Arielle Do you have any of the big chain stores near you? Our Walmart & Costco have blood pressure testing machines people can use for free. The doctor always told me to take the pressure 3 x and then the average is your score.
Okay I'm not good at math, so I take it three times and the reading I like best, is the one I record. Usually the first reading is HIGH, I hate the cuff getting so tight. By the 2nd. time it drops a bit, and the third time is usually the reading I write down.
To be honest I've had nurses that didn't know what the heck they were doing. Also nurses that said they couldn't hear any sounds when taking my bp. Same with them taking my pulse.
I told them I purposely stopped my heart just to spook them.
Our AMerican diets are a death sentence. Add the vegies and dump most of the high carb "foods". When I was s swimmer, young and an hour a day in the pool, my numbers were good. Fast forward ____ decades. and the arteries have some damage. We eat a diet that causes high levels of insulin-- meaning we secrete a lot more insulin a day than the diet of 100 yrs ago. THat insulin damages the lining of the arteries. Change the diet and it can repair to some degree depending on the level of damage. Many doc are not going for by pass sugery anymore. Increase the exercise and change the diet.OK, you guys officially have me spooked. I'm younger the ya all and my pressure runs 120/80 + every time I check it. I'm not old enough for regular checkups an absolute necessity so haven't seen any doc since my last pregnancy, about 4 yrs ago.What age should a person start watching this closely?
I suspect I may be deficent in K, Mg and salt. Will get on my supplements and then go for a visit. I get a lot of leg cramps IF my salt intake is less than 1-2 tsp a day. I tend to eat a diet that is a diuretic and it pulls out a lot of sodium. I haven't been diligenly supplementing my intake -- me bad.