Why You Should Get A Home Blood Pressure Monitor

[CJ]

For the new guys...

If you're going to use AAS, it's in your best interest to do so in the safest manner possible. Sacrificing your long term health, or your life for that matter, isn't a choice the vast majority of us would make.

One of the easiest, and most beneficial ways of monitoring your health is by routinely checking your blood pressure. You can catch a problem before it's too late, and make course corrections that will only benefit you.

I urge you all to buy a home blood pressure monitor. They're cheap, and I can't think of any good reason why not to. Many insurance plans even cover the cost if you get an RX from your Dr. If you run into problems later on, you don't want to look back and think that $50 could've saved your quality of life, or your kids from having to bury you.



WHAT ARE SOME OF THE REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD MONITOR YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE:

From Mayo Clinic:
"You can have high blood pressure for years without any symptoms. Uncontrolled high blood pressure increases your risk of serious health problems, including heart attack and stroke."

This is pretty self explanatory. Heart attacks and strokes are bad. Enough said.


From the NIDDK:
"High blood pressure can constrict and narrow the blood vessels, which eventually damages and weakens them throughout the body, including in the kidneys. The narrowing reduces blood flow.

If your kidneys’ blood vessels are damaged, they may no longer work properly. When this happens, the kidneys are not able to remove all wastes and extra fluid from your body. Extra fluid in the blood vessels can raise your blood pressure even more, creating a dangerous cycle, and cause more damage leading to kidney failure."

When your kidneys fail, you're in real trouble. At that point you're either on a list for a kidney transplant, or a future of being on dialysis for the rest of your life. The kidneys aren't like the liver, they don't repair themselves to any meaningful degree.


WHY THIS AFFECTS YOU:
The use of Anabolic Androgenic Steroids is associated with the potential for higher blood pressure... "Increased blood pressure and aortic stiffness among abusers of anabolic androgenic steroids: potential effect of suppressed natriuretic peptides in plasma? - PubMed" https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28863033/


Regularly monitoring your blood pressure, along with regular blood work, is the standard we should all strive for if we're going to do this in the safest way possible.

There are people who die indirectly from the use of AAS, let's not be one of them.

 

[Iron1]

Good post CJ.

Blood pressure monitors are pretty cheap but like you said often times your health insurance provider may have a program available that will provide a monitor free of cost with a valid hypertension diagnosis. That's how I got mine. It might be worth checking into, it could save your life.

 

[CLIHAU]

Yes, very good post! I might could have avoided a stroke a few years back if I had been checking it more often!!

 

[Crom]

Good post! I just picked one up a few months back. Definitely worth having. Especially for some of us older guys.

 

[DILDINATOR]

Or just marry a nurse haha! She takes my blood pressure every day. Even drains a pint of blood for me if my hemoglobin gets too high instead of having to go donate. A good clean diet and daily LISS cardio can greatly reduce your chances of high blood pressure on cycle.

 

[Bro Bundy]

It’s that common sense to have one of those if your on gear

 

[CJ]

It’s that common sense to have one of those if your on gear

Yes sir. Just trying to spread that knowledge to the new guys who have tunnel vision, that only think about the cycle and not things like PCT, bloodwork, and health metrics.

 

[BrotherIron]

I have 2. There's no price to put on one's health.

 

[Adrenolin]

Most new members have no clue about blood pressure all they care is they look good in the summer

See you've been banned in the last hour.. I wonder why?

My digital wrist cuff cost $24.

 

[permabulker]

My blood pressure is something I know for sure isn’t great so I think I will be getting a machine at some point either way just so I can improve on that.

it’s something easy to ignore but also easy to regret ignoring.

 

[Trump]

How often should we check it?

 

[Iron1]

How often should we check it?

I asked my doc this question too and I'll relay what he had suggested.

He didn't mind testing and recording daily or whatever semi-regular frequency but spot numbers were less important than the average for a given time of day. Everyone will have a day here or there that pops abnormal and it's not usually something to be alarmed over.

Now, here's the thing. Blood pressure follows along with your natural circadian rhythm, it'll go up and down throughout the day on it's own. In the morning, it will be on it's way up, peaking at around noon and coming back down again at night. Your circadian rhythm can be different depending on your sleep/wake schedule so it's important to keep that in mind when tracking numbers. "Morning" for night shift workers will be different than "morning" for day shift workers. When you record your numbers, make sure to note which time the reading came from so you can calculate averages in a meaningful way.

 

[Gadawg]

I have a cuff and stethoscope just like the doc. I dont trust the computer kind. Super easy.