Hypertension

By coffee on Nov 19, 2008 | Reply

Ask a doctor. There are no obvious symptoms . You need to have your BP checked by a doctor or nurse. Causes - excess salt in your diet, too much alcohol, obesity, stress. Treatments : Usually one pill a day for the rest of your life.

By JiZeLLe on Nov 20, 2008 | Reply

this will help

By chelsea on Nov 22, 2008 | Reply

Hypertension (high blood pressure) is a medical condition in which the blood pressure is chronically elevated.

Hypertension can be classified as either essential (primary) or secondary. Essential hypertension indicates that no specific medical cause can be found to explain a patient’s condition or idiopathic. Secondary hypertension indicates that the high blood pressure is a result of (i.e. secondary to) another condition, such as kidney disease or certain tumors (especially of the adrenal gland).

Persistent hypertension is one of the risk factors for strokes, heart attacks, heart failure and arterial aneurysm, and is a leading cause of chronic renal failure

Hypertension is considered to be present when a person’s systolic blood pressure is consistently 140 mmHg or greater, and/or their diastolic blood pressure is consistently 90 mmHg or greater

Hypertension is usually found incidentally by healthcare professionals during a routine checkup. The only test for hypertension is a blood pressure measurement. Hypertension in isolation usually produces no symptoms although some people report headaches, fatigue, dizziness, blurred vision, facial flushing or tinnitus.
Malignant hypertension (or accelerated hypertension) is distinct as a late phase in the condition, and may present with headaches, blurred vision and end-organ damage.

Treatment

The first treatment for hypertension is to modify your lifestyle (nonpharmacologic treatment). For example weight reduction and regular aerobic exercise (e.g. jogging) are recommended as the first steps in treating mild to moderate hypertension. Regular mild exercise improves blood flow and helps to reduce resting heart rate and blood pressure. These steps are highly effective in reducing blood pressure, although drug therapy is still necessary for many patients with moderate or severe hypertension to bring their blood pressure down to a safe level. Reducing sodium (salt) diet is proven very effective. In addition, an increase in daily calcium intake has the benefit of increasing dietary potassium, which theoretically can offset the effect of sodium and act on the kidney to decrease blood pressure. Discontinuing tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking has been shown to lower blood pressure, but the exact mechanisms are not fully understood, but blood pressure (especially systolic) always transiently increases following alcohol and/or nicotine consumption.

then if lifestyle modification can’t help u reduce your blood pressure, u can have drug theraphy. ask ur doctor for more details, cause the type and dose of drug depends individually on ur medical status…

hope this helps =)