22dreams

Hi, I am looking for your best recommendation for a home blood pressure/heart rate monitor. When I read reviews online, it's a mixed bag. Some say that the results they achieve with the home monitor vary greatly from the BP taken in the doctor's office. also there is the upper cuff vs. wrist cuff issue as well as the manual pumping mechanism vs. automatic. Any assistance you could provide would be appreciated. Thank you in advance~

HI Dustin, I have lyme too...neurological lyme and bartonella..which is the underlying cause of my autonomic nervous system dysfunction as well. Throwing babesia and bartonella into the mix---man, you must really be suffering. I am waiting to see a lyme-literate neuro but don't know how well-versed this doctor is with dx'g and tx'g dysautonomias. Since this Md sees alot of neuro lyme (advanced) patients, I'm sure a lot of dysautonomia is seen as well. but that doesn't guarantee that the Md will know what to do or how to look at the test results. I don't know that insurance will cover visits to 2 separate neurologists (HMOs!), so we'll see.... Unfortunately folks, the sensitivity of lyme tests runs about 46-56%. to give you an idea, HIV tests are 99.5% sensitive. For a test to be used as a diagnostic tool (does s/he have it or doesn't s/he?), the sensitivity must run 95% or better. So the lyme tests are like flipping a coin. Actually worse than flipping a coin with your health because they are Antibody tests for,at best, 2 strains of the disease, not tests for 100-odd strains of the actual Bacterium itself. Those tests are not in existence. not yet. So: a negative test does not mean that you don't have LD. Anyway, I need to start tracking my blood pressure and heart rate at home and will create a separate post requesting suggestions. The dysautonomia has really stepped up in the last month or so, esp in the last couple weeks. I wish I could see your doctor---s/he sounds too good to be true!