# At Home Blood Pressure Monitoring **URL:** \ **Category:** Medical Q&A \[Moderated\]\ **Created:** [June 30, 2026, 2:11pm UTC](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/t/at-home-blood-pressure-monitoring/19867 "2026-06-30T14:11:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![David\_Oswald](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@David\_Oswald](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/u/David_Oswald)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2026, 2:11pm UTC](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/t/at-home-blood-pressure-monitoring/19867/1 "2026-06-30T14:11:19Z")
I will try and make this short. I had three beers on Father’s Day and woke up feeling hungover on Monday. Eight days later I have not drank anything and I still feel hungover. Fatigue, headache, swollen lymph nodes, no respiratory symptoms. I feel pretty crap and had to skip working out all last week. I finally went to the urgent care today and my blood pressure was 154/100. It’s normally ~120/65. The attending physician ran a blood panel, everything came back normal, got me scheduled with a primary care physician to sort this out, and recommend I start logging at home blood pressure every morning. Now I remember on one of your podcasts hearing that I should make sure and get a good quality blood pressure monitor if I do it at home. I asked the urgent care physician what makes a good quality monitor and she said “just make sure it’s an arm unit and not a wrist one.” So I picked up an “Omron 3 Series” which was the most expensive model at the local Walgreens. I just tested it for the first time and I got a reading of 118/89. I don’t trust this reading. The systolic number is about as low as I have ever gotten. The diastolic is the highest ever outside of the urgent care setting today. For context, I give blood about four times a year. I write down my blood pressure at every donation so I have a few years of blood pressure readings to compare today’s values to. My question for you is: 1. Are these numbers likely funky? 2. What makes a good model, do you have recommendations on a model? 3. Is there anything I should be doing with setting it up to make more accurate readings? ---
**Author:** ![Jordan\_Feigenbaum](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/forum.barbellmedicine.com/jordan_feigenbaum/32/1315_2.png) [@Jordan\_Feigenbaum](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/u/Jordan_Feigenbaum)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2026, 2:21pm UTC](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/t/at-home-blood-pressure-monitoring/19867/2 "2026-06-30T14:21:21Z")
Hey David, Thanks for the post. I can understand why you’d want to get more information here to help make a decision. To your questions, it is _possible_ that the numbers you got in the urgent care _and_ on your home device are both right. It is also possible both are inaccurate depending on how they were measured, e.g. positioning, correctly sized arm cuff. sitting quietly for ~30 min beforehand, and more. I’m not sure what the situation is, but I do think it’s worth getting accurate numbers on what your resting blood pressure is on average. A single snap shot can be useful for spot checking, but additional monitoring can be useful. That can be done with serial AM and PM measurements at home, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring devices, and more. As far as a good BP measuring device, you’d want something accurate and precise enough to have confidence in the numbers. Here is a site that lists high-quality models: [https://www.validatebp.org/](https://www.validatebp.org/) There are few key items for taking an accurate blood pressure at home: - Avoid smoking and exercising within ~ 30 min of taking your BP - Make sure you don’t have to go to the bathroom - Your arm needs to be on a flat surface supported and at heart level. Bottom of the cuff should be above the bend of the elbow on bare skin. - Take multiple readings when you measure. Record them None of this should be construed as specific medical advice to you the individual, but rather general advice re: blood pressure. We have additional resources here: > **[Blood Pressure - Causes, Prevention & Treatment](https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog/a-basic-guide-to-blood-pressure/)** > > Blood pressure is a key indicator of your health. This is why it is checked at every visit with a healthcare professional. > **[How To Measure Your Blood Pressure Correctly](https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog/how-to-measure-blood-pressure/)** > > Step-by-step instructions on how to measure your blood pressure—cuff placement, body positioning, resting beforehand, e.t.c. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Oswald](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@David\_Oswald](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/u/David_Oswald)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2026, 3:29pm UTC](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/t/at-home-blood-pressure-monitoring/19867/3 "2026-06-30T15:29:19Z")
Thank you. My model is listed on the validate page and I got the same reading at home as in the doctor’s office this morning. But I have no answers on my symptoms. ---
**Author:** ![Austin\_Baraki](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/forum.barbellmedicine.com/austin_baraki/32/1095_2.png) [@Austin\_Baraki](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/u/Austin_Baraki)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2026, 5:33pm UTC](https://forum.barbellmedicine.com/t/at-home-blood-pressure-monitoring/19867/4 "2026-06-30T17:33:52Z")
Sorry to hear about this. Unfortunately working out the cause of your symptoms, if identifiable, is outside the scope of what we can realistically accomplish via the forum. With that said, based on the information you’ve provided here, your symptoms are unlikely to be caused by any of these blood pressure findings.