ok so this comes up a lot, people starting sema or tirz or something else and getting anxious about their blood pressure, especially if they’re already on meds for it. i started semaglutide myself about five months ago and had to figure out a system for this that didn’t just generate a bunch of noise and anxiety. this is not medical advice, it’s just my process for collecting data that’s actually useful for a conversation with my doctor. the goal isn’t to self-diagnose, it’s to not bring a pile of random, meaningless numbers to an appointment.
get the right cuff
this is the most boring part but it’s the most important. most of the cheap wrist cuffs are not accurate. get an upper arm cuff and actually measure your bicep to make sure you have the right size. a cuff that’s too small will read artificially high, and one that’s too big will read low.
this one variable can throw everything off. establish a baseline
before you start a new peptide or make a big diet change, take your bp for a week or two at the same time every day. i do it in the morning after i’ve been up for a few minutes but before coffee. this gives you a real baseline for your normal, on your meds, in your house.
a single reading at the doctor’s office is not a baseline. **log the variables,