High Blood Pressure Con/d

The Silent Disease

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An Overview of Hypertension

Effects of High Blood Pressure on Your Body

This patient educationion film while explains what high blood pressure (otherwise known as the silent killer) does to a body. A KreativeVistas Production for Kaiser Permanente

What Does Hypertension do?

Natural Methods to Control Hypertension

Realizing that there were far few people suffering from high blood pressure in the Medeterrannean Region, especially in rural areas, scientists began to investigate whether it was the Mediterrannean diet which was protecting people from this area from developping the condition.

Their research proved that a diet rich in fruit, vegatables, whole grains cereals, fish, and essential unsaturated fats, such as olive oil, but low in saturated fats, total fats and chlorestoral, sugar and red meat, could protect against hypertension and heart disease.

One clinical study, known as the “Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension," or DASH, gave birth to the DASH diet and DASH eating plan which you can investigate by following the links below:

Read About the DASH Study and the DASH Diet

Information on the DASH Eating PLan

Drugs to Control High Blood Pressure

Many medications are available to lower high blood pressure or hypertension.

Diuretics rare often used in pre-hypertension to help the body excrete excess fluids and salt, and this therapy is also used, in conjunction with other medication in more advanced cases of hypertension.

Bet-blockers are also used to slow the heart rate and the rate at which blood is pumped through the body by the heart.

Medication known as sympathetic nerve inhibitors are also used to control the sympathetic nerves that link the brain to all parts of the body, including the arteries. These nerves can make the arteries constrict, thus raising blood pressure. These drugs reduce hypertension by inhibiting these nerves from constricting the blood vessels.

Vasodilators are used to relax the muscles in the blood vessel walls, thus allowing the vessel to dilate

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers and the calcium antagonists (calcium channel blockers) are other drugs used in treating the condition.

The ACE inhibitors interfere with the body's production of angiotensin, a chemical that causes the arteries to constrict. The angiotensin II receptor blockers block the effects of angiotensin. The calcium antagonists can reduce the heart rate and relax blood vessels.

It is advisable to read through the page before viewing the videos, to get a better understanding of the subject under review

Some of these drugs have unpleasant side effects, but it is important to continue taking medication to control your hypertension as, even if you were feeling no symptoms, hypertension is a very serious condition and can play havoc with the body, causing strokes, heart attacks, heart and kidney failure.

Talk to your doctor about any unpleasant side effects and whether these will last. It should be possible to find the right combination and dosage for you. Hypertension can be treated successfully and if you make some life style changes and continue to take your medication regularly there is no reason why you should not life a long and healthy life.

Not everyone with hypertension needs to take drugs to control the condition, whereas others will need to take medication for the rest of their lives. Reducing weight, eating properly and getting the right amount of physical activity can sometimes be enough to control the condition.

Warning
Remember, it is imperative to seek medical advice if you think you might have high blood pressure. It can be very dangerous to take medication, which has been recommended, for anyone else, or if you try to treat yourself by ordering medication through the Internet. You can have a serious side effect if you take a "wonder drug" that isn't right for you. Let your doctor decide what drug, if any, to use.

(Source; American Heart Association)

Other Pages about High Blood Pressure

From Age-well.org

• High Blood Pressure
  
• Control Bloodpressure
  

• Further Information from the American Heart Association

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