Blood Pressure - a lot of variance over 2 minutes

I usually take 3 readings in a row over about 2 minutes, using a battery operated auto-inflating type, not manual where you squeeze the pump thing.

I am surprised by the variance... and also that it is not getting consistently lower as I sit and settle and come to rest. Is this variance standard?

117/79
129/64
95/68

It also flagged me as arrhythmic on the first, but NSR on the 2 after that. So I assume that would be evidence of an ectopic beat on first that did not persist?

I don't know what your normal BP is but that variation is totally normal and unsurprising. BPs rise and fall during the day a lot more than people realize. For example, just getting out of a chair and walking across the room will increase your BP by 10 to 20 points for almost anyone.

I also don't know what your BP machine thinks is an arrhythmia but I wouldn't pay much attention to it. It's not something BP machines are built to do so they don't do it well. If you didn't feel an arrhythmia, then just stay happy and assume there wasn't one, which there probably wasn't.

Glad to hear this, Carey. Thank you!

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PoetKim
I usually take 3 readings in a row over about 2 minutes, using a battery operated auto-inflating type, not manual where you squeeze the pump thing.

I am surprised by the variance... and also that it is not getting consistently lower as I sit and settle and come to rest. Is this variance standard?

117/79
129/64
95/68

It also flagged me as arrhythmic on the first, but NSR on the 2 after that. So I assume that would be evidence of an ectopic beat on first that did not persist?

I have found with my blood pressure machine that the first sample can be all over the place and I discount it, so I take 4 readings and average of the last three. I sit upright in a chair, breath in for the count of 5 through my nose then breath out for the count of 5. This gives me more even readings.

A lot of these Doctor assistance dont really know how to take BP. i had a woman when i went to the doctor let my arm hang down and when i told her i needed to support that arm she didn't like that i said that to her. The BP numbers she than said were high, she had my Diastolic number very high, i had never in all my years had my diastolic that high. Then the doctor wanted me to be on BP meds., i told her that i would take my BP for a couple of weeks and give the results to her, so she left it at that. i can't fathom how many people are put on BP meds due to the incompetant way BP is being taken.

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colindo
I have found with my blood pressure machine that the first sample can be all over the place and I discount it, so I take 4 readings and average of the last three. I sit upright in a chair, breath in for the count of 5 through my nose then breath out for the count of 5. This gives me more even readings.

Thanks for this tip colindo. I will take mine that way from now onj.

And Elizabeth, I agree. I wonder how many people have been put on BP meds as result of sloppy inadequate BP taking in office. So many people don't question anything from doctor. Just start taking pills and assume doctor must be right.

The result of sloppy BP measurements is almost always a false low reading rather than high, so the more likely error is people not being put on BP meds who should be.

But really, no doctor should be diagnosing (or ruling out) hypertension based on a single BP anyway. There's just too much natural variation to base anything on a single reading. I wore an ambulatory BP monitor for a week that recorded my BP every few minutes before being diagnosed with hypertension.

I don't let them take my BP anymore - I take them a spreadsheet with previous months readings and averaged out.

Same goes with dentist and others that want to take my BP.