Blood pressure

[Ihavelostmymarbles]

My MFM Doctor told me to monitor my blood pressure. Tonight, I was doing some homework with my oldest, and I felt very dizzy so I asked my husband to get the blood pressure machine. He didn't get it right away, so I started to get worried that it was high and that I wasn't going to catch it.

1st time--I was dizzy, had heart palps, and felt like I couldn't breathe. 133/77 109 bpm

2nd time--one minute later it was 131/76 95 bpm

3rd time--calmer (over 5 mins later) 119/73 89 bpm

Which one should I go by? Or does it seem like my machine is broken?

The worst part about monitoring is that I now want to do it to make sure I'm getting a good reading. This is just fueling my ocd and now I want to cry because I had broken myself of this, but now that I have to do it I feel like I'm going to go back to taking it at least 10 times a day, or 10 times in an hour :(

[Catherine S]

If those are your typical bp readings, why did your doctor tell you to monitor it? Those readings are fine whichever one you choose to take. Feeling dizzy can be caused by any number of things. You've chosen to join an anxiety forum so I'm assuming you're an anxious person. Anxious people hypetventilate alot which alters normal breathing patterns, which can result in lightheadedness.

Have you had previous bp problems such as very low readings? This can also result in lightheadedness.

ISB ☺

[Ihavelostmymarbles]

He said that his notes from my regular ob said that my blood pressure was elevated in the beginning of the pregnancy, so he wanted me to take it at home to see what I'm getting. I've never really seen it very low, but I do get very anxious whenever I get it taken because I was once "addicted" to it. I know that's really embarrassing but it was a time when I was "friends" with people online that fueled my anxieties.

I have a lot of moments each day where I'll feel faint and need to lie down, so I'm guessing it's blood pressure related but I never know if that means too high or too low. A machine during that time would probably give me a high reading because I start to panic thinking about high blood pressure and it being the "silent killer".