High Blood Pressure Symptoms

I came across this headline and as you can guess I dove straight at it and the story in a nut shell was that a team of surgeons at the London Chest Hospital led by a Professor have carried out a seemingly trivial surgical procedure on 68 year old man which could potentially be the key to serious improvement to the quality of life of high blood pressure sufferers if applied on a wider scale.

This procedure has been hailed as the most exciting development in the field for half a century is believed to work by disrupting signals linked to the disease from the brain thereby keeping the blood pressure down.

The procedure is in the initial testing stages  and it is aimed at helping sufferers come off medication quickly and completely.

Anyway, for now let us keep to making sure we don't come down with the disease in the first place by keeping our High blood pressure knowledge up to date (check earlier posts found below) and for those of us who already have it, the best advice out there and in here is to follow a proven step-by-step plan to get cured without dependence on medication which in itself has side effects which would have to be dealt with alongside the main disease w are trying to treat.

See you in a couple of days when my research uncovers another interesting find.

More details is available here.

Who gets HBP?
HBP is very common. HBP stand for High Blood Pressure otherwise referred to as Hypertension in medical terms. (for more information check earlier post iOne in five adults suffers with high BP. For some types of HBP the cause is unknown. This is called Essential Hypertension. However, if you smoke, are physically inactive, if you are overweight, drink alcohol above the recommended 'sensible limits', eat a diet high in fat, have diabetes and/or a family history of HBP you are at greater risk of developing it. HBP can also occur in pregnancy and it is therefore not only the lifestyle factors previously mentioned that can cause it. HBP is also more common in African and Caribbean women and is a serious illness that should be picked up through ante-natal checks and treated.
For reasons not yet identified, HBP is more common in black people than white. So, if you have a family history of HBP, ask your Doctor or Practice Nurse to check your BP. If you are over 35, have your BP checked every three years or yearly if the condition is in family. If you are using the contraceptive pill have your BP checked every six months.

The myth that frequent headaches and tiredness can be a sign of HBP is not true.

HBP is known as the silent killer which means you can have it and feel nothing for a long time until the damage has been done.

Because of the hardening and narrowing of the arteries, our blood is forced through the system at high pressure and the artery walls receive a pounding. If your BP remains high it can lead to:
-    A stroke: the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off. This can lead to weakness and loss of feeling down one side of the body, loss of speech and sometimes death. HBP is one of the main causes of a stroke. Black men in their forties and fifties are at high risk of developing a stroke. Another type of stroke is when a blood vessel in the brain bursts because of the HBP.
-    Angina: (heart pain) a main artery of the heart is damaged, usually by a clot of blood or a collection of fat, which prevents the normal flow of blood.
-    Heart failure: because of the extra work on the heart caused by HBP, the heart 'grows tired' and finds it difficult to pump blood around the body. This causes breathlessness as fluid builds up in the lungs.
-    Poor vision: the small blood vessels in the eyes are affected and can lead to blindness.
-    Kidney failure: the kidneys help to regulate BP. The blood vessels in the kidneys are damaged due to the high pressure within them so the kidneys work less efficiently and cause the blood pressure to rise even further.

Discover the Truth about Cholesterol!

Do I have to take medicines for life?
The majority of people with HBP will have to take medicine for life. it is important that you take your medicines every day as prescribed by your Doctor.

Does having HBP mean I can't have a sex life?
Some people have the misguided belief that love making can burst a blood vessel and cause stroke. Abstaining from sex is more likely to make you feel worse than better. The stress and tension of abstaining may raise the blood pressure rather than lower it. During love making the BP rises but the relaxation and release of tension afterwards compensates for the rise.

What are the side effects of the medical drugs?
Some medicines do have unpleasant side-effects. These side-effects vary with the different drugs. Some of the common side-effects are: persistent coughing, headaches, palpitations, tiredness and sexual difficulties, especially impotence in men. If you have any of these problems ask you Doctor if your treatment can be changed - but do no stop taking your medication without consultation. In some cases stopping the medication suddenly can be more serious than the side-effects.

What about Herbal Medicines/Bush Teas? Can I take them?
Taking herbal medicine/bush teas as well as the medicines doctors prescribed can be dangerous. Some herbal medicines can cause damage to the liver if taken continuously over a long period of time. Some older Caribbean people take homemade tonics to strengthen and thicken the blood. Having a healthy diet will provide all the nourishment that the blood needs to keep the body healthy.

What do the different BP figures mean?
A healthy young adult will have a normal BP of around 120/80. The higher figure (120), called the systolic pressure, BP during each heartbeat. The lower figure (80), diastolic pressure, is your BP between heartbeats. A BP consistently above 160/90 will need attention, but it must be judged on age. Excitement, exercise, anger or anxiety will make your heart beat faster and increase your BP for a while.
Get more information about High Blood Pressure Symptoms here

Hi guys, I can't tell you how good it is to be back on air (online). I had been on outside posting for a charity work and could not stay in touch from the depths of Africa. There was just too much to do and too much to see and observe. I came across new things that I will discuss with you later but for now let me just complete these information packs on high blood pressure then we will get to that. First things first, I need some rest and then tomorrow I will upload all the other available information I have on this issue and that would be that, it is time to move on to something else.
So till tomorrow stay out of trouble and the booze!

When it comes to high blood pressure symptoms virtually every one is a novice because true to its reputation as the silent killer almost everybody has no idea about high blood pressure and some even believe it is something that is inevitable in a sense.

However, the facts and figures associated with high blood pressure is startling if not scary. Analyzing high blood pressure figures country by country shows that while more focus is placed on diseases like AIDS and Cancer, high blood pressure is silently creating its on waves underneath howbeit, catching a lot of people unawares.

Below are some facts that would leave anybody stunned:

• In the UK, 1 in 3 adults have high blood pressure (that is about 16million people, it could has well be classified as an epidemic if it were a disease).

• The main risk factor for Stroke is High Blood Pressure.

• High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart failure, heart attack and kidney failure.

• More than a third of the people affect ed do not even know they have the condition because there is no overtly recognized symptoms, hence, the name “silent killer”.

• Anyone with high blood pressure is three times more likely to develop heart disease and stroke and twice as likely to die from these as people with a normal blood pressure.

• Over 77 % of men and 71% of women suffering from high blood pressure are either not been treated or been controlled.

• Around 62,000 people die unnecessary due to stroke and heart attacks simply because of poor blood pressure control.

• The risks increase as blood pressure rises, whether you have high blood pressure or a normal blood pressure. Between the age of 40 and 70, for every rise of 20mmHg systolic or every 10mmHg diastolic, the risk of heart disease and stroke doubles; for the range 115/75 up to 185/115mmHg.

The next couple of days would be devoted to understanding high blood pressure in detail and your comments are also welcome especially your experience if you or someone you know suffer from high blood pressure.

Discover the truth about Cholesterol.

The next post would be “What is high blood pressure? An Introduction”..