– But my blood pressure is up! – we sometimes say that when we are nervous or excited.
And although the pressure does have the right to build up then, we use these words in a rather figurative sense. However, it is worth realizing what pressure is and to what serious consequences its most literal leaps can have.
Spasm, diastole
The word “pressure” used to refer to the human body is the same pressure we remember from the traumatic (for the lucky ones – wildly interesting) high school physics lessons. Blood pressure is the force with which blood acts on the walls that make up the arteries, and because one of our largest arteries is located in the arm, this is where blood pressure is measured.
Its value depends on the work of the heart, which pumps blood to all corners of our bodies. Imagine how powerful this force must be, since the oxygenated blood reaches not only the more accessible places below the heart, but also those above.
The measurement result is two numbers. The first determines the pressure as the heart contracts, as the blood is pushed on its way. As this requires a lot of power, the pressure is at its highest. The second value is the so-called diastolic pressure, measured while the heart is relaxing after exercise.
The optimal pressure level is assumed to be 120/80 mm Hg, and we speak of hypertension when the values are higher than 140/90 mm Hg. In a healthy person, the measurement results vary, depending on the time of day, emotional state or physical exertion, and it is quite normal that at times the heart pushes the blood more forcefully, and therefore the pressure is higher. The problem begins when the heart does not pay attention to the rationale and is constantly running at top speed for no physiological reason. This problem is initially known only to our veins, arteries, maybe some organs, because the disease called hypertension develops essentially asymptomatically and we usually find out about it by accident, with a routine pressure control in a doctor’s office. So it is definitely worth taking your blood pressure as a preventive measure from time to time; even if we do not have our own blood pressure monitor, ask at the nearest pharmacy, some offer free measurements.
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No more salt
As in the case of all diseases, it is also worth knowing about hypertension in advance, but Dr. Piotr Abramczyk, MD, specialist in internal diseases, cardiologist, assistant professor at the Department and Clinic of Internal Diseases, Hypertension and Angiology at the Medical University of Warsaw, says that they can be effectively treated basically always:
– The only case when the task is clearly more difficult is the so-called hypertensive crisis, also known as malignant hypertension. The malignancy is due to the fact that sometimes the poor condition of the organism is not alarmed at all by high pressure values. The danger is that usually at very high pressure, blood vessels and internal organs get used to the situation to some extent and react to it flexibly, while in the turn, the body loses its compensatory mechanisms. The result can be swelling of the brain, rupture of the walls of the smallest blood vessels, breakdown of red blood cells and kidney failure. It is a very dangerous condition and, if left untreated, the patient may die even within a dozen or so days.
Hypertension is treated in two ways, most often in parallel, they are non-pharmacological and pharmacological therapy. Many people probably scoff at the fact that how much can you read about the miraculous effect of a healthy lifestyle, not smoking and a diet low in salt and cholesterol, but what to do when in case of hypertension (and not only!) It is a very effective therapy? Researchers have determined with great accuracy how much the pressure drops when the consumption is reduced very much with an overpressure of dangerous salt to one teaspoon a day (in total! We count not only the salt poured onto the dishes, but also the salt already contained in them!). It is worth fighting for these 4-6 mm Hg, since it only requires the elimination of white powder from the diet. Also, every 10 kilograms down, the pressure is 5 mm Hg lower. And even such a drop reduces the risk of heart and brain strokes!
Tobacco is highly inadvisable, and to a slightly lesser extent alcohol, a sedentary lifestyle and high cholesterol.
White apron
When it comes to pharmaceuticals, specialists in the treatment of hypertension, based on the latest research, recommend combination therapy. Treatment with only one specific drug, but in a large dose, may increase the likelihood of side effects, and also contribute to the activation of the body’s compensating reflexes.
Treatment of hypertension usually lasts a lifetime, and you must not be fooled by the almost standard measurements that tempt you to stop taking medication: the pressure is correct thanks to them, not in spite of it. You should also keep a permanent diary of measurements and consult them with the attending physician:
– Despite effective treatment, in the most common form of hypertension, i.e. primary hypertension (for no specific somatic cause) occurring in 90% of patients, the value of blood pressure increases with time. If we imagine a 60-year-old patient taking one tablet of a antihypertensive drug, by the age of XNUMX he may already be swallowing three tablets a day. – says Dr. Piotr Abramczyk.
You should also bear in mind the so-called white coat syndrome, it may happen that the pressure measured in the doctor’s office will be much higher than that measured in quiet conditions at the patient’s home. The reason is the uncontrolled stress caused by the entire medical context of the measurement: the atmosphere of the doctor’s office and the proverbial white coat; some even feel an unpleasant spike in pressure just from the smell of the clinic. In such a situation, says Dr. Abramczyk, the doctor either relies on the patient’s home measurements or recommends wearing the so-called A pressure recorder that monitors the patient’s condition around the clock: it measures every 15 minutes during the day and every 20 minutes at night. However, it cannot be assumed, the doctor continues, that the surge in pressure in the doctor’s office is a completely accidental freak, because it is evidence that the patient has a tendency to react in this way to a stressful situation, and therefore the risk of developing hypertension is significant.
Summation
What do we know about hypertension? It is dangerous. Maybe not in itself, but its consequences are. These include, first of all, diseases of the cardiovascular system. Unfortunately, it is arterial hypertension that is the most common cause of death among women and the second most common cause of death in men. There is also a very high risk of stroke, kidney damage and failure, severe changes in the retina (visible on fundus examination) and atherosclerosis.
So the threat is huge and, what’s worse, real. Therefore, there is nothing else but to immediately obtain a blood pressure monitor, check your blood pressure from time to time, and go to a doctor when taking alarming measurements. It is worth it, since the therapy is so non-invasive, because it assumes a healthy lifestyle and a few lozenges a day. For such a serious disease, treatment is really hassle-free! And effective.
Let us make sure that the phrase “But my pressure has jumped” never exceeds the scope of a safe and purely literary metaphor.
Text: Julia Wolin
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