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Mom (97 yr old) says that it hurts when Dr or anyone tries to take her blood pressure as the cuff is pumped up? I can't do it, the nurse can't do it. She won't let us. Now what?

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I use a wrist cuff monitor myself, top quality in our pharmacy, and it is far less uncomfortable than the doctor’s upper arm band. The monitor needs to be at the same height as the heart – automatic with the upper arm monitor, but you need to pick your hand up to heart level with the wrist monitor. It may not give exactly the same reading as the doctor’s monitor – after all the readings are different simply when you are lying down in bed. But if you use the same monitor consistently, it will show if things are different from ‘normal’, which is what really matters.
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I have a blood pressure cuff that works on my wrist - studies show it is very accurate. It is much more comfortable that the arm cuff. Just go to Amazon and search for wrist blood pressure.
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Uhm, at 97 what are you hoping to accomplish by taking her BP? When my mom had her medication changed I took readings often because I was afraid the doctor had made a mistake and her high BP would return and lead to a heart attack or stroke, but her doctor told me to stop worrying about it At that point - several years ago - mom was already considered palliative... she's 98 yrs old now.
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As others have pointed out, use a wrist meter. Much more comfortable but it is much more sensitive to positioning. Also look into getting a meter that measures while it's inflating instead of an older style one that inflates and then meters while it deflates. Measuring when it's inflating is much quicker and more comfortable since it doesn't inflate up to an arbitrary pressure but only goes as high as is needed.
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I take my own each day, and it does hurt! The cuff gets so tight my arm just aches! It’s only for a few seconds, but it does hurt. If she has thin skin and skinny arms, it’s even more uncomfortable. Is this a daily thing? Does she suffer from low or high pressure?

Ask your doctor or nurse if there’s any other meter you can use. I seem to recall a wrist meter at one time. It may not be exactly on target, but if Mom is not in pain, it may be worthwhile.
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Sometimes if the blood pressure cuff is TOO SMALL it will squeeze the arm harder than if you use a LARGE size cuff. Also, if a person has REALLY HIGH blood pressure readings, then the cuff has to be pumped to a higher number which results in squeezing of the arm. There are wrist BP monitors, but they are not as accurate as the regular BP cuffs. Sometimes you have to hold your arm in a certain position to get an accurate reading.

You might try putting the blood pressure cuff on your Mom's forearm and see if it hurts when you attempt to check her blood pressure. Put stethoscope on inside of wrist over pulse.
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When I complained about the automatic blood pressure monitor in the ICU they brought me a soft knit tube to place on my arm under the cuff. I don't know if it really helped or just satisfied me that they were taking me seriously. This was device left on my arm and automatically squeezed every so-many minutes. I hated it! I asked if someone could just come in and manually take the measurement. No. They didn't have time for that, and they didn't even have a stethoscope in the unit. This was how they did it. Oh well. I lived through it.

I took my new wrist monitor into the doctor's office. After several tries I did not once get a reading remotely close to what the nurse and then the doctor got. Maybe I got a lemon.
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Thank you for your answers. I will check on a monitor that only goes a little higher than her pressure seems to be. She does have frail skin and I have wondered about the wrist cuff. I even thought of a FitBit type of thing, but don't know about the accuracy of them. I do know she has done some things for "attention," too so I wonder about the seriousness of the "pain." Sometimes she says it hurts before the nurse pumps the bulb twice. Bev
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My Mom complained about the cuff too.
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Shane1124, I have a variety of blood pressure meters including wrist meters. The wrist meters are just as accurate if used properly. A basic understanding of physics helps. In order to get the same reading in a pipe, you have to measure it at the same elevation. In the case of blood pressure, that's at the same elevation as the heart. For an arm cuff, that's easy. Where the cuff is on a hanging arm just happens to be at the same elevation as the heart. So to get the same reading with a wrist meter, you have to hold the meter at the same elevation as the heart. Most people don't do that. They just let their wrist fall down to a comfortable spot. Used properly, a wrist meter is just as accurate as an arm cuff. I can take a measurement with an arm meter and get the same reading with a wrist meter within a few points. No two readings will be exactly the same even on the same meter.
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