My cardiologist thinks that I might have "white coat hypertension" where my blood pressure is only high when a doctor is taking it. Because of that, he feels that I might be actually taking more bp medicine than I should. Nothing would please me more than to take less meds...and, I am hopeful that this will be the case.
So, since 9:30 this morning I have been wearing a 24 hr. bp machine. This basically is a bp cuff that stays on my arm always and tubing that goes from the cuff to a box that is tethered around my waist with a strap.
Every twenty-five minutes or so the machine is activated and the cuff tightens around my arm and my bp is taken and recorded. I am forewarned of this by a beeping sound that comes from the box around my waist.
Not only have I had this on all day, but I must sleep with it all night. After midnight the time span will change to every hour. I cannot imagine getting much sleep as the squeezing of the cuff is quite uncomfortable and my arm has gotten very sore. Then there is the lovely beeping sound that will occur every hour.
"Can I take something to help me sleep through all of this?" I asked the nurse today. Of course the answer was a definite "no" in that it might affect my pressure reading.
...should be an interesting night. : O
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