[deliquesce]

my pdoc wants me to buy one and carry it around with me when i go out, because the meds i'm on can cause a hypertensive crisis if i eat the wrong foods inadvertently.

this is, i'm not sure exactly where i can find one? i looked online, but ppl have written reviews saying they aren't very reliable?

does anyone know how i can find out what a reliable brand would be? i don't exactly have the biggest budget, so i was hoping for something around $60. but given that i entered a hypertensive crisis a few weeks back, i am more than willing to scrimp and save a bit extra if it means getting something that will work.

((deliquesce)))) I have the one my parents had. Its called a homecare clinics LCD Digital Blood presure and monitaring kit
PiPeer international
Not sure where they got it . Maybe rite aid or walmarte. you could prolly google it.
It worked good for when i was taking care of them. And it still works.
check with your local pharmist.

[AAAAA]

I'm not sure what the brand is, but I bought a wrist cuff from Wal-mart. Many people did not think these cuffs were accurate, but I used them as a CENA we found them to be quite handy. I do believe that it was within that price range. I also had to monitor my blood pressure quite closely and I brought it in to compare what my readings were with what my doctor got and it was right on.

[anna342]

I wouldn't recommend a wrist one, the blood pressure drops after your elbow, so it's likely to give a lower reading.

The automatic ones are generally less reliable that doing it manually, but there are some good ones out there. I'd say go to a pharmacy that you trust and ask them to recommend one.

Otherwise, I'd get your dr to recommend a certain one.

[AAAAA]

If you use it according to the instructions (you must sit in a certain position etc) my cuff has been very accurate.

[deliquesce]

thank you for the replies, guys . going to the pharmacist is a great idea!! my pharmy is a great guy & takes a real interest in me, so i know he would be the perfect person to ask.

re: reliability. my blood pressure is quite low as a general rule, so i guess portability (being able to keep it in my handbag) is probably more important, because i just need to notice the trend of it increasing. like, if i eat something & feel a bit weird, then i can check whether it has gone up at all. if it has gone up, i need to get to the ER because the problem is that you can't predict whether it will continue to increase if i've had a food interaction, so i need someone else to monitor it.

i will ask my pharmacist tomorrow . i'm feeling a lot better knowing that i can check my bp whenever i need to - i usually ignore these things but the last time i did that i ended up in a bad way, so i just need the outside verification.

[eskielover]

Wow, do you have a list of the foods that do cause that kind of interaction.....it's really better not to guess on something like that & to just hope you don't eat the wrong thing.

What can they do other than to monitor your BP of it does go up? Not sure there is anything that can be done to counter the increase in blood pressure....sure it's better to be in the hospital to care for you if it does go sky high. but if there is nothing they can really do for you other than monitor it...that wouldn't give me a very comforting feeling either.....I would want to know what I can't eat & then NOT eat in the first place rather deal with the high blood pressure being out of control. That sounds dangerous even with your monitoring of it.

Hope you get this situation under control soon.

Debbie

[deliquesce]

Originally Posted by eskielover

Wow, do you have a list of the foods that do cause that kind of interaction.....it's really better not to guess on something like that & to just hope you don't eat the wrong thing.

What can they do other than to monitor your BP of it does go up? Not sure there is anything that can be done to counter the increase in blood pressure....sure it's better to be in the hospital to care for you if it does go sky high. but if there is nothing they can really do for you other than monitor it...that wouldn't give me a very comforting feeling either.....I would want to know what I can't eat & then NOT eat in the first place rather deal with the high blood pressure being out of control. That sounds dangerous even with your monitoring of it.

Hope you get this situation under control soon.

Debbie

oh, thanks for your concern (((debbie))).

it's because i'm on an old-style antidepressant (Parnate), and it means i can't have a whole list of foods that everyone else can take for granted. cheese, alcohol, soy sauce, fish sauce, pickles etc. i have a 16 page boooklet at home which tells me what i can and can't eat. i've been on them for 6 months now, and i'm pretty good with it.

the problem lies in when i'm eating out, and some accidentally gives me a soy cappacino, or includes some cheese in a meal i'm eating or... etc. i am usually really good with picking it up, but i think about a month ago my coffee order got mixed up at uni, and i knew the coffee tasted weird but because it was uni coffee i just assumed it was burnt . a few sips won't hurt (will just give me hives), but i drank the whole thing so it led to my throat swelling up/difficult breathing/nose bleed etc.

i decided to ignore it (stupid!!!!!) because i wasn't sure what exactly was happening - whether i really had drunk/ate something on the 'bad' foods list, so i didn't go to hospital. that's why my doc wants me to get a monitor - so i can check if my bp is going up, and can get to a hospital before i have passed out. he wants me to go there before it is "high" - i have a really low bp to begin with, so just anything that puts it up he wants me to go and let someone else monitor what to do. if it gets too high, the hospital can give me meds to bring it down again. technically, my dr could prescribe them for me so i had them on me in case of emergency, but because i'm small & have a low bp to begin with, he's worried they could bring it down too much and cause a hypotensive crisis instead. ha. but apparently a hypotensive crisis is easier to treat, so he just wants me in hospital so someone else can figure it out. when your blood pressure spikes up or down too quickly, it can make it really difficult to think & make decisions, so the point is that you need to go to a doctor/hospital where someone else can make those decisions on your behalf.

[VickiesPath]

The difficulty is, when I was on Nardil, often you do not know what you are eating. One of the last times I had a crisis, I was at a company Christmas party and they served a dish that had an ingredient in it I could not identify and it turned out to be something I should not have eaten. It's embarassing to run through a list of things with the waiter every time they place a dish in front of you. I had to leave and rush to the ER.