Ambulatory blood pressure monitor safety

c2et
c2et Member Posts: 28
edited June 2017 in Lymphedema

Hi everyone:

I participated on this list when I was first diagnosed in 2005. I am back with a question that I would really appreciate feedback on.

I had a bilateral mastectomy—right side was stage 1 with the sentinel node removed, left side was dcis with no nodes removed.

Over the years I use the left side with no nodes removed for all of my blood pressure, blood tests, injections, etc. without any problems.

I am supposed to do a 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure monitor. I would wear a cuff and blood pressure machine which automatically takes your blood pressure for 24 hours (not sure of the frequency but according to the internet could be read as often as every 20 or 30 minutes.)

Would anyone know if this would put me at risk for lymphedema even though it would be done on the arm side with no node removal?

Thanks!

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Comments

  • bookgal
    bookgal Member Posts: 15
    edited June 2017

    Hi There!

    I just completed this test! They used the non- surgical side (I only have Mast. and ALND one one side).

    Have you had or currently have lymphedema? if not, I would't worry about your non-surgical side. Especially this far out from your Sentinel Lymph Node (which does not remove as many nodes.) of the opposite arm. If fact my surgeon recently told me that ,if I had to , I would use the surgical side because overtime the lymphatic system can grow new pathways for lymphatic fluid. (Hopefully, I wont have to test this out!)

    Hope your test goes well ...it was a bit of a pain in a#@.... arm :) but truly lasts less than a minute.

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  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited June 2017

    Sorry but doctors don't really know much about LE. The average doc gets 15 minutes of LE education in 15 years of schooling. You are always at risk, even 20 years out. Hopefully you are safe using the left side. Below is a link to a great site that many of our BCO members worked on.


    http://www.stepup-speakout.org/


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  • bookgal
    bookgal Member Posts: 15
    edited June 2017

    Thank you for the information, MinusTwo. Love the name, it made me chuckle as I most likely will soon to be minus two myself! I came here to find out what other women in my situation have experienced. The site has provided me with great info and more questions... I may start a new thread.

    I think drs only see their part of the puzzle and don't look at the whole picture. Its hard as a patient to know what is the right thing to do vs the BEST thing.

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  • dtad
    dtad Member Posts: 2,323
    edited June 2017

    MinusTwo....I completely agree that out docs, even breast cancer docs know very little about LE. They almost always underestimate the risk. My BS at a major NYC university hospital who I love, told me it wouldn't happen because I only had a few lymph nodes removed. We all know that's not true. It's a life altering SE which should be taken very seriously. Good luck to all.

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