Hypertension
Posted by Healthfitline
On
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Hypertension is defined as an elevation of blood pressue of at least 140/90mmHg for atleast 3 times, consecutively. It is considered a major risk factor for developing cardiovascular, stroke and kidney failure.
Type of Hypertension
There are two types of hypertension;
- Primary Hypertension also known as essential hypertension
- Secondary Hypertension (due to other illness)
Risk factors associated with Primary Hypertension
- Stress
- Smoking
- Excessive alcohol consumption
- Intake of excessive salt or caffeine
- Race (some races are more prone to developing hypertension than others)
- Obese
- Hereditary
- Sedentery lifestyle
- Not known cause
Risk Factors for Developing Secondary Hypertension
- Acute glumerulonephritis (kidney infections)
- Pregnancy (pregnancy induced hypertension)
- Cushing syndrome
- Kidney failure
- Diabetes
- Kidney tumor
Hypertension Symptoms
Initially, there are no other signs and symptoms presents apart from the increased blood pressure. Other signs and symptoms may appear later on such as; headache, nose bleeding, visual changes, dizziness, depending on the location of the blood vessels that is affected.
For example, in renal failure, patients can experience edema, protein in the urine, increased BUN and Creatinine. If Cardiovascular system is affected, patient may experience chest pain, left ventricular hypertrophy (thickening of the left side of the heart) or even heart attack.
Management of Hypertension
- DASH Diet (diet approach to stop hypertension).
- Exercises
- If the patient has been smoking, he or she is advised to stop.
- The patient is advised to stop alcohol consumption.
- Encouraged to live active lifestyle
- Restriction of salt in the diet
- Relaxation techniques to minimize stress.
- Anti-hypertensive medications
- If the patient has been taking other medications that may be increasing the blood pressure, the prescription is reviewed and changed or eliminated when necessary.
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