Keep an Eye on Blood Pressure at Home

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By Doug Donaldson

A home blood pressure monitor can help your doctor keep tabs on your health—and it may even save you money.

Sort of like those nifty tools in a hardware store, a home blood pressure monitor can provide you with plenty of do-it-yourself attitude. It can help you feel more in control of your health and allow you to see the effects of medications, diet, and exercise. A home blood pressure monitor could spare you trips to the doctor’s office and even spare you the cost of drugs. Plus, the monitor’s cost might be covered by your health insurance.
           
But you’ll want a little bit of know-how before you get all wrapped up in a blood pressure cuff.
           
“You should make the decision to use a blood pressure monitor with your doctor,” says Daniel W. Jones, M.D., spokesperson for the American Heart Association and dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. “There are some conditions such as irregular heartbeat or hardening of the arteries that may cause inaccurate readings at home.”
           
Doctors often will recommend home blood pressure monitors for those with hypertension. In addition, home monitors can help keep tabs on the effects of medication. Home monitors also can alleviate “white-coat hypertension” caused by the stress of being in a medical office. It’s common for blood pressure to be slightly higher in a doctor’s office because of such stress, says Sharonne Hayes, M.D., cardiologist and director of Mayo Clinic’s Women’s Heart Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “When you work with a physician and also take your blood pressure at home, it can be a team approach to monitoring.”