I bought a BP Monitor from Lidl and it was useless. I bought one from Lloyds Pharmacy about a year ago and it works fine. I think a recognised pharmacy can be trusted to sell a decent product.
I've been taking meds for my blood pressure since 2002 I had no idea there was any issue with my blood pressure until I had a check up as part of the induction for gym membership. It was 180/80 and my doctor said it was getting too close to dangerous levels and she signed me up for the Hypertension Clinic. I started taking 3 different meds at varying strengths until she hit upon the best balance. I was taking Perindopril, Atenolol and Amlodipine. When my doctor retired i was put under a new young doctor with different ideas who spent another whole year messing around with different meds. The eventual outcome was to take daily tabs of Perindopril and Amlodipine albeit at lower strengths. She was horrified I was still taking Atenolol as she said nobody takes those beta-blockers anymore for blood pressure control. During the 2 years before relocating to the Philippines my meds didn't change and my BP was pretty stable at 138/70 I did much more exercise and increased my fruit intake. Especially bananas. Since being here in the Philippines I cycle for a minimum of 1 hour every morning and my fruit intake has increased significantly. I eat fruit after every meal and probably about 6 bananas every day in addition to other local fruit. I also tend to walk between 2km-4km every evening. A great way to meet people too. I'm buying my meds at the local Generics Pharmacy. They have 1700 branches around the Philippines now. Today my Perindopril costs me P3 and my Amlodipine costs P6. I'm paying extra high costs just to have the same generics brands I had in UK This is actually much cheaper than you'd pay under NHS prescription which is I believe £8.20 per item. One reason why I opted for an annual pre-payment card before I reached 60 yrs of age I may try out the cheaper P1 tabs one day but really not bothered to 'upset' my current BP measurements which are really quite stable day in day out at 128/70 Based solely on my own experiences I'd definitely count regular exercise and regular selected fruit intake as major factors in managing high levels of BP I was under the impression that living in a tropical climate could cause an overall increase in BP but during my first year of living here there's no evidence of that. Well at least I don't think so as my BP is now lower than it has been since 2002 Living in the Philippines climate can cause people to just sit around more doing nothing much. That, I firmly believe, will not only have potential to increase BP but also to age you like a prune.
This is an interesting thread, retrospectively. It confirms that high blood pressure is pretty common in the British Filipino community and that there is a lot of myth about on how to keep it in the healthy range. I remember Peter talking about it, not just here but on Filipina Roses and wonder now how he got on eventually.
I've just stopped calcium blockers after 16 years, and during that time, I suffered horrendous skin problems, which as it turned out was directly caused by the afore mentioned BP medication. I'm now on thiazide diuretics (Indapamide) and my skin has totally healed.
Honestly Rob, I know so many people who have either reduced or eliminated high blood pressure by adopting a low carbohydrate diet. Many Doctors are prescribing it and deprescribing medication altogether. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/15/2680/htm
Back in 2005 when I started the medication, I think the doctors went overboard for a time with prescribing as many people as possible with high BP. Maybe I didn't need to take the pills, but it wont be easy stopping them as you know after so long. There are no reasons why I should have to take them - I have a very active job as a supermarket delivery driver, 25 drops a day, loading and unloading 1750kgs of shopping, walking up and down steps, steep driveways, very physically demanding. I'll do up to 20,000 steps a day. I don't smoke (never have done), I have 2-5 units of alcohol a week, I don't eat that much rubbish, and my BMI is 22.6. I'll need to look at tapering down the BP medication.
I applied for a job like that with Iceland about 18 months ago. I got the job and then turned it down as it was limited hours. They issue a YouTube video on what the work involves and I could see it could be demanding. Blocks of flats look challenging.
Mine is this one, £60 when I bought it at the start of 2017. OMRON M7 Intelli IT Uper Arm Blood Pressure Monitor with Bluetooth and Intelli Wrap Cuff: Amazon.co.uk: Health & Personal Care
Lifting it in the process of making it. There is a lot of lifting of the cheeses involved. It’s like an all day gymnasium.
