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Comment by cableshaft | Hacker News Reader

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cableshaft·

Well....that sucks. Maybe I don't have normal blood pressure.

Doctors never test me lying flat. Closest I've gotten is laying at an angle in a hospital bed.

I'm a middle-aged heavyset guy as well, so I know I'm at greater risk for these things.

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An at home blood pressure cuff is relatively cheap if you’re concerned about it.

Seconded. Got one and tested myself a couple times a day for a few weeks. I'm not necessarily sure it's 'accurate', but having repeated readings from same device, same arm, same position, same times of day seemed to at least show consistency and identify when things were out of whack (a couple times). Got one for about $25.

I was able to bring mine to my cardiologist appointment to double check I was using it correctly and then to check the results against the one in-office. Mine also cost about $25 at CVS.

I've only once had a doctor test my blood pressure lying flat. I had a suspected GI bleed and he wanted to see the difference between flat and sitting up. Then he called up the hospital and got me a spot reserved in the ICU.

My doctor's office sent me home with a monitor for 24 hours. It tested every 15 minutes during the day and every 30 minutes during the night. I generally went about my day at home and eventually even slept.

This seems pretty normal in Norway - but I don't think it was in the US (Am from the US, father had heart problems). Perhaps your doctor would be able to do something similar, though.

Yea they do that in the US as well. But not very often.

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