Alcohol And High Blood Pressure

If you are battling high blood pressure there are some things you will want to know. First thing you want to understand is what the numbers mean. Your blood pressure will read with a top and bottom number. The top is your systolic pressure and the bottom number is your diastolic pressure. Normal blood pressure is 120/80 so if your blood pressure reads 130/90 you are at risk for developing high blood pressure. This reading is called prehypertension which is basically a stage before developing high blood pressure. By having your blood pressure checked and monitored often you can easily lower it where it needs to be. The best way to do this is by maintaining or adopting a healthier lifestyle. Have you always had normal blood pressure until recently? If this is the case, consider what you have recently started doing different that may have caused it to rise. Did you change your diet? Have you been exercising less? Maybe you are on a medication; some medications can cause your blood pressure to rise. If you do have high blood pressure you can easily monitor it at home if you choose. If you do this you still want to keep your regular doctor visits. You can share your own results and you can both see what is and isn’t working for you. If you are on other medications consult your doctor. Chances are one of these could be raising your blood pressure and you want to take control as soon as possible. If your blood pressure gets too high without proper treatment you are at more risk of having a stroke or heart and kidney diseases. If you have recently changed your diet you should talk to your doctor, especially if your blood pressure has risen since then. Lots of salt and sodium can cause high blood pressure and not enough fresh fruits and vegetables. If this is the case, try to limit your salt intake and get more vegetables in your diet. Also physical inactivity can be a cause for high blood pressure. Have you recently stopped doing regular every day physical activity? If so, consider starting again. You might have stopped because of an inevitable reason; broken bone, etc. If this is the case talk with your physician. Together you can find a way to still get a little bit of physical activity in your daily routine. You also want to cut off or limit your use of tobacco and alcohol consumption. Many people do not realize these cause high blood pressure. There are many over the counter medicines and even doctor prescribed medicines to help you quit smoking. There are also many different resources to help you quit drinking. If your doctor prescribes blood pressure medicine for you, you want to be sure and remember to take it. Some people are bad at remembering to take medication. There are many different ways you can help yourself remember. You take the risk of a stroke or heart disease by not taking your blood pressure medication. This should be reason enough to take your medicine, but sometimes people just forget. While it sounds like reason enough, if you are not used to taking daily medication it is rather easy to forget. If you have certain questions or concerns talk with your doctor. They will gladly answer any questions you have and do their best to get your blood pressure at a normal rate again.

High blood pressure is sometimes referred to as the “silent killer” because in its initial stages there tend to be no signs or symptoms to show that someone has elevated blood pressure levels. Unfortunately, unless they have their blood pressure monitored on a regular basis, they only know they have it when certain high blood pressure symptons start to manifest if the condition begins to worsen.
The complications of high blood pressure can be grave, including an increased risk of a stroke, heart attacks, heart failure and kidney failure.
In some cases a person may not realize they have had high blood pressure for many years, and in mildly elevated blood pressure this may not lead to any lasting damage. The only real way of being able to diagnose effectively if a person is suffering from high blood pressure is by having it monitored on a regular basis.
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There are a number of ways this can be done either you visit your doctor or health professional and they will carry out the test or you can do it at home using a home blood pressure monitoring kit. However if you are looking to be provided with an accurate reading as well as ways of helping to treat the condition then the best thing you should do is arrange for regular readings to take place at your doctor’s surgery.
For those that do suffer symptoms with high blood pressure, or those where the blood pressure levels have reached a severe state then they may find that they suffer with the following symptoms:
1. Headaches (more than normal). This is because not enough oxygen is being able to gain access to your brain through the blood being pumped around your body. For many people this is because their arteries and veins have become constricted and so it makes it much more difficult for the heart to pump blood around the body.
2. Dizzy spells – Again caused by insufficient oxygen being supplied to the brain.
3. Shortness of Breath
4. Blurred Vision
5. Nosebleeds
Unfortunately, many people really do not know if they have a problem, and so they risk damaging arteries and potentially damage to the major organs in the body. In fact, it is believed that up to a third of all the people who have hypertension are not diagnosed and are unaware they are suffering with the condition.
It is therefore essential that those people over the age of 40, who suffer from diabetes or other serious conditions including heart problems or if there is a history of high blood pressure in their family are made completely aware of what high blood pressure symptoms are. In this way they will be able to react much more quickly and seek their doctor’s advice if they think at any stage that their blood pressure has risen above what is considered to be normal.
Also, everyone should have their blood pressure monitored on a regular basis, even those that are not considered as high risk and are not showing any high blood pressure symptons.

High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is elevated pressure of the blood in the arteries. Hypertension results from two major factors, which can be present independently or together:

• The heart pumps blood with excessive force

• The body’s smaller blood vessels (known as the arterioles) narrow, so that blood flow exerts more pressure against the vessels’ walls

High blood pressure or hypertension means high pressure (tension) in the arteries. The arteries are the vessels that carry blood from the pumping heart to all of the tissues and organs of the body.

