About three years ago, my BP was too high and my GP gave me a drug (Coveram). It may have reduced the BP but introduced arrythmias (skipping heartbeats).
I was sent to the cardilogist who declared it harmless but to be watched.
I also bought the Kardia device that enables me to take my own (simple) ECG. None of the medications to cure the arrythmias worked, until I switched to Remag, a liquid pico-ionic magnesium solution, taking one teaspoon per day. After three days, my arrythmias were history.
Magnesium is a powerful relaxing mineral that is deficient in about 80% of the population. I was taking magnesium supplement caps before, but the liquid Remag is much better absorbed. With drugs, you cannot cure a deficiency, only hide it.
Magnesium is absorbed from the soil into the greens we eat, the problem is that the soil is depleted and we don’t get enough magnesium.
Many decades ago my BP had to be retaken, this was in Los Angeles, the nurse was quite striking, I must have been impressionable, the moment passed.
The latest Apple watch by the way has an ECG.
dirkdj wrote:
Magnesium is a powerful relaxing mineral
And that is the way to go…
A 2014 study in the British Journal of General Practice found out that White Coat Hypertension is amplified by the doctor himself measuring the BP. If a nurse/assistant measures the BP, values are on average 7/4 mmHg lower.
http://bjgp.org/content/64/621/e223.full.pdf+html local copy
I don’t know if there is any correlation, but will find out soon. Last winter I had a terrible cold-thing that just wouldn’t let go. I visited my doctor, and she did lots of test. She couldn’t find anything wrong, except l had been infected by some virus, lack of vitamin D (lack of sun essentially, not uncommon in Norway in the winter), and high blood pressure. Don’t remember the numbers, but it was high enough that I probably should to do something about it. My wife has had a longer condition of high blood pressure, over several years, so we finally decided to do something together.
What we do is each week end we hike in the nearby hills and mountains. We walk anywhere from 5 to 20 km, with a total altitude change of up to 6-700 m. A local guy here has set up a patchwork of walking trips (several hundreds), made an app for it, and using the phone with a map and GPS we can walk these trips. Truly excellent, and there is points. More points for more altitude and distance, so it’s a kind of an online competition between everyone doing this. The walking is in the terrain (no roads), and a good walk take anywhere from 2 to 5 hours at “normal” walking speed. Nothing “athletic” about it, still these trips are long and steep enough to get the heart working (some have an elevation of 5-600 m, at a distance of 3-6 km, which is pretty steep).
I haven’t monitored my blood pressure, but through my watch I can monitor my heart beat. We started walking in Mars/April. My resting heart beat has gone down from an average of 65 in Mars/April to an average of 55 now, and is still going down. If there is a correlation with resting heart rate and resting blood pressure, the BP should also go down by some amount (I hope 
). Anyway, I will find out soon at the next visit to the doctor. (We also have done some adjustment on the diet).
I have read that the resting heart beat has better correlation with the average health than the resting blood pressure, at least as far as living longer goes. Only through exercise can you lower the heart beat, while the blood pressure also has a correlation with diet. IMO you need both, eat healthy and do some exercise.
For the original topic. My doctor told me that errors in reading (reading too high) usually came as a result of sleeping too little. If that’s the case, then there is no other way than to either sleep more regulated (which you should), or to monitor over longer time (a week).
BeechBaby wrote:
Wrong. A Holter Test checks and records your heart rhythm. A mini 24 hour ECG effectively. It cannot and does not record blood pressure.
You’re wrong. There’s blood pressure holter as well.
How can a watch do an ECG? There is only one point of contact?
I know there is an Iphone accessory (and A-D converter box, with an app) which does it across the two hands, which will give you a partial one.
You’re wrong. There’s blood pressure holter as well.
I’ve never heard of the term “holter”, I guess it’s an anglo medical term. But there are most definitely seperate devices to measure blood pressure or EKG respectively over prolonged periods, typically 24 hrs. In Germany we call these descriptively Langzeit-EKG and Langzeit-RR (Langzeit = long time, RR = Riva Rocci after the doctors who invented the non-invasive blood pressure measurement method).
If any doctor suspects you have hypertension, a 24hrs blood pressure measurement should be performed to verify. This will automatically help to differentiate between White Coat Hypertension and “normal” Hypertension.
Also be aware that about 10% of Hypertension are caused by another medical issue, such as stenosis of the renal arteries, hormone imbalances or even tumours. 90% have no underlying cause, and come with increasing age, “supported” by inactivity and wrong diet (especially a diet rich in salt makes it worse. Most “industrial” foodstuffs contain too much salt). Cutting red meat from your diet will also help.
How can a watch do an ECG? There is only one point of contact?
A valid point. It is physically impossible to get a valid EKG without at least two leads, and the heart must be between those two. Except for during defibrillation, where you can use the two “paddles” of the defibrillator to create an EKG, all EKGs require at least 3 leads. In fact, unless you have a full 12-lead EKG the value of what you are measuring will always be limited to a rough analysis.
