Looking for recommendations

[dreamshark]

... albeit on rather specialized products. Still, you never know who might be reading this.

After chatting with Dr. Willis I've decided to buy a small humidifier for my bedroom and a home blood pressure monitor. The doc says that people like me that have allergy-type respiratory symptoms all winter often find that humidifying the air "is surprisingly helpful." I'm willing to try it.

As for the BP monitor... I'm finally admitting that my borderline high blood pressure is not responding at all to "lifestyle modifications" and is in fact inching out of the borderline and into the high category (I think of it as 140/90, but the top number varies a lot and not usually in a downward direction). I reluctantly agreed to try BP medication, but I would like to be able to monitor whether it's working or not, especially since I'm starting with a low dosage.

SO... does anybody have any experience with either of these items? Any recommendations?

In other news, my beloved Palm Tungsten E2 has decided to join the cavalcade of self-destructing appliances in my life and became unusable today. I've actually been very happy with it (except for the mechanical flaw that finally became lethal) so I may just stop at Best Buy on the way home and see if I can buy another one. But in case I don't find one and somebody has a better idea, feel free to suggest it.

Comments

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

From consumerreports.org we see (list edited to remove discontinued models and less highly rated models):

Omron Automatic BPM with Intellisense HEM-711AC $80 Arm
Automatic Maker says can be used with irregular heartbeat. Has AC adapter.

Omron Automatic BPM HEM-712C HEM-712CLC 70 Arm
Automatic No memory or carrying case.

ReliOn (Wal-Mart) Automatic BPM HEM-741CREL
A CR Best Buy 50 Arm
Automatic Shorter test time than most. Has AC adapter. No carrying case.

Lifesource One Step Auto-Inflation BPM UA-767V
UA-767VL 70 Arm
Automatic Longer test time than most. Single-button operation. Distracting beeps as cuff deflates. Maximum pressure set manually. No memory or carrying case.

Lumiscope Automatic Inflation BPM 1085M or MC
Note: Discontinued. 70 Arm
Automatic Distracting beeps as cuff deflates. Maximum pressure set manually. No memory.

Lifesource Quick Response BPM w/Easycuff UA-787V 85 Arm
Automatic Single-button operation. Regular-size cuff easier to use and has wider normal size range than most. Maker says can be used with irregular heartbeat.

Lifesource Manual Inflation BPM UA-702V UA-702VL 50 Arm
Manual Distracting beeps as cuff deflates. No memory or carrying case.

[carbonel]

I have a Palm Tungsten E of some flavor that I'd be willing to sell at a reasonable price, if you want to replace it with the same or similar model.

I replaced it with a Treo; there's nothing wrong with it AFAIK.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

As it happens I stopped at Best Buy on the way home and bought a new one. It's a Tungsten E2, quite possibly the same one you were selling. Oh well, thanks anyway. That's what I get for being impatient.

[jbru.livejournal.com]

Ericka has a BP meter that takes her pressure from her index finger. Slip it on, tighten the cuff, press a button and get your pressure in a minute or so. Small enough to cart around if you're traveling or want to check while at work.

[pameladean]

I do have a home blood pressure monitor, but I didn't buy it -- it was given to the Multispeciality Clinic by a drug company, and they gave it to me the moment the words, "No health insurance" crossed my lips. It's plastered all over with the drug company's log and stuff, so I don't know the brand. It's the kind where you wrap a velcroed piece around your non-dominant arm and pump it up with a little bulb. The bulb sprang a leak a few years ago, but when I wrote to the company asking to order a new one, they send me one for free. I've hever had to change the battery.

I think they have fancier and smarter ones nowadays.

My nephrology nurse told me that the wrist monitors were notoriously unreliable but tended to read high.

And that's what I know.

P.

[tesla-aldrich.livejournal.com]

I have a fair amount of experience with humidifiers. I've been using one in my bedroom for the last 7 winters; before that I had a couple in the common areas of my house.

I very much prefer the cool-mist to the hot-mist models for one simple reason: the cool-mist need basically no cleaning while the hot-mist require that you scrub scale off the element weekly (this happens even if you use pre-filtered water, BTW).

The one I've been using is a Holmes HM3650. Overall, I've been very happy >with it. Details:

• It has 2 refillable tanks. If I fill them up completely it runs for about 4 days in my 12' x 15' x 8' room before going empty.


• Over the course of 7 years, the little rubber gaskets in the tanks have degraded, so I can no longer carry the tanks right-side-up without spilling water everywhere. Since the handles are on the bottom, this bothers me so little that I keep forgetting to order replacement gaskets.


• It takes a replacement filter about every 6-8 weeks. The filters can be bought for $10 at Target, or for significantly more than that through the mail from Holmes. For the best filter life, don't allow the humidifier to run out of water.


• This one has a humidistat that allows you to select 5% variations up to 65% humidity, or simply let the thing run constantly. It allows you to select low/medium/high modes, which is important if you're sensitive to noise while you sleep. It can get pretty loud on the higher settings.


• I keep mine set to 50% humidity. The hygrometer in my (closed) guitar case a few feet away reads 43%. YMMV.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tips. Since I happened to be in Best Buy anyway, I picked up a little Honeywell one. It's a cool-water one, and it's extremely cool-looking (black and shapely with a pretty blue light on the front). It makes almost no noise, and pumps out plenty of mist for our little bedroom. However, the blue light is a little bit of a nuisance in a bedroom, attractive though it is. Not a big deal if you face it towards the wall, but sort of a dumb feature now that I think about it. On the other hand, it makes the unit look remarkably like the life-saving health kits in some 1st person shooter I used to play, which makes it instantly emotionally appealing. I don't think it actually has a humidity setting/sensor in it - just a knob to change the setting from low to high.

It sounds like you've had good results with your Holmes humidifier. If we decide to get a larger one for the main part of the house I'll look for that brand.

[laurel]

Cool mist definitely is the way to go.

I'm very pleased to see that they're now making humidifiers that are downright cute. Sure, many are marketed for kids, but that wouldn't stop me from getting a penguin humidifier.

There are a lot of gadgets out there with nifty blue lights that are cool, unless you have them in a room where you sleep and you don't like sleeping with lights like that glowing away.