Symptoms

Migraine pain tends to intensify over the first 30 minutes to several hours, and may last from several hours to a day or longer. Afterward, the affected person is usually weary, and sensitive to sudden head movements.

Hypertension has aptly been called the “silent killer” because it usually produces no symptoms. Untreated hypertension increases slowly over the years. It is important for anyone with risk factors to have their blood pressure checked regularly and to make appropriate lifestyle changes. Such recommendations are especially important for individuals who have prehypertension or hypertension.

Migraine without aura may be preceded by elevations in mood or energy level for up to 24 hours before the attack. Other pre-migraine symptoms may include fatigue, depression, and excessive yawning.

Risk Factors

During the last decade, the number of Americans with high blood pressure has increased by 30 percent. Over 65 million American adults now have high blood pressure, and this condition affects close to 1 billion people worldwide. Less than half of these people are on medication, however, and only about half of this group has their blood pressure under good control with such drugs.

Age and Gender

Age is the major risk factor of hypertension. Blood pressure increases with age in both men and women, and in fact, the lifetime risk for hypertension is nearly 90%. Two-thirds of Americans over age 60 have hypertension. Older women (60 years and above) currently have the highest rates of hypertension, and mortality rates from hypertension are higher in women than in men.

Ethnicity

Compared to Caucasians, African Americans have 1.8 times the rate of fatal stroke, 1.5 times the risk for fatal heart disease, and 4.2 times the rates of end-stage kidney disease. In general, about 34% of African American men and women have hypertension; it may account for over 40% of all deaths in this group. The prevalence of high blood pressure among African Americans is among the highest in the world.

Causes

In 90 to 95 percent of high blood pressure cases, the cause is unknown. In fact, you can have high blood pressure for years without knowing it. That’s why it’s the “silent killer” — it creeps up on you. Factors that may lead to high blood pressure in the remaining 5–10 percent of cases, which are known as secondary hypertension, include:

• Kidney abnormality

• A structural abnormality of the aorta (large blood vessel leaving the heart) existing since birth

• Narrowing of certain arteries

These problems can usually be corrected. For example, doctors can repair a narrowed artery that supplies blood to a kidney. Most of these problems can be ruled out by a careful history, a physical examination and a few tests.

Hypertension is referred to as essential (primary) when the doctor is unable to identify a specific cause. It is by far the most common type of high blood pressure. The causes of this type are unknown but are likely to be a complex combination of genetic, environmental, and other factors.

According to recent studies about 1 in 3 American adults have high blood pressure. But unfortunately as they rarely show any symptoms about 1/3 of these do not even know that they have it. So where will people like this go to get information on high blood pressure to understand the condition better and find methods to regulate blood pressure levels?
High blood pressure has become known as the “silent killer”. Many people do not show any symptoms until the condition has reached a much later stage of development.
In fact the only real way a person can ever tell if they have high blood pressure is by getting a blood pressure reading, generally from a doctor or health professional.
Normally, if a doctor thinks that a patient may have high blood pressure then they may ask them to return to the surgery potentially a few times to have the reading checked again. This is so that an accurate baseline can be established.
There are a number of factors that can temporarily increase blood pressure levels, including stress and anxiety, caffeine, physical activity and posture, and as much as possible temporary fluctuations need to be excluded from a reading to ensure it is accurate.
A good example of this is when someone suffers with “white coat” hypertension, which is when anxiety or stress raises the blood pressure levels above normal when a person visits the doctor’s surgery.
Once diagnosed as hypertensive (or pre hypertensive) then, dependent upon the severity of the condition, the doctor may prescribe medication, and lifestyle changes that are designed to help the person bring their blood pressure levels to normal, quickly but safely.
It is believed that about 50% of those that are prescribed medication do not take it as prescribed, they either stop or take it intermittently. This may be a symptom of the high blood pressure not showing any symptoms and the person not realising the risks they are facing by having elevated blood pressure.
Also, not following medication poses the highest risk to a person’s condition progressing into malignant hypertension. This is a life threatening condition when the blood pressure rises abnormally and there is a grave risk of major organ problems and failure.
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More natural methods can and should be employed, which can help alleviate high blood pressure for those with essential hypertension, these include:
- Changing diet to restrict the levels of salt/ sodium, reduce the levels of high fat foods and processed foods, increase the levels of fruit and vegetables.
- Take regular exercise, especially cardiovascular exercise
- Learn relaxation techniques to reduce the levels of stress and anxiety you may have in your life
- Reduce the levels of alcohol consumption and stop smoking
- Start to supplement the diet with some of the foods and herbs that have been shown in studies to have a beneficial effect on lowering blood pressure
Information on high blood pressure is available, but be sure that the information is applicable to your situation, and that any methods adopted complement mediation that you may have been prescribed. If in doubt speak to your physician.