High Blood Pressure

A stroke is a devastating illness, and can be the direct consequence of hypertension. 

Imagine never again experiencing the simple pleasures of life:

·      Walking barefoot along the beach.

·      Licking an ice cream cone.

·      Swimming laps in the pool on a sunny day.

·      Talking trash while playing Bid whist.

·      Catching a ball with the grandchildren.

·      Baking a favorite pie.

·      Reading a novel.

·      Solving, at least attempt to, the Sunday crossword puzzle. 

·      Buttoning a shirt.

·      Pulling own pants up.

A seemingly insignificant, yet deliberate action can spark a cascade of terrible, life-altering events.

One-third of American adults have high blood pressure - hypertension.   Hypertension is blood pressure greater than 140/90.  If you consume more than 1 teaspoon salt each day, are obese, don’t exercise, drink in excess of 2 alcoholic drinks daily, and/or have a mother or father with hypertension you are at risk.  Twenty-five to thirty million Americans with hypertension are on anti-hypertensive medications but still have blood pressure greater than goal (140/90).  That’s dangerous!  High blood pressure is a silent killer.  You feel fine even as damaging changes are happening to your body.  Uncontrolled hypertension causes strokes, heart attacks, kidney failure, and impotence.  Stroke patients can be left with the inability to talk, walk, or eat without assistance.  Hypertension also can cause heart disease that could lead to impotence.  Here’s one more one more sobering fact: high blood pressure renders the kidneys nonfunctional and urine is no longer produced – leaving waste materials in the body without a way to exit.   This necessitates hemodialysis (dialysis).  Dialysis is a 3-4 hour, three times a week, life-preserving treatment, only reversible with a kidney transplant.

I have heard every excuse in the book for not getting-on or staying-on anti-hypertensive medications.  “I ran out of medicine”.  “The pills made me feel funny”.   “My blood pressure is only high when I am at the doctor”.  “I am using a home remedy”.  None of these excuses will make much sense to you or your family if you land in the hospital with a stroke or heart attack.  Taking anti-hypertensive medicine should be like brushing your teeth; you do it everyday without thinking about it.  And, if you have the option of putting your medications on automatic refill – do it, so that you won’t run out.  But if you run out of medications while away or after your doctor’s office hours, find a retail health care clinic that will do a one-time refill.  Do not just stop taking your medications!  Remember to talk to your doctor if you experience side effects.  Once on medications, check your blood pressure weekly at the supermarket, pharmacy, or local fire station.  Write down the numbers and take those to your next doctor’s appointment.

The choice is yours – stroke, heart attack, dialysis, or impotence?  Or take your medicine!  It should be a pretty easy decision.  Be well.