Hypertension or raised blood pressure is a huge problem. The incidence of Hypertension is increasing in the Indian subcontinent and all over the world – mostly because of indiscriminate eating, stressful lifestyle, inadequate sleeping, weight gain or other diseases one might have that may contribute to raised blood pressure. Alcohol and smoking also play a major part in this.
Hypertension needs to be treated and lifestyle modifications need to be discussed from the first visit. There are necessary tests that need to be done, for every patient with Hypertension- like a Sr. Creatinine level, Sr. Na, K, Sr. Aldosterone levels and a cardiac Echo.
Depending on these tests and physical examination, one can move on to higher tests like going in for a renal doppler or other similar tests depending on the suspicion.
Treatment needs to be individualized depending on the test results and individual suspecitibility to medicine.
There is a huge armamentarium of drugs that can be given to control blood pressure. However, one needs to keep in mind, that unless it is an emergency, blood pressure need not be lowered very rapidly, but gradually giving the body time to adapt to the new normal blood pressure levels.
All patients of raised blood pressure are at risk for Heart disease, kidney disease, eye – retina problems and neurological problems. It is very important that one keeps this in mind and get this evaluated also, so that complications of Hypertension can be dealt with adequately, because most often the starting of these complications is very subtle and come to notice, unless sought for, after becoming overt and hampering daily life.
However, prevention is much better than cure. But, if you have hypertension then do not feel shy in seeking treatment, there is nothing wrong in you, it is just that you need some medications and tests to make sure that everything goes alright for you.
There are wonderful drugs now that are available that lower your risk of heart disease, kidney and neurological problems.
But, often neglected aspect of this is that one forgets lifestyle modification which should go simultaneously with drug therapy – if you’re overweight, lose weight. If you have a deranged lipid Profile, eat less of ghee, makhan, malai, fried foods. Walk more. Quit alcohol and smoking.
If you snore a lot, you may have sleep apnea which is a huge reason for having hypertension in the day, so get that treated.
All patients with hypertension, should have ABPM monitoring atleast once on drugs, so that adequate control of blood pressure on drugs can be known. Many a times patients have erratic blood pressure readings, and BP might be raised when not looked for, giving a false sense of security, because BP is normal all other times – ABPM helps hugely in that too. It can also be used to risk assess chances of stroke or heart ailment.
Knowing BP limits is a must: and when to call hypertension, should be common knowledge so that more people can seek treatment at the right time.
It is important that you get blood pressure check ups now and then, and take care of yourself. The goal is to cross a 100 years, in a fit manner, so take care.
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AHC is a multispeciality hospital equipped with latest state of the art machines with wonderful doctors – Dr. RAJAT RAWAT / Dr. C R Rawat to combat your ailments and strive for the best outcomes.
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