High blood pressure? Or fat arms messing up reading

[Foody8410]

Looking for advice before I speak to GP. I have always had quite high blood pressure when taken at the doctors as I get extremely anxious. So I have a machine at home as needed it for contraceptive pill checks. At home is would read around 135/75.

Over the years I've put weight on and I have really flabby upper arms. The standard cuff doesn't fit so I bought a larger one. I've been checking my readings lately and I either get an error and it wont read at all or readings of around 155/110 which is obviously high. The cuff squeezes my arm to tightly it causes a lot of pain and I just don't know if the readings or correct or not.
When at the gp most of the time they don't even have a larger cuff, or the one they use just says error.
If my blood pressure is high then I want medication for it but I can't truly be sure.

Does anyone here have large arms that affect blood pressure readings?

Depending on how large your arms are (and, possibly more importantly, the shape of your arms), it can cause difficulty. If the cuff isn't large enough, it will cause a falsely elevated reading.

If your arms are (without being rude) rather flabby and not a standard shape, it can sometimes be easier to get a reading from your lower arm. I've even taken blood pressure readings on legs in the past (admittedly that was with patients with arm injuries).

I second taking a reading from the forearm. Just remember the cuff should be at the level of your heart so maybe lie down. To check the size the cuff should have a measurement printed on it as to the circumference of the arm it is to be used with. There are some videos on you tube fitting BP cuffs too.