Home BP readings - good or bad?

I had very volatile and high blood pressure during pregnancy. Do you feel particularly anxious when you do the readings? I used to take readings 30 minutes after my BP tablets as standard which were every 3 hours throughout daytime and night. I don't think you're overreacting and the risk of stroke is very real so if you are approaching the 160/100 regularly I would 100% be contacting hospital. Labetalol and Nifedipine did not work at all for me in the end so when I went in for at 36 weeks they couldn't get it under control so I was induced there and then (!). I absolutely would recommend continuing to monitor at home as it can change so rapidly. Watch out for headaches ☺️ if you monitor yourself as standard a few times a day, you may find you're less anxious about them as they just are standard practice !

Yeah my anxiety is absolutely awful taking readings as I’ve been in and out of hospital 3 times with it… the noise gives me PTSD 😫

I wasn’t sure if it’s best to monitor before or after tablets, if the tablets are hiding the underlying BP? It’s always fine after tablets, it’s the readings just before which can be a little high…
Did you have any headaches? I’ve not had any other symptoms so far but I’m at peak paranoia!!

It’s really difficult not to let the stress get to you. It takes about 2 weeks to get the full effect of labetalol so it may balance out soon.

For home readings make sure you’ve sat down and relaxed for 10 minutes before reading and that it’s done at the same time of day. I would put the cuff on me straight away so that bit would already be done and be one less thing to stress about. Then you should take three readings. I was on twice daily home monitoring as I had white coat syndrome

I am nearly 7 weeks postpartum and still on medication, being weaned off it but still on it. I hate being on this and have anxiety about the same too