How To Treat High Or Low Blood Pressure

In the early days, Healthcare Professionals were reluctant to prescribe Drugs for patients with a High Blood Pressure reading of less than 160/100 Hg. At this time these levels were deemed not to be dangerous as they were viewed as gentle High Blood Pressure.

The thinking behind this all was that the possible dangers of the side effects of the medication used at the time might outweigh the benefits of the medication. The chances of increased adverse reaction and increased side effects of the drugs were considered too great to warrant the introduction of medication.

Things have moved on however and attitudes have changed. Both of the above perceptions relating to the danger of the side effects and the mild nature of the blood pressure readings have lead to the discontinuance of this practice.

Recent research has confirmed the importance of treating Stage 1 Hypertension (a reading of between 140/90 and 159/99 Hg) as soon as is possible with medication. It is now also considered best practice to treat patients who also suffer from Diabetes and High Blood Pressure if their readings are as low as 130/80 Hg. The sensitivity of pharmaceuticals nowadays is such that blood pressure levels can be controlled with much lower dosages with a corresponding drop in the danger of side effects.

Never has there been a greater variety of medication available to Doctors from which to choose. These Anti High Blood Pressure Drugs also include many types where there is a combination of several different types of drug. The newer types of drugs quite often have a different chemical makeup and structure compared to the traditional medicine but quite often produce nearly identical effects on the human body.

The variety and sophistication of medication is such now that Healthcare Professionals can produce care plans and programmes tailored to the individual patient and in most cases prescribe medication that have negligible side effects to the sufferer and protect against possible further difficulties down the line.

The common initially accepted approach to High Blood Treatment nowadays is to start slow and low and then gradually increasing the dosage of the medicine prescribed until the High Blood Pressure levels sink to a normal level. If this is not shown to work or causes troublesome adverse reactions then a wide number of replacements are available for use.

The target levels here are 140/90 Hg. For those with diabetes or chronic kidney disease then the ideal targets are reduced to 130/80 Hg. For Stage 2 Hypertension (the old levels of conventional High Blood Pressure) then the accepted course of is to start with at least 2 drugs. If this does not appear to be working then the idea is to start an additional course of medication using another drug alongside the first two.

As in all cases like these, the effectiveness of these programmes and care plans is greatly increased by a reduction of activities that might cause associate problems therefore changing your diet; reducing your consumption of alcohol considerably and stopping smoking altogether do help.

Nuff said really.

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Choosing blood pressure medications – This is the biggest dilemma one faces while going through high blood pressure disease. Most of the time your dilemma will be solved by your doctor, his expertise of disease and knowledge of your medical condition will decide what medication is suited best for your body. According to National High Blood Pressure Education Program has recommended established guidelines for high blood pressure. This is a coalition of doctors, professionals, and voluntary organizations and government.

The information about medication mentioned here may differ from what your doctor has advised you. This depend what level of high blood pressure you are having and in what medical condition you are in. There are people with other diseases apart from high blood pressure, in such cases it gets more complicated and this needs to be treated with combination multiple drugs.
Pre-Hypertension (120/80 – 139/89)

This is the stage when one starts developing high blood pressure. There are no major sign, which will tell you that you are having high blood pressure. If this remains undetected, this has chance of growing into high blood pressure. Undetected high blood pressure is dangerous situation and can lead to heart failure and kidney failure.

At this stage with changes in lifestyle focusing on eating and exercise can reduce high blood pressure. Ensure you are in touch with your doctor; proper diet plan and changes in lifestyle will help you in lowering high blood pressure.
Changes needed in your lifestyle are as follows:

1. Low intake of salt and sodium in your diet.
2. Stop smoking.
3. Eat lots of vegetables, fruits and low fat diary products.
4. Excess weight in your body does no good to you; it puts more pressure on heart to pump blood into vessels. Maintain healthy weight.
5. Daily exercise is needed for 30 minutes and more. In the beginning you can break this exercise into 2 or 3 parts spread across the day. There can be many ways you can do exercise, starting with simple brisk walk, dog walking, swimming, light exercise running etc. Please take doctor’s advice before doing any active exercise.
6. Stop alcohol drinks, no good to your health.

In case you have other diseases along with prehypertension, you might need medication; your doctor will be in better position to advise you about medication.
High blood pressure (140/90 to 159/99)

Stage 1 of diseases

Once your blood pressure numbers are between 140/90 and 159/89 you have progressed from prehypertension to stage 1 high blood pressure. I both numbers (top – systolic and bottom – diastolic) are high or in this range leads to stage 1 of high blood pressure.

At this point your doctor may recommend you trying diuretics. The diuretics are also called water pills. The objective of diuretics is to flush excess water and sodium from the body. The lowering of excess water and sodium helps in lowering the blood pressure and with major changes in lifestyle will help in reducing blood pressure.

Doctor will recommend you medication and changes in lifestyle to control your blood pressure. Depending upon medical condition you might need only diuretic medication with changes in lifestyle to control your blood pressure.

Blood Pressure Drugs:

Calcium Channel Blockers – The goal of the drug is to prevent calcium going into heart and blood vessel, which causes cells to relax and lowers blood pressure.
Beta Blockers – This drug helps in reducing nerve signal to heart and blood vessel, which in turn helps in lowering blood pressure.
Angiotensin-converting enzyme – This drug helps blood vessel to relax and helps blood vessel not to narrow. This drug is also helpful in reducing blood pressure.

Your doctor may recommend you one of these medications to bring down blood pressure. There can be other complications such as one suffering from diabetes etc. In such situation a combination of drug is needed to reduce blood pressure.

High blood pressure (160/100 to Above)

Stage 2 of diseases

Now if your blood pressure numbers are falling in the range of 160/100 and above, this is alarming situation. You now are in stage 2 category. At this point your doctor will prescribe you couple of medications to quickly reduce high blood pressure. Even in this case your doctor will start medication with diuretics to flush out excess water and sodium from the body. Keeping your high blood pressure number in view, your doctor will prescribe you more medication to lower blood pressure.
Blood Pressure Drugs:

Beta Blocker – This drug helps in reducing nerve signal to heart and blood vessel, lowering stress on heart helps lowering blood pressure.
ACE inhibitor – This drug helps blood vessel from getting narrow, which lowers pressure on heart and lowers blood pressure.
Calcium Channel Blocker – The drug prevents calcium going into heart and blood vessel. This helps cells to relax and which in turn lowers blood pressure.
Angiotensin II receptor blocker – This medication helps in widening blood vessel and stops hormone called angiotensin from affecting blood vessels.

At such higher elevation blood pressure can cause kidney failure and heart stroke problems. In stage 2 hypertension, aggressive treatment and strong discipline for lifestyle in needed to lower blood pressure.

Take control of your medical situation by consulting doctor in early stages and bringing changes in your lifestyle. The medication and changes in lifestyle go hand in hand; strong discipline will surely lower blood pressure. Lastly monitor your blood pressure, at least 2-3 times a day. Do not depend entirely on this blood monitoring equipment and at no point discard visit to Doctor. Your doctor is best to judge your medical situation. The statistics have shown that a combination of good drugs and changes in lifestyle have helped patient to lower blood pressure.

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