About Hypertension

treznorfan asked:


My elderly aunt’s blood pressure has become significantly lower than before—it is now 75/66. Should we be concerned? What can be done to increase her blood pressure to a much healthier level?

Mary

Janet Martin asked:


Every year, at least 2 million people are diagnosed with high blood pressure or hypertension. But the majority of these cases don’t receive adequate life-saving treatment.

This was revealed by doctors from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Health Statistics who said that hypertension remains poorly controlled despite the availability of many antihypertensive medicines in the market today.

In the United States, for instance, about 50 million people have hypertension that resulted in 10.4 million visits to office-based physicians and 1.2 million hospital outpatient department visits according to the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. Ironically, only about 25 percent of patients have their disease under control.

The figures are far more depressing in other countries. In Canada, only 13 percent of hypertensive patients are being treated while the rate in England is even lower at 9 percent. In Singapore, about 70 percent of all known hypertensives have poor blood pressure control.

Compounding the problem is the fact that 30 percent of patients don’t know they have hypertension. Since hypertension usually has no symptoms, the consequences of untreated or inadequately treated hypertension can be devastating. Prolonged hypertension often leads to stroke, heart disease, kidney damage or blindness.

“High blood pressure typically develops without signs or symptoms. And it affects nearly everyone eventually. If you don’t have high blood pressure by age 55, you have a 90 percent chance of developing it at some point in your life, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Fortunately, high blood pressure can be easily detected. And once you know you have high blood pressure, you can work with your doctor to control it, according to the Mayo Clinic.

While there is no cure for hypertension, you can cut your risk by losing weight, being active, and reducing your salt intake. One product that can help you lose weight is Phenocal, the safe, natural, and effective weight loss supplement that boosts your metabolism, suppresses your appetite, reduces food cravings, and increases energy levels to keep you in shape. For more information, visit http://www.phenocal.com.

James

G asked:


Over 40 and looking at joining the Australian Defence Force Reserves, have mild hypertension, I assume? If medically managed can join?? If not why not? I would find it hard to believe that there are not heaps of people already in on various medications with all sorts of medical issues?
No current or ex military doctors or medics out there????? I don’t want to waste my time or the ADF’s!

Bernard

Nick Johnson asked:


Currently, there are only two types of treatment for those individuals afflicted with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension. One is specific drug medications, and the other is lung transplants. Let’s take a look at both types of treatment options.

There are a number of drugs which can help individuals suffering with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension. Although it must be noted that not every drug may work, and may have side effects which may involve changing dosage or opting for other drugs until the proper one is found to work. If you have been diagnosed with PPH by your PPH specialist, he will no doubt perform a catheterization to determine which drugs are appropriate for you.

The following drugs are currently available and/or being further studied:

* Prostacyclin is a drug which is administered intravenously.
* Treprostinil is a drug which is also given as a continuous infusion under the skin.
* Calcium blockers help to relax the muscles in the blood vessels.
* Anticoagulants help to prevent the blood from clotting.
* Diurectics help to remove excess fluid from body tissues.
* Oxygen can be used to enter the bloodstream.
* Remodulin is given as an injection and helps to regulate the size of the blood vessels. It is also helpful in alleviating symptoms caused by increased exercise.
* Flolan is given as an injection 24/7, and is similar to Remodulin in is efficacy.
* Tracleer helps to improve breathing and the ability to exercise.
* Iloprost can be inhaled through a nebulizer.
* Viagra improves the condition of PPH individuals by allowing the arteries to open.
* Revatio controls the narrowness or wideness of blood vessels in the lining of the lungs.
* Ambrisentan appears to be helpful for individuals with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

As with any drug, it is important for you and your PPH specialist to determine the efficacy of these drugs; which drugs cause serious side effects; and the treatment options associated with these drugs.

In the event the Primary Pulmonary Hypertension increases damage to a lung, the PPH specialist will probably discuss the second option, which is a lung transplant. It may be worthy to note that the first heart-lung transplant was performed in 1981. Many of these operations were performed for patients with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension.

However, the single lung transplant is the most common method of transplant used in cases of Primary Pulmonary Hypertension. This procedure involves the replacement of one lung; either the right or left.

This procedure was first performed in 1983 in patients who had pulmonary fibrosis. There are also cases in which double lung transplants are also done to treat Primary Pulmonary Hypertension, but are less common than the single lung transplant