Blood Pressure Monitors

[Davina61]

Are the blood pressure monitors you can purchase from the chemist any good, and if so is there a certain make I should buy, or would I be wasting my money. Thanks.

[Sqad]

If you purchase an upper arm cuff, then no, you will not be wasting your money.

Boots......or any other reputable make.

[bednobs]

i would say though, they are really good for a trend (ie seeing if you are going up or down) but for one off readings v unreliable

[RATTER15]

You get what you pay for really, if you buy cheap dont expect much in the way of accuracy, you can get the professional ones but you need to pay the money out.

[pusskin]

Upper arm one from Boots is really good.£30 odd something?
Cant remember correct price, but my doctor says its a good one.
Says Boots on the monitor --Boots make .

[hellywelly4]

I don't use mine very often, but just when I think about it! I don't think doctors like us to rely on them. I find it's more for reassurance than anything. Mine is a Boots and goes on my upper arm.

[woofgang]

Its helpful if you have white coat syndrome (being at the doc causes a rise in BP) you can monitor it yourself and get a more accurate reading but this assumes that you buy a decent one.

[CoffeeLounge]

My mother has one from Boots. It cost about £30-£35. It is the doctor that makes her blood pressure go up. She will monitor herself and will be fine for weeks on end. Then a trip to the Doc and it is sky high. She finds it useful and takes the worry away.

[Scylax]

See Sqad's answer. Wrist monitors are suspect, I bought my upper-arm monitor from Lidl (!), and tested it against the traditional mercury sphygmomanometer. Perfect correlation. Seemingly, most upper-arm monitors are reliable. Don't pay a fortune - they are cheap and NOT nasty.

[gingejbee]

The cheapest Best Buy (Which? test) was the Kinetik upper-arm monitor at £19.95 from Argos. Incidentally, the Boots upper-arm was not that good!

[pusskin]

I take our blood pressure about once a month.
Instead of mr puss going to doctors last week, first time in yonks, doctor let me take his b pressure and phoned it through to save a visit.
So pleased with our monitor.

[EdmundD]

My GP recommended Omron