Hello! I have been a doctor for 21 years. My name is Georgy Olegovich Sapego. This article will be another collection of questions and answers.
Question: Why can't you measure your blood pressure with a mechanical tonometer?
Answer: To measure blood pressure, you need to sit quietly for exactly 5 minutes. If you sit for only 3 minutes, then the pressure may seem higher. You need to relax your muscles and not even cross your legs so that the pressure does not increase. You cannot squeeze something with your hands. A rubber ball is squeezed in the hands to raise blood pressure while fainting. A pear from a mechanical tonometer is quite good for such a ball. The measurement result will be overestimated. I met people who regularly found high blood pressure, but if you sit them at the table with your hand on the table and wait 300 seconds exactly on the clock, then the pressure was normal. This means that they have been in vain for several years.
Question: Why are the correct readings considered by the tonometer after a 5-minute rest?
Answer: The harm from high blood pressure, the risk of strokes or heart attacks were calculated using a standard measurement. Standard is after 5 minutes of rest. As we walk, chew, or laugh, our pressure rises. And that's okay. Abnormal is when the pressure remains high at rest. Peace comes after 5 minutes of rest. In 3 minutes, blood pressure does not have time to decrease, and an illusion appears that it is increased. And it is not increased. There are many people with high blood pressure. And there are many people who only think that their blood pressure is increased. They don't need to be treated.
Question: Why only systolic blood pressure rises?
Answer: It depends on the age. In people over 60 years old, isolated systolic hypertension is more often associated with increased arterial stiffness. And that's not very good.
Question: Is it true that hydrochlorothiazide was declared dangerous?
Answer: Hydrochlorothiazide (hypothiazide) is one of the most popular diuretics in its group. Everyone knows that it increases the sensitivity to ultraviolet light. In Denmark, a study was conducted, and it turned out that people who take high doses of hydrochlorothiazide for more than 5 years are more likely to develop skin cancer. Abroad, no one is hysterical about this. But our Roszdravnadzor published a panicky letter a year ago. Type it is necessary to follow and revise something. In fact, in Denmark, and without hypothiazide, the peak incidence of skin cancer. They are record holders all over the world. I have written about this in an article about melanoma. In any case, it was a non-melanoma skin cancer. That is, those types of cancer that are easy to cure. That is, it is necessary to monitor the skin, but it is not such a frequent and not such a terrible cancer that one should give up everything and look for another medicine.
Question: If air is not pumped into the arm cuff in the tonometer, can you buy only the cuff or do you need to buy a new device? Are the cuffs universal?
Answer: Each electronic tonometer has its own cuff. Compatible ones are usually for mechanical ones that are easy to calibrate. After replacing the cuff, you need to calibrate any blood pressure monitors, but this is not done in every service. When my electronic tonometer breaks down, I buy a new one. I do not trust electronic repair.
Question: Is the additional chord an additional septum in the heart?
Answer: Chords are threads that hold the leaflets of the heart valves. An additional chord is the same thread that is simply pulled like a clothesline between the walls of the heart. Usually there is no harm from it. Sometimes it rings like a string under the blood stream.
