How To Treat High Or Low Blood Pressure

A person with hypertension is often prescribed a diuretic for high blood pressure symptom relief. It is one of the most common as well as probably one of the cheapest treatments for treating high blood pressure.

Diuretics work by forcing the kidneys to discharge more sodium and water than normal in the urine. This reduces the water content in the blood and less water means that there is less pressure being placed on the walls of the arteries.

Often a diuretic will be used as the first line of treatment by a doctor for a patient suffering with high blood pressure. But they that will also usually recommend their patients also take other forms of medication as well in order to help control their high blood pressure.

There are three kinds of diuretics which are used in treating high blood pressure and these are as follows:-

1. Loop Diuretics

These particular diuretics are often prescribed to people who also suffer from heart or kidney problems or suffer from edema (swelling of the legs). However they will not usually be prescribed to people who are just suffering from high blood pressure. Generally a person will find that once they start taking loop diuretics their urine output increases for a few hours afterwards.

2. Potassium Sparing Diuretics

Unlike some of the other kinds of diuretics now available these particular ones do not cause a person’s potassium levels to drop. In fact in some cases a person who is taking this particular diuretic for high blood pressure will find their potassium levels increase.

3. Thiazide diuretic

A thiazide diuretic helps the body pass more water. It generally has quite a weak action on the kidneys, so the urine flow is not increased significantly when compared to loop diuretics. In addition to the impact on the kidneys they also cause a widening of blood vessels, which also helps reduce blood pressure.

There are a number of natural diuretics, including Dandelion that may also be a useful addition to the battle to reduce blood pressure, but before embarking taking any natural alternative solutions speak with your doctor.

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It is important that anyone suffering with high blood pressure finds out what the true cause of the hypertension is. Diuretics and many medications only treat the symptoms of the condition, and without establishing the cause or causes and resolving that, then there is a greater risk of reoccurrence.

Review your lifestyle critically and see if there are any connections to the high blood pressure. Here are some things that have been found to elevate blood pressure over time:

A poor diet
Being obese
A lack of exercise
Smoking
Drinking alcohol, especially binge drinking
A history of heart problems of high blood pressure in the family.

Although the exact cause of high blood pressure has not been established, the conditions and habits above have been shown to elevate blood pressure.

There are also other conditions and circumstances that can elevate blood pressure including pregnancy, kidney or endocrine disease, blood vessels and arteries narrowing and medication like steroids and contraceptive pills.

While using a diuretic for high blood pressure relief can be effective, especially when used with other treatments, finding the underlying cause of the blood pressure and then introducing methods to resolve it can reduce the change of reoccurrence and keep you medication free.

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Low blood pressure, known as hypotension, means that the pressure of blood circulating around your body is lower than normal or lower than expected given the environmental conditions.

Hypotension, however, is a relative term – a person can have low blood pressure compared to other people who have similar physical characteristics, but may still be perfectly healthy.

Low blood pressure is only a problem if it has a negative effect on your body. For example, any of your vital organs, particularly your brain, can become starved of oxygen and nutrients if the blood pressure serving that vital organ is too low for that particular individual.

What are the symptoms of hypotension?

Significant blood loss can cause a sudden drop in blood pressure, resulting in the body going into a state of shock. The most dramatic effect of sudden hypotension is unconsciousness. However, low blood pressure usually develops over time.

Some of the most common symptoms are:

• light-headedness, when standing from a sitting or lying position;
• unsteadiness;
• dizziness;
• blurred vision;
• unusual fatigue;
• fainting.

What are the causes of hypotension?

Low blood pressure can result from one or more of many different causes including:

• emotional stress, fear, or pain (these are the most common causes of fainting);
• dehydration, which reduces blood volume;
• your body’s reaction to heat, which is to shunt blood into the vessels of the skin,leading to dehydration;
• blood donation which reduces your blood volume;
• internal bleeding, such as a perforated stomach ulcer;
• severe blood loss from trauma, such as a road accident or deep cut;
• pregnancy;
• some medications for high blood pressure which lower blood pressure too far;
• diuretics, which produce fluid loss and these can lead to loss of blood volume;
• some medications for depression;
• some medications for certain heart conditions;
• allergic reaction to certain drugs or chemicals;
• some forms of infection, such as toxic shock syndrome.
• heart disease, which can affect the pumping action of the heart muscle;
• some nervous system disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease;
• Addison’s disease in which the adrenal glands fail to produce sufficient hormones critical to maintaining blood pressure.

Many people have experienced the temporary effects of low blood pressure when standing suddenly upright from a sitting or lying position. Usually the blood vessels in your body respond to this sudden increase in gravity by constricting, thus increasing your blood pressure.

If however, the blood vessels don’t adjust to compensate for the increased gravity effects of your standing position and allow the blood pressure to drop, this results in a feeling of light-headedness, or if severe enough, dizziness or fainting.

What can be done about Hypotension?

Treatment for hypotension depends on the specific cause or causes. For example,the dosages of existing medications may need to be altered or a bleeding stomach ulcer surgically repaired. If no particular cause can be found, drugs may be used to raise blood pressure.

While hypotension – low blood pressure – can have significant effects on your health, these are often temporary and, once the cause has been determined, can usually be readily treated.

Hypotension has far less potential to damage your health than does hypertension – high blood pressure.

However, if you believe that persistent low blood pressure is affecting your health you should seek medical attention to determine the cause and take your physician/s recommended steps to improve your blood pressure.

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