To stay healthy: treat hypertension well

Since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, a large number of people have been concerned about high blood pressure (HBP or hypertension). Although this condition has been linked to an increased risk of infection complications, age and obesity, which are frequently associated, would be more directly involved.

The doctors instantly informed the patients on two points: hypertension does not promote contagion, and the medications used to treat it are not liable to the virus’s progression in the body. They would really be beneficial for patients who have concurrent cardiac pathology. It is therefore critical to be closely monitored, both during and after the lockdown, in order to maintain your well being. However, if people are well-treated, 4 million of them will avoid their hypertension because they do not experience clear symptoms.

It’s a big mistake, because the risks can be severe on the cardiovascular and cerebral levels, even though effective treatments are available.

Risk factors to look out for

Since hypertension affects 25% of people at 50, 35% at 60, 50% at 70, and 70% at 80 in medium, the milestones of the 1950s and subsequent decades should encourage us all to open our eyes. Age is thus one of the primary aggravating factors, and as the artery wall ages and stiffens, the pressure logically rises.

Heredity also plays a significant role, and when one of the of the parents was hypertensive as a child, the probability of becoming hypertensive is multiplied by two.

Certain medications, such as oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy for menopause with estrogen, as well as anti-inflammatories in infrequent self-medication or recommended over a longer duration, can also rise voltage.

Advice: Highlight all of the factors you believe you meet so that you can describe them thoroughly with the medical professional

Monitoring to be established

The simple clinical examination includes taking blood pressure at the doctor’s office. Because hypertension is one of those passive adversaries that progresses quietly, it is still vital to make an appointment relatively often, once a year for a check-up, and without waiting for warning symptoms.

It entails measuring the pressure exerted by blood flow on the walls of the arteries using two separate measurements, both in millimeters of mercury: one for systolic pressure at the time of a cardiac impulse, a heartbeat, creating an increase in blood volume in the artery and hence a dilatation of its wall (highest figure); and the other for diastolic blood pressure, when the channel relaxes immediately afterwards (lowest figure). The limit is set at 14-9 for both men and women, independent of age, and it is preferable to be lower if you have many health risks (smoking, obesity, etc.).

Increased monitoring and appropriate management are required as this limit is approached and, of course, exceeded. It is therefore beneficial to have a blood pressure monitor at home in order to take metrics on a regular basis over a period of three days, three readings in the morning upon awakening spaced a few minutes apart and three in the evening before going to bed, all done calmly. This is the self-measurement concept to be followed a few weeks before the visit with your doctor and cardiologist.

The lifestyle to adopt

If we are defenseless against inheritance and the impacts of age, we may take action against other risk factors. Losing weight, regular physical exercise, reducing salt in the diet if it was too high, and quitting smoking and drinking help mild and recent hypertensives to go below 14-9 and occasionally avoid medication. It is vital to seek the assistance of a doctor in order to act on all of these variables.

Medicines to treat high blood pressure

Blood pressure medications are classified into seven classes: beta and alpha blockers, calcium channel blockers, diuretics, ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor antagonists II, and central antihypertensives. Their efficiency varies from person to person, and they might cause various side effects such as leg swelling, coughing, erection problems in men, and so on. The prescription must therefore be discussed in order to target the chemical that best suits us, or to modify it when an adverse consequence is too bothersome, and, of course, if no result is obtained. It is also possible that many drugs will be required. But the most important thing is to tolerate this medication well enough to continue taking it on a regular basis, i.e. for life.