Forums >Health and Nutrition>Home blood pressure monitor; low heart rate
Hi everyone,
Does anyone monitor their blood pressure at home.... AND have a heart rate consistently below 50 beats per minute? (My RHR is around 41....)
I have a cheapie home blood pressure monitor, and it keeps giving me a "pulse error" - which I think might be caused by the little computer deciding that, if my heart rate is so low, it can't possibly be reading correctly. Can anyone recommend a home bp monitor that DOESN'T freak out about a low heart rate?
Thanks!
I used to monitor mine regularly, because I had semi-high blood pressure before I started running (~155/95...okay, it was damned high for my age). My RHR now is below 40 and my BP was last 108/65. I THINK my BP monitor is an older version of this one and it works just fine still.
Hopefully someone with an actual medical background will chime in with a better suggestion for you, though.
"When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem." Emil Zatopek
Feeling the growl again
I've encountered the same issue. I was using someone else's monitor, though, so I can't recommend one that works for you.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
I used to monitor mine regularly, because I had semi-high blood pressure before I started running (~155/95...okay, it was damned high for my age). My RHR now is below 40 and my BP was last 108/65. I THINK my BP monitor is an older version of this one and it works just fine still. Hopefully someone with an actual medical background will chime in with a better suggestion for you, though.
Thanks! I may get that one.
flashlight and sidewalk
Do you have an iphone? I use an app that you place your finger over the camera lense and the "flash" and it is able to accurately see the pulses in your finger. There is a free version and a cheap version.
PS - if you ever have to go to the hospital for any reason, make sure you tell them that you are a runner and have a low heart rate or the Dr.'s will flip out when they hook you up to the monitor. Make sure anyone who may go with you knows this also (incase you cannot tell them yourself)
PPS - the name of the app is "Heart Rate" (simple enough)
Reread your post...the app won't do blood pressure...disregard
**Ask me about streaking**
Walk-Jogger
I have borderline HBP despite running, and I use this BP Monitor and have never had it give me a pulse error with a resting pulse rate 45 and up. I don't use it for the pulse feature however, just for blood pressure. I like it because it seems to give lower readings than my manual sphygmomanometer.
For checking my resting pulse I use a convenient finger oximeter.
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Retired & Loving It
Thanks Cecil58 - it looks like those omron ones might be the good ones. I have the generic CVS $25 special. Picked that up because I've had boderline high blood pressure for about 10 years. I have to do a log and then go to the doctor. But now I have to do it more frequently because my kidneys are in some trouble.
I prefer to let them wander around trying to replace the "broken" pulse oximeter.
Best time was when I was in urgent care with a fractured toe (kicked a 20 lb box of cat litter). The NP that saw me for the fracture was NOT the nurse that took my pulse. I didn't even tell her I was a runner; she inferred from the heart rate in my chart, and just volunteered when I would be able to run again.