A common condition affecting many people is high blood pressure (hypertension), when the long-term force of blood against your artery walls remains sufficiently high to cause health problems like heart disease eventually. The blood pressure determination occurs by the quantity of blood your heart pumps and the resistance it encounters to the blood flow from your arteries. If you have narrowed arteries and your heart pumps sufficient blood, you become a victim of high blood pressure.
When you have high blood pressure, also called hypertension, the force of blood pushing through your vessels remains too high consistently. This article looks at the basics of hypertension, including its causes and treatment.
Narrow blood vessels also called arteries, cause resistance to blood flow. The narrow your arteries, the more resistant they are and the higher they push your blood pressure. Over time your high blood pressure causes health issues, including heart disease. High blood pressure or hypertension is a common issue, and most Americans deal with this problem.
Generally, hypertension doesn’t develop overnight and happens over several years. As a result, you may not have any symptoms of high blood pressure, but the condition continues to damage your blood vessels and organs like your heart, brain, eyes, and kidneys.
Detecting blood pressure early is essential, and getting regular readings can help you and your doctor observes changes. If your blood pressure is elevated, your doctor might recommend checking your blood pressure every few weeks to determine the numbers remain elevated or return to normal. Doctors also recommend prescription medications and healthy lifestyle changes to contain elevated high blood pressure. However, if your condition doesn’t receive any treatment, you could be heading towards health issues like heart attacks and strokes.
Two numbers are associated with the pressure readings, with the systolic pressure being on the top indicating stress in the arteries when your heart is pumping blood out. The bottom number is diastolic pressure indicating the tension in your arteries between the beating of your heart.
There are five types of high blood pressure readings for adults. They are healthy, elevated, stage I hypertension, stage II hypertension, and hypertensive crisis. Blood pressure readings are taken with a pressure cuff. It is essential to have a correctly fitting cuff to obtain accurate readings because ill-fitting deliver inaccurate results. In addition, children and teenagers have different blood pressure readings. Therefore if you need to monitor your child’s blood pressure, enquire about the healthy ranges for blood pressure with your child’s doctor.
There are two types of high blood pressure affecting adults.
Identifiable causes of high blood pressure haven’t been discovered for adults. Primary high blood pressure, also called hypertension, develops gradually over several years.
Some people have underlying conditions leading to high blood pressure. Secondary hypertension appears suddenly to cause higher pressure than primary hypertension. You can develop secondary hypertension due to various conditions like obstructive sleep apnea, adrenal gland tumors, thyroid issues, kidney disease, congenital issues, and illegal drugs.
Different factors allow the doctor providing high blood pressure treatment in Germantown to determine the best suited happy for you depending on the type of hypertension you have and the causes identified.
If you have primary hypertension, you receive help by changing your lifestyle to reduce your high blood pressure. You may obtain a medication prescription if lifestyle changes aren’t sufficient or ineffective.
If you have secondary hypertension, an underlying problem is causing the issue. In such cases, your treatment will focus on treating the underlying causes. For example, if your secondary hypertension results from medications for the underlying problem, Dr. Lakhvinder Wadhwa recommends other medicines that don’t have side effects.
Hypertension is persistent despite treatment provided for its underlying cause. In such cases, your doctor works with you to develop lifestyle changes and prescribes medications to reduce your high blood pressure. Treatment plans for hypertension are evolving, and if a drug proved effective for you initially, it might become less effective over time. Therefore your doctor continues working with you to refine your treatment.
You can also try lifestyle tips and home remedies to lower your risk of hypertension. However, it helps if you remain in touch with your doctor at Germantown Primary HealthCare to stay in optimal shape and control your high blood pressure.
