Blood Pressure Cuff

Shannon,
The blood pressure cuff pain is one of the things that is used by some doctors to diagnose fibro. Please explain to the nurse/med assistant that this is a HUGE pain, like those wrist burns we used to give each other as kids, and ask her to be quick and precise. I'd tell the doc as well so he can get an idea about your pain.

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~ Jeannie
Moderator for Fibromyalgia and Diabetes

I just thought everyone went through that pain...haha now I know its the fibry

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I always ask for a "fat people" cuff as I have large arms. It still gets way too tight and I know it raises my pressure up some...
thankfully, I have low blood pressure. I like using the ones like in the stores as they usually read 0...maybe I'm dead and
don't know it??

Hmmm.  I once used one of those BP machines in a pharmacy while waiting for an Rx.  The stupid thing pumped up way too tight and stopped.  I thought my brains were gonna explode out of my ears by the time they pulled the machine away from the wall and unpluged it.  I have had 'white coat' syndrome ever since.  Just the feeling of the cuff pumping up on my arm reminds me of that and my BP goes up.

Yikes...

Donna

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I have a BP machine at home that my DH and I both use. I have had it pump up, start to go down and then pump up again REALLY hard. I try to fight thru it, but one time I had to just remove it. The pain was so intense.

Yep, that's how BP cuffs feel to me, too. Fortunately my BP is pretty low with the meds I take. Diane

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Fibromyalgia since 1984, Sjogren's, Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, Auto-immune eczema, GERD, osteoarthritis, IBS, RLS, sleep apnea

WOW! It's not just me with this problem. I have high blood pressure and the minute they put that cuff on me I'm sure it raises my pressure even more. I use the machine at the pharmacy and my pressure is fine. I told a doctor once that I thought the cuff was going to pop something but of course he shrugged me off. Thanks.

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Puppylover

When I have mine taken, it feels as if the cuff is going to pinch my arm in half. It even feels that way with our cuff that we have at home. Like several have commented, I had always thought that it feels that way to everyone!

Have same problem so I will not let them take bp on upper arm. Always on lower arm . Always!

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Polycystic Kidney Disease,on dialysis for 4 years  3X week 3 hours (be 65 in June),legally blind,Ehlers Danlos Syndrome,arthritus,stenosis of the spine sky high colesterol

The blood pressure cuff is a killer!  Even worse is the tourniquet they use when drawing blood.  Double Bonus Day when the Bloodmobile comes--blood pressure cuff AND tourniquet for the 4 1/2 minutes it takes me to fill a bag with blood!  Donating is important to me (I'm O Neg), so I do it even though I know I am going to pay for it for a few days !

When I was in nursing school, they taught us to never start deflating the cuff and then pump it up again. If you miss the top sounds or haven't gone high enough, the proper procedure is to deflate the cuff completely and re-inflate it. Much less painful that way, and that's one reason I like the manual bp monitors better.

They've apparently stopped teaching nurses and medical assistants this. When one of them starts to double-pump me, I ask them to stop and deflate the cuff. Then, before they try again, I explain why they shouldn't do that.

I always thought this was just me too! I have always felt this way and I am no in my early 50's. I find the pain and pressure unbearable!

Shannon- not trying to butt in but I definitely think you should tell your heart doctor about your fibro - all of your doctors should know! JMO though....

You can all lower your blood pressure by doing "baby breathing" several times a day. If you watch a sleeping infant their little tummy goes up and down. They don't raise their shoulders. If you relax and take long slow breaths like that, making your tummy go out (NOT your shoulders go up!), hold the breath a few seconds and exhale slowly. Do this 3 to 5 times then breathe regularly. This fills the lower lobes of your lungs where a more efficient oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange takes place and it also kicks in on your parasympathetic nervous system causing a lowering in your BP. I actually learned this from Reader's Digest several years ago and my nephrologist was flabbergasted at my BP improvement. He even dropped one of my meds. I do this at traffic lights, while waiting in line at the grocery store, or any other time I have to wait for something.

I believe that this is the basis for the phrase, "Take a deep breath..." whenever someone is upset. All I know is that it works for me.

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~ Jeannie
Moderator for Fibromyalgia and Diabetes

I think it depends on if the cuff is manually inflated or inflated by machine. I know I notice a difference.