High Blood Pressure

2006-06-29 Posted at 12:50:50 PM

Have you ever noticed that you don’t really appreciate something until you don’t have it any more?

Take for instance your health. For years I have been very healthy, active, no problems at all, then I developed high blood pressure.  I didn’t really pay a whole lot of attention to it, thought it was something that would go away on its own.   I hate taking pills and didn’t want to take them if I didn’t have to. The doctor told me he was worried about it, but I thought it was really nothing, after all, I really didn’t feel anything.  He put me on various types of medication, but they weren’t bringing down my blood pressure significantly.  I moved from Hypertension stage 3 (way over 180 systolic) down to Hypertension stage 2 (160-179), but just wasn’t moving down from there.  Then I had a scare – pressure in my chest and a trip to the hospital in an ambulance.  High blood pressure is a blood pressure reading of 140/90 mmHg or higher.  Both numbers are important.

 Time to wake up.  To pay attention to what my body was telling me.  To listen to my doctor.  He sent me for some stress tests and they detected something in my heart and sent me for more tests.  The doctor reviewed the results and put me on some new medication.  My blood pressure dropped significantly to normal to high normal. 

I started doing some reading and found out that high blood pressure is a silent killer.  Nearly 1 in 3 North American adults has high blood pressure.  Once high blood pressure develops, it usually lasts a lifetime, however it can be treated and controlled.  It doesn’t give any significant warning signs.  Some people may not find out they have it until they have trouble with their heart, brain or kidneys.  When high blood pressure is not found and treated it can cause:

§         the heart to enlarge, leading to heart failure

§         small bulges (aneurysms) to form in blood vessels

§         kidney failure due to the narrowing of blood vessels in the kidney

§         hardening of the arteries, especially those in the heart, brain, kidneys and legs, leading to heart attack, stroke

§         blood vessels in the eyes to burst or bleed, which may cause vision changes and can result in blindness.

Recently I had a large “floater” in my left eye.  Because of my high blood pressure, I contacted my eye doctor and had it checked out.  He discovered that I had a tear in the retina.  It was detaching.  I could have become blind.  He sent me to a surgeon who examined it and performed laser surgery the same day.  My eye is fine now, but if I hadn’t learned to pay attention to my health, it might not have been.

Take the time to pay attention to your blood pressure.  Get your doctor to check it out.  Check it out yourself at the drugstore, but do it.  Watch your diet as being overweight can increase your chances of high blood pressure.

For more information check out this site:  http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Hbp/HBP_WhatIs.html

To your good health!!!

Fran Watson, Consultant

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