Picking up from where we left off last Sunday, what follows is the treatment and prevention of hypertension. To refresh your memory and for the benefit of readers who have joined us late, I wrote about high blood pressure which is a global problem affecting millions of people.
Normally, the blood gushing out from the heart impacts against the walls of the blood vessels creating a normal blood pressure; when this pressure increases it is called hypertension. This condition is discreet in presentation and remains silent for several years steadily damaging multiple organs leading to life-threatening complications.
How do I know if I have hypertension?
People suffering from hypertension may not have any symptoms for several years, though a keen and vigilant person may notice minimal irregularities with their body like:
1) Headache
2) Dizziness
3) Blurring of vision
4) Nausea
If undiagnosed for a long time, the following complications may occur:
1) Nose bleeds
2) Loss of vision
3) Kidney failure
4) Heart attack
5) Stroke
It’s a wise practice to get your blood pressure examined every 6 months for those who are over 35 years. If you have family history of hypertension and you are overweight, 3 monthly examinations are recommended.
A physician will take a detailed history from you in an effort to find a cause for your high blood pressure:
1. A complete medical history, including questions about a person’s present and past health and the health of the family members
2. Whether that person is taking any medications
3. Whether that person smokes or drinks alcohol
4. Eating and exercise habits
The doctor will probably take a person’s weight and height measurements. He or she may also perform urine or blood tests to check for other physical problems, such as a kidney problem that sometimes can be the underlying cause of high blood pressure. A doctor may also test for high blood cholesterol and other conditions that can increase a person’s risk for developing heart disease or stroke.
When no apparent cause is found on tests, such a case is called ‘Essential hypertension,’ which is the most common type seen.
How is hypertension treated?
In the majority of cases hypertension is a lifelong disease. Regardless of what causes high blood pressure, the important thing is to keep it under control. People who manage their high blood pressure with a treatment programme, lower their risk of having serious complications as they get older.
Although in most cases medication is necessary to control high blood pressure, in the early stages it can be managed with lifestyle improvements. If you’ve been diagnosed with hypertension, you and your doctor will work as a team to decide on the best course of action for you. For those who need medication, it is important to note that large clinical trials have provided no evidence to favour one particular drug regimen over any other. The principles of drug treatment for hypertension are theoretically simple. Therapy with a single drug given once a day is ideal, but combination treatment is frequently necessary.
Exercise is important, but people with severe hypertension need to be careful about exercise. The American Heart Association recommends that patients with severe hypertension avoid certain sports, until their hypertension is under control and there is no evidence of organ damage (eg, heart damage). Sports on the ‘avoid’ list include weight-lifting and bodybuilding. People whose hypertension is less severe or under control are encouraged to participate in sports as a way of managing their condition.
Can I prevent hypertension?
Here are some suggestions that can lessen your chances of developing high blood pressure and help keep you healthy in many other ways as well:
* Maintain a normal weight for your height: Being overweight is linked to several life-threatening diseases, with hypertension being at the top of the list.
* Exercise regularly: This can help prevent you from becoming obese or help you in losing weight if you need to. Exercise also helps keep your heart and blood vessels strong and healthy.
* Eat a healthy diet that includes lots of fruits and vegetables, including beans, and reduce the intake of red meat and fried foods.
* Don’t smoke. Smoking and high blood pressure are major risk factors for having a heart attack or stroke later in life.
* Keep your stress levels in check. It may help to practise relaxation techniques such as deep breathing exercises.
* Decrease your salt intake. Consuming less salt has been proven to help lower blood pressure in some people and may prevent some from developing high blood pressure in the first place.
* Avoid drinking too much alcohol, which is associated with high blood pressure.
* Judicious use of medications which can raise BP, eg, medicines for a cold
* Know your blood pressure. Have it checked regularly, because although high blood pressure is more common in adults, hypertension can occur at any age. The best method of checking BP regularly is at home with an easy-to-use home apparatus available at almost every drugstore.
‘The silent killer’
There are factors like genetics that we can’t change, but with simple lifestyle modifications like healthy eating, avoidance of smoking and drinking alcohol, regular exercise and self BP checks, we can make an effort to reduce the incidence of and prevent the life-threatening complications of this lethal disease.
