unusual bottom blood pressure reading

[Roster17]

Is it possible to have a blood pressure reading of 142/126 after brisk walking for 40 minutes. The 126 is what concerns me. I used a home monitor for the reading. My heart rate was 84. I had no symptoms such as chest pain
dizzy, weak or out of breath. This happened maybe twice before in the past year. I thought it was the monitor that was wrong. But now I'm having second thoughts. I want to add also that after a minute I took my pressure again and it was 125/67 heart rate 74.  I take atenolol only 1/2 of 25mg daily. My pressure is usually normal, under stressful conditions it can get to about 150/85 but it never went over that, that I know of anyway. I also have a stent put in  in 2006.  Do you think it's the monitor that was wrong?  
I'm hoping for answers from a lot of the experts and anyone else who want to give their opinion.
Thanks a lot.

[neiljohnson]

Good advice above. I would also add that you should check your technique make sure your cuff placement is right etc. (check out control-high-blood-pressure.com for instructions).

How old is your machine and when did you last calibrate it? It may be worth taking it in to your doctor's to get it checked against their sphyg.

If the machine persists with odd readings and it is not too old you may need to check up on the make and get an idea if it is a reputable make that has been validated. Some organisations keep an updated list of tested machines - links to these are also available on the site.

[Roster17]

Thank you both.  I feel a lot better after reading your replys.

[curmudgen]

Take your BP after 5-10 minutes of resting....home monitors are useful for general BP readings but are certainly not as accurate as the old fashioned manual pump up...I usually use both and the electronic one is usually off.  After a week you should have a good idea of your BP.  One high reading after exercise  is not indicative of BP problem.

[is_something_wrong]

I guess it's in theory possible but more likely you saw one of the most common errors with blood pressure monitors for home use. The 142 systolic is probably correct, though, and a completely normal blood pressure right after walking.

What happens is that the monitor for some reason is unable to catch pulse sounds for a short while, and notes this as your diastolic pressure. It happens to me frequently. It even happened to my dad at the doctors office when they used an automatic BP monitor. His BP "was" 150/130, but when testing manually it was 145/80.

150/85 during high stress is also normal.