High Blood Pressure: Using an Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor

Blood pressure is the force that pushes blood through the blood vessels in your body. In people who have high blood pressure, blood is pushed through the blood vessels with greater force than normal. Another word for high blood pressure is "hypertension."

Blood pressure is recorded as two numbers separated by a slash, like 120/80. The first number is the systolic (say: "sis-tol-ik") pressure; it is the force when the heart pumps. The second number is the diastolic (say: "die-uh-stol-ik") pressure; it is the force when the heart relaxes between beats.

Knowing both of your blood pressure readings can help your doctor tell if you have high blood pressure. Your doctor will want you to keep your usual blood pressure lower than 140/90. If you have diabetes, your doctor will want you to keep your blood pressure lower than 130/85.

Your doctor can help you find out what might be causing your high blood pressure. The following are some common problems that can lead to high blood pressure:

High blood pressure can damage many parts of the body. If you have high blood pressure, you have a higher risk for stroke, heart disease, heart attacks and kidney failure. Control of your blood pressure can reduce these risks.

You and your doctor will work together to find the best way to lower your blood pressure. Your doctor usually will ask you to change your diet and start exercising more. You may need to lose weight. Your doctor may talk to you about taking medicines to lower your blood pressure.

High blood pressure usually has no symptoms. The only way you can find out that your blood pressure is too high is to check it with a pressure monitor. The higher your blood pressure is, the more often you need to check it.

When you first start treatment to lower your blood pressure, your doctor may want you to come to the office regularly . Your blood pressure will be checked at the office.

You may also be asked to check your blood pressure at home and keep track of your numbers for your doctor. Your doctor may want you to check your blood pressure several times in a day. In this case, your doctor may have you use an ambulatory blood pressure monitor.

It is a small machine, about the size of a portable radio. You wear it on a belt. The blood pressure cuff on the monitor can be worn under your clothes without anyone seeing it. The picture to the right shows a person wearing an ambulatory blood pressure monitor.

This machine lets your doctor find out what your blood pressure was every 15 to 30 minutes of a normal day.The information collected by this machine can help you and your doctor see if your blood pressure treatment is working.

Your doctor may want you to use an ambulatory blood pressure monitor for one or more of the following reasons:

The monitor may help your doctor find out if you are a person who only has high blood pressure when you are at the doctor's office. This is called "white-coat hypertension." If you have this kind of hypertension, you may not need to take medicine.

The small blood pressure cuff that is connected to the monitor will automatically check your blood pressure about every 30 minutes, even while you are sleeping. You also will be asked to keep a diary of your day's activities, so your doctor will know when you were active and when you were resting. Some people feel a little sore from the frequent pressure checks. Some people get a rash, but it usually goes away without treatment.

After 24 hours of monitoring, you will take the machine and your diary to the doctor's office. The blood pressure information is transferred from the monitor to a computer. The computer helps the doctor make sense of the information. Your doctor will review the information with you and decide if your treatment program is working or if you need to make changes to it.