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In this article we're going to look at one of the most serious problems facing people with severe high blood pressure, end organ damage.
It isn't the high blood pressure itself that will ultimately kill you. It's the damage that it does to the organs in your body that will. Chronic high blood pressure can lead to an enlarged heart, kidney failure, brain or neurological damage, and changes in the retina and back of the eyes. How is this damage detected?
In the case of the eyes, a simple eye exam can determine if there are any changes to the retina or back of the eyes. What the eye doctor looks for is narrowing of the small arteries, small haemorrhages in the retina, and swelling of the eye nerve. Based on how much damage he finds he can then gauge the severity of the high blood pressure.
As for the heart, the increased stiffness in the arteries because of the high blood pressure causes the heart to work harder in order to pump the blood to the rest of the body. This increased workload puts a great strain on the heart which can, over time, lead to heart abnormalities. These abnormalities are usually seen as an enlarged heart muscle. An enlarged heart can be discovered by either a chest x-ray, electrocardiogram or most accurately by an ultrasound examination of the heart called an echocardiography. An ultrasound is very useful for determining the actual thickness or enlarging of the heart muscle. This enlarging over time could lead to heart failure, coronary artery disease, and abnormal heart rate or rhythms. Blood pressure medications can relieve some of these problems.
As for the kidneys, blood and urine tests can be used to detect kidney abnormalities in people who have high blood pressure. Kidney damage can either be the result of high blood pressure or the cause of high blood pressure. By measuring the serum creatinine with a blood test, we can measure exactly how well the kidneys are working. An elevated level of serum creatinine indicates a problem with the kidneys. Also, if there is a presence of protein in the urine, this may also be an indication of kidney damage as a result of high blood pressure even if the kidney function itself is normal. As a matter of fact, protein in the urine alone indicates that there is already damage to the kidneys and if the blood pressure is not controlled will most likely get worse. African Americans are at greater risk of end organ kidney damage than Caucasians and therefore should be checked regularly.
Uncontrolled high blood pressure can also cause brain or neurological damage which show up in the form of a stroke in most cases. The strokes are mostly caused by haemorrhage or blood clots of the blood vessels that supply blood to the brain. Multiple strokes can cause dementia. The best way to avoid this from happening is simply to keep your blood pressure under control.
In this article we're going to discuss in detail lifestyle changes that should be made for people who have high blood pressure. Not all of these will apply to everyone.
Because everyone is different not all of the changes listed below will apply. However, these are the most common problems associated with high blood pressure that most likely could have been avoided if only the patient kept these things in check or eliminated them completely. Not only will eliminating these things help reduce their blood pressure but it will also help their blood pressure medication work better.
The first thing is alcohol. People who drink alcohol in excess (over 2 drinks per day) have a one and a half to two times higher change of developing high blood pressure. When the alcohol consumption exceeds five drinks per day this number goes up significantly. Also, the correlation between alcohol and high blood pressure is dose related, meaning the more alcohol that is consumed the higher the blood pressure and the more likely the person is to have high blood pressure. By lowering the amount of alcohol consumption per day (under two drinks) a person can greatly increase his chances of lowering his blood pressure.
Next is smoking. Even though smoking does not significantly raise a person's blood pressure by itself, the risks of cardiovascular disease are greatly increased and this in turn will ultimately raise a person's blood pressure. Smoking itself will produce a slight temporary rise in blood pressure of about 5 mm hg but nothing significant. In actuality, smokers have a lower blood pressure than non smokers because the nicotine causes them to lose their appetite which in turn lowers their weight which then in turn lowers their blood pressure.
Coffee is another thing that contributes to high blood pressure in people who drink over 5 cups per day. The rise is slight in elderly people who already have high blood pressure but is still noticeable. It doesn't affect people who have normal blood pressure.
Salt is another contributing factor to high blood pressure. A person should have less than six grams of salt in their diet each day. People with high blood pressure already should have less than four grams of salt. A person should refrain from adding salt to their food which most likely already has more than enough salt in it.
Another contributing factor to high blood pressure is obesity. Obesity is what determines the overall rise in blood pressure as a person gets older. Obesity contributes to high blood pressure in several ways. It causes a greater flow of blood because more blood is needed to feed the extra tissues in the body. Also, obese people have greater stiffness in their arteries which also raises blood pressure. Also obese people's kidneys have a greater tendency to retain salt which in turn causes a rise in blood pressure. By lowering your weight in almost all cases your blood pressure will go down.
Finally, a regular exercise program of 30 to 45 minutes per day will help reduce your blood pressure for several reasons. First of all, if you're overweight you'll lose weight which in turn will lower your blood pressure. Also, exercise helps blood flow easier which also in turn will lower your blood pressure.
By following the tips above a person with high blood pressure has an excellent chance of lowering it significantly.
In this article we're going to discuss the main difficulty with controlling high blood pressure. It isn't what you think.
Of all the diseases and problems that we as people face, high blood pressure is one of the most easily treatable. Yet, there are so many people who have it and are unable to lower it. Why?
The answer may surprise you.
Most people who suffer from high blood pressure, have been diagnosed as having it and been given a treatment regime have great difficulty in sticking to the regime itself. That is the biggest problem in battling high blood pressure.
For example. Patients who need to take certain drugs to lower their blood pressure become lax. They may basically feel okay, especially if their blood pressure is not serious enough. Most people with borderline high blood pressure have no symptoms. Therefore, because they basically feel in good health they will occasionally skip their medications or not take them at all.
Then there are people who smoke. Smokers have probably the hardest time of all quitting or even reducing the amount they smoke each day. Just look around at all the stop smoking programs there are. This will give you a pretty good idea of how hard it is to quit. Also, since smoking itself does not directly raise your blood pressure this gives a person even less incentive to stop, adding to that the likelihood that stopping will end up putting weight on which will actually raise the blood pressure itself.
Alcohol is another problem. People who enjoy a couple of drinks a day are very unlikely to give them up, especially if they have stressful jobs. Those couple of drinks help relax them at least psychologically even if their blood pressure is being raised in the process. And for people who are alcoholics, stopping or even lowering their alcohol intake is almost impossible.
Salt in the diet is a very hard thing to give up. The truth is, with the depleted soil in our world, most foods have very little taste. People who live with a salt shaker in their hands would have a very difficult time eating their meals without that extra salt. For many people, eating is one of the great joys in their lives. To turn that into an unpleasant experience is not something they are likely to do. Plus, those who always on the go and have little choice but to eat in fast food chains are never going to be able to decrease their salt intake.
Then there is the matter of obesity. Just like with smoking, look at all the diet programs. Losing weight for many people is one of the hardest things in their life. Even if they want to, some people find it close to impossible. And for people who are overweight, exercising to lose those extra pounds may be difficult because obese people just don't have the stamina to do much exercise.
When you add all the above factors together and each ones degree of difficulty, it is easy to see why so many people have trouble reducing their blood pressure.
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