24h blood pressure monitoring
Hypertension is the most common risk factor in the development of coronary heart disease and damage to target organs in general, beside the heart: brain, kidneys and all blood vessels. Increased blood pressure is therefore rightly called the “killer” number one in the modern world. Our suggestion is not to let anyone prescribe you medicine without doing a 24-hour blood pressure holter. Monitoring of patients treated for hypertension with 24-hour holter monitoring is mandatory, since a significant number of “well-controlled” patients have essentially unregulated hypertension.
How much do I need to wear blood pressure monitor
The patient wears a holter, a blood pressure device, for twenty-four hours. During this time, the device records changes in blood pressure.
The blood pressure monitoring holter assesses the patient’s blood pressure level during 24 hours, in a normal environment and the patient’s activities outside the doctor’s office.
Blood pressure monitoring is necessary in case of reading high blood pressure in order to exclude or confirm the diagnosis of hypertension or to assess the treatment outcomes of previously diagnosed hypertension.
During daily activities of effort, stress, rest and depending on the time of day (wakefulness or sleep), blood pressure values change. During one visit to the doctor, we get only the current values of arterial pressure at the time of measurement. Often these values are elevated due to excitement during a visit to the doctor or are low due to lack of exposure to effort. This means that one measurement of blood pressure does not give us complete data on the actual values of our blood pressure. Therefore, a mistake can be made in prescribing the medicine, and thus a mistake in the correct treatment of hypertension.
During the monitoring, the blood pressure cuff will be attached to the upper arm, and the recorder at the level of the hip or in the carrying case. The recorder usually registers blood pressure every 30 minutes during the day and every 2 hours at night. Automatic inflating of the cuff can cause discomfort to the patient. It is not recommended to make quick and extensive movements with a hand that is equipped with a cuff or to wet your hand (bathe or take a shower, etc.).
Indications for blood pressure monitoring:
- Clarification of hypertension of the “white coat” syndrome if the patient’s blood pressure is elevated in a medical institution, but is normal at home;
- Clarification of known elevated blood pressure at the level of end organ damage;
- Assessment of resistance to antihypertensive treatment;
- General (physiological) assessment of blood pressure drop;
- Explanation of symptoms caused by hypotension;
- Carotid sinus syndrome (excessive lowering of blood pressure after carotid sinus massage) and clarification of cardiac pacemaker syndrome