Accurate Blood Pressure Readings and Upper Arm Muscle Atrophy
Question: My arms are very thin, and I have no muscle tone. Does monitoring at home blood pressure monitoring, using a machine, give an accurate reading? My own readings seem to vary a lot even between arms and between readings. Could this be because of damage to the vagus nerve from polio?
Dr. Bruno’s Response: A BP cuff that is too large will give false low readings, while an overly small cuff will give readings that are falsely high. Ask your primary care doc if he/she can try using a child's cuff in addition to them taking your blood pressure (BP) in both arms. I would not use the home automatic BP machines without a properly sized cuff and without comparing your home machine's measurements to those in your doctor's office using a proper sized cuff.
Blood pressure can be taken at the forearm, and there are machines that take BP at the wrist. However, these can give artificially elevated BP readings that also need be compared to measurements in your doctor's office taken with a proper cuff.
Certainly, the autonomic nervous system - the vagus and sympathetic branches, both damaged by the poliovirus - is central in determining blood pressure. We found a relationship between low blood pressure, fainting and fatigue severity in polio survivors. Please see: Chronic Fatigue, Fainting and Autonomic Dysfunction.
But even without the extreme of plummeting blood pressure and fainting, common bodily events can affect blood pressure: a big meal can lower while a full bladder and pain can raise BP.
For more information on blood pressure and the autonomic nervous system in polio survivors search the Index of the ENCYCLOPEDIA of POLIO & PPS. The article above is under the subjects “Chronic Fatigue” and “Fatigue”.