Article – Home Monitoring

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Why Home Monitoring is Important

Many people do not like to visit Doctors. Many will ignore symptoms and will put off a GP's visit again and again. Many also suffer from "white-coat syndrome" - a stress from being with a health care professional that can elevate blood pressure readings. If that sounds like you, then purchasing a home-monitor to track your blood pressure may help. Home blood pressure monitors are a great way to get a true and accurate picture of blood pressure levels.

Home blood pressure monitors make it much easier, cheaper and stress free to take blood pressure readings on a regular basis. It makes it possible to take readings at different times of day (yes, it does vary!) and to track changes throughout the day, for example, after exercise or work.

Supplying detailed and accurate information to a health care practitioner will assist in managing your blood pressure through diet, lifestyle and medication.

There are many advantages for monitoring blood pressure at home. It may help to reduce the number of Doctor's visits and thus time and money that could be spent elsewhere. Home monitoring is quick and convenient, which is a big benefit for those with busy lifestyles. Home-monitoring of blood pressure is the best way to monitor any medication or lifestyle changes in order to see how they may be affecting readings. It is a great way to communicate information on a treatment strategy success to the Doctor.

Self monitoring and tracking blood pressure can also give patients a better sense of control and responsibility for their health. When you are actively involved in your own health care, you are more likely to be self aware and motivated. This motivation can help to make positive changes through diet, activity and sticking to prescribed medication.

There are many people with undiagnosed hypertension, and anyone can slip through the medical system. Higher than normal readings at Doctor's visits can easily be diagnosed as "White coat syndrome" and thus be untreated. If people are monitoring their blood pressure at home and on a daily basis, it is very clear whether action needs to be taken. Many heart attacks could be prevented this way.

This is a very common scenario and close to home for me. My brother, Steve, creator of My Blood Pressure charting software, should have been monitoring his blood pressure years ago. Somehow he slipped through the net and his higher than normal readings at Doctor's visits were diagnosed as "White coat syndrome". If he had been monitoring his blood pressure at home (like he does now), it would have been obvious that he really did have hypertension. Fortunately, he was lucky, but his blood pressure was high enough that he might not have been.

Home monitoring should not be used in replacement of Doctor's visits to measure blood pressure. It will, however, provide the clearest picture of blood pressure readings. This can only improve the quality of treatment the patient receives.
Home monitoring blood pressure makes common sense. 

By Kellie Helen
My Health Software