analogue type, I get good readings, at least not going over 120/90 mm Hg.  Then I have to manually get my pulse or heart rate.  Sometimes when the doctor is there, he's the one who checks my blood pressure using the digital type monitor.  And it is a puzzle to me that whenever he uses that, my blood pressure goes high at 140/100 mm Hg.  Although I don't feel nervous or jittery, I am beginning to think I may have a white-coat syndrome after all (even if the doctor doesn't wear his white coat hahaha!) 

The First Few Steps

 Blood Pressure, a photo by Army Medicine on Flickr.

It is quite unbelievable for me the first time my blood pressure at rest registered at 150/100 mm Hg.  Could it just be the so-called white coat syndrome?  The nurse told me to take a rest for a few minutes before she took another reading...140/100.  That's when she asked if I was feeling anything and I said I didn't feel any different.  But from that time on, I am not the same person.  That was more than a year and a half ago.  When my blood pressure went down to 120/80 without doing anything, I thought that was just some fluke. I didn't have my blood pressure taken again since then.