Hello again Amo

Actually the home blood pressure kit has already paid off. My hubby took the readings he had taken to the doctor for his appointment and the doctor said that he would take those readings rather than the ones in the surgery which were significantly higher! The result is that he will be taken off one of his blood pressure medications! He is very pleased. I would say thought it is worth buying a good ambulatory machine, as, as is the case with most things, you get what you pay for! Ours is, in fact the same type that they use in the surgery, so full marks there!

Amanda - that is fantastic. This is a perfect example of how frequent monitoring of blood pressure can help you get off unnecessary pharmacological interventions. I think there is the additional advantage of frequently measuring your own blood pressure - this puts this potential 'silent killer' foremost and on top of mind. If you are regularly monitoring your blood pressure, you are getting regular reinforcement of how important maintaining good blood pressure control is. Further, any deviations from normal provide the necessary motivation to maintain consistent and continous lifestyle improvements.
But for those individuals who are required to resort to pharmacological intervention, i think it would be a good idea to classify the various categories of pharmacological therapies that are available and the pros and cons of each for treating hypertension.

Yes, he is delighted with the result. I think everyone should have one of these machines. They are a Little bit of an outlay to begin with but well worth it in my opinion. It is an interesting point you raise, I wonder how much of our medication we could do without if it was all gone into thoroughly. But we all know that doctors are very busy and it is not always possible to spend the time that they would like with each patient.

Hallelujah! Finally the light has dawned on the medical profession and they now are advising patients be monitored for high blood pressure at home due to the fact that readings at surgery may be influenced by 'white coat syndrome' that is the fact that the patient is anxious about the results and therefore their blood pressure goes yup! Not rocket science is it?

I think this initiative is long overdue and I suspect that a lot of p[people on high blood pressure medication may not need to be! We will see how it goes. I have to say that in this respect my own doctor has been ahead of the game and recommend that I do readings at home!

I heard this news story as well and I agree that it is certainly going to be interesting to see how many people are actually taken off medication altogether once they have been tested in this way. I suppose the only problem would be if they don't do it properly because obviously getting an accurate reading is vital. I have home kit and it can be very temperamental!

But there is definitely an element of the white coat syndrome in everyone I would think, and being off or even reducing medication of any kind would be great!