Blood pressure meter

[Kenny1]

Firstly, let me apologise for not posting for almost a week. I was away on company business and over the whole weekend I could not log on to the Diabetes site. kept on getting "you user name and password is not recognised." Eventually I got it sorted and my name /password was actually validated. Anyway I wish to talk about blood pressure meters. How many of you have your own and what ones would you recommend. I am halfway through a week using an Omron M2 which my medical centre has lent me. If I had been unemployed I would have been given one permanently. Anyway I am going to buy my own. I think I will buy an Omron M2 as I find it easy to use. I need to learn the meaning of all the various readings used in diabetes. Is there a list of the readings and what they all mean? Kenny

 

[GrantGam]

Ideally, lower than 130/80.

The top number is systolic and the bottom number is diastolic. Systolic is the highest pressure when your heart beats, and diastolic the lowest pressure when your heart relaxes between beats.

I own the Omron M2, it's good and affordable - can't say I have any complaints with it as it does exactly what it should

When you say you want to "learn the various readings used in diabetes", have you any specifics in mind? There's a vast range of different readings regarding blood glucose, kidney function, liver function, cholesterol, etc. If you were to specify what ones you'd like to know the target/ideal ranges for then we can help you out.

Otherwise, you should be able to get all the answers you need (your leisure) via the diabetes.co.uk main site or old forum threads.

http://www.bloodpressureuk.org/BloodPressureandyou/Yourbody/Diabetes

http://www.bloodpressureuk.org/BloodPressureandyou/Thebasics/Bloodpressurechart

 

[Dark Horse]

The British Hypertension Society have a list of blood pressure monitors that have been validated for home use. There are some variants of the Omron M2 on it but they're not the cheapest:-
http://bhsoc.org//index.php?cID=246

 

[Liam1955]

@Kenny1 - We bought our Blood Pressure monitor from Lloyds Pharmacy about 10 years ago and it only cost us then = £9.95 and it is still working - just replace the batteries every so often.

 

[Bluetit1802]

We have an Omron ProLogic PL100. We've had it about 4 years and so far so good.

 

[bulkbiker]

I've got the Omron M2 basic.. got it from Argos for about 25 quid I think. Watch out if you have big arms though as the cuff I got with mine was too small l for me so had to order the big one separately at extra cost. if you can find somewhere that supplies them with a choice of cuff then may work out cheaper.

 

[Sid Bonkers]

I use a Lloyds Pharmacy KD002 and have had it for years, it may not be sold any more but it still works fine but I also bought one from Lidl called Sanitas which works OK but always seems to want to tighten round my arm twice before it gives a reading which is a little uncomfortable which is why I went back to and still use the old Lloyds one.

 

[Tabbyjoolz]

I have an Omron M3. Absolutely delighted with it. I think I got it off Amazon.

 

[Kenny1]

I am looking at the Omron M2. I am comfortable with using it and it seems to be priced at around £22:00/£25:00 less than the cost of a football ticket or 5 pints of beer in any city centre pub or hotel. It is a bit ironic really. When my wife passed away 4 years ago she had a blood pressure meter and a blood glucose meter. I was one of the many people who think they are immortal and nothing would ever happen to them, so I handed them back to the NHS. Thanks to all who responded.

 

[noblehead]

I think I will buy an Omron M2 as I find it easy to use.

All the Omron BP monitors are excellent, I'm on my second one (M10-IT) and can't recommend them enough.

 

[Mbaker]

I use the Withings Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor. It is circa £90.00 but was spot on compared to my Doctors last week.

 

[therower]

Lloyd's pharmacy Blood Pressure Monitor ( KD-525 ) . Had mine for 5yrs+, absolutely fantastic, comes with booklet explain readings and pharmacy even measured arm to ensure cuff fitted properly. £10. Bargain. Have taken it along to doctor's appointment to see how readings match, almost exactly the same.

 

[Resurgam]

I also have the KD 002 which is old but still working well - and it has a memory which retains the last 60 readings - I just checked mine and it is still about 120 and 70 which is quite good for a fat little 65 year old. Mind you it was the same when I was less so on both counts. I think that the unit comes with one cuff, and you get to select which size - though if you have different people using it then you might need to purchase another - though they were so cheap that you could get separate units. The only improvement really would be to have the dates for the readings, mine go back a long time but I'm not sure how far now.

 

[miahara]

I've an Omron M3. Does what it says on the tin. Wasn't the cheapest out there though but is easy to use.

 

[tigerlily72]

We have an Omron M3 which has a larger cuff (22-42cm). I don't have huge arms but the one we "inherited" from the in-laws had a really small cuff. We've had no complaints and my readings are very similar to when my Dr takes my blood pressure manually / in the "traditional" way.

Mind you, I always feel like my arm's going to be squashed and squeezed to a pulp at times . . .

 

[JohnEGreen]

I have a Beurer BM45 has two memories so you can record readings for two people.

Checked mine today was 109/78 on my left arm and 102/64 on my right arm. So the losartin potassium tabs seem to be working.