I like to monitor my health. I want to know what is going on with my body.
Even though my doctor says that I no longer have diabetes, I still like to monitor my blood sugar. I will probably do that for a year more or so, just to be sure that nothing unexpected happens.
I also monitor my body composition statistics. Things like Weight, Muscle Mass, Fat Percentage, Water Percentage and such to see what is going on. Even if my weight remains stagnant, but the fat percentage is down, that is good news. Like right now, I am gaining a lot of muscle mass almost every day (I have been doing some weightlifting and other training), so my muscle mass is increasing every day, but my fat percentage is going down. That means that some days I gain a little weight, but it is actually good because the fat is decreasing, muscle is increasing. Nothing wrong with that.
Another thing that I try to monitor regularly is my blood pressure. I have a digital blood pressure cuff that goes around my wrist. The one that I have is made by Omron. You put it on, push a button and then you are supposed to hold your hand at the same level as your heart. When your hand is in the proper place a blue light comes on and the cuff starts pumping up.
But…
After I started fasting for a couple of months, the blood pressure cuff has not been working properly. I cannot get my wrist into the proper position (the blue light does not come on) anywhere near my heart. However, if I hold my hand down near my waist, with my arm down, then the blue light comes on and it starts pumping.
To be honest, I really don’t care where my hand is as long as the blue light comes on AND the reading is accurate.
Problem is, that I don’t feel the reading is accurate. The other day it gave me a reading of 166/101, which is way high, and my blood pressure is generally low. On that day when I got the super high reading, I went to my doctor’s office to have my BP checked, and it was normal. 112/70. This was just 30 minutes after the super high reading.
I really feel that it is the meter, and not being able to get the blue light when I properly place my hand near my heart.
Seems related to Fasting
Like I said, this inability to properly use the blood pressure cuff started after I had been fasting. One time during my fasting, I went about a week with no fasting, and by the end of the time, the blood pressure cuff was again working normally. But, when I started fasting again, it went back to misbehaving.
Any ideas?
Does anybody have any ideas as to what is going on? I have a friend who is a doctor in the US, and I asked him about this a week or so ago. He could not really explain any reason why this would happen, but he did say that holding your arm down would result in a higher reading.
If you can share your thoughts, I would appreciate that.
A mystery!
Same here, I can’t understand it!
Bob, don’t know if it would make a difference but I have the bigger desk top model of Omron, ( not so big, more like size of a grapefruit) with separate cuff,,, it works every time, never had a problem. I think the wrist models, while more convenient may not be as reliable or accurate
I agree, the model that measures on your upper arm is more reliable. My doctor does not like anything digital at all, he urges only a mercury meter… I have no idea how to even read that, though!
Omron has been proven clinically accurate. I read on their faq, if the cuff is too small, will give high results. Since your putting pressure on the cuff to get the blue light, it may be giving a false reading. May be time to invest in a new monitor.
I was at a medical supply store that had a number of devices. All gave varying readings, but I did not spend the time to read the instructions plus they had been sitting out for a long time so may have been abused.
Don Nishimoto It used to be very accurate, because I had 3 different doctors compare it to their own readings. It started giving bad readings during prolonged fasting though.
Don Nishimoto I believe that all types of BP monitors will have varying readings. Hopefully they are close enough to be reasonable, though. 🙂
The arm cuff is rather accurate but the wrist units I do not trust and I checked with friends that are working BMET’s in the US and none of them trust the wrist units. For those that have never heard the term BMET before ( Bio Medical Equip Tech) the staff in a hospital that repair, service and Calbrate medical equipment.
I must say, I am inclined to get an arm unit instead of wrist.
Bob the one I have is the exact model at top of article, the hose to the cuff plugs into the blue hole on left side,,,one of the best devises I have ever purchased
Cool, thanks for sharing that, Mark!
I have the model in the lead pic…sometimes a bit hard to get on my arm…but when fitted properly I believe is as accurate as any home device…last time at my Dr clinic…the nurse took my BP with a mercury device and wrote it down ..no questions…her reading 95/40… lol….I would have near death …I can assure you..I was not..
I have been before at 55 over 30, I wasn’t near death, but I was busy I can assure you.
Bob Martin I’d bet…..my numbers are never that low…she was just wrong…
At that time, my blood pressure medication was needing to be adjusted. Believe me it was a big adjustment too.
Bob Martin I’d bet…you were lucky to maintain consciousness at that point…..
But I’m glad you’re on your way to a health life…
I have always used Omron and they are good machines in my opinion. I had a wrist and a cuff type. Both were compared when I went to the DR and accurate. I bought nice ones. After years though, my wrist monitor started acting up just like yours and it was not due to fasting. I think it is just going bad like mine did. It acted the same way and then finally went bad all the way.
Mine is less than a year old and has been well taken care of. Perhaps that is just going bad due to age, but if so… well… it is not a good quality piece of gear then. But.. if other people use it (non-fasters) it words fine.
Bob Martin I forgot to go back and edit my post. I was going to ask you if others in your family used it and it was okay. That is strange. I did try to research it for fasting, but could not find anything. You have a cuff type like me too? I used both for a few years, until the wrist one went bad.
I have a wrist cuff. There is not enough research or popularity of fasting that they would list such information, in my opinion. It would be rare that they run into that question. But, yeah, it works fine for anybody but me. I am pretty firmly of the believe that it is related to fasting in some way.
Bob Martin I was thinking it does and noticed if you eat the wrong thing when fasting it can make your BP spike fast. I should have sent you that web page from a doctor that warned about fasting and HBP. Is there any chance you ate something and it spiked and then could have calmed down fast even when you went to the doctor to get it checked?
LOL… when I am fasting I DON’T eat.. so, no there is no chance of that.
Bob Martin I figured so, but had to ask. I would think it might be a sign to be careful though, if it is doing that. You may have reached a point from losing so much weight, that your system is being sensitive now, like that doctor mentioned. He specifically mentioned the dangers of fasting and HBP.
I don’t have high blood pressure. In fact, my BP is rather low… it is completely normal. Anyway, thanks for your suggestions. Have a great day.
Bob Martin I know you are being careful and calculating everything you do. It is strange. I would buy another machine with the cuff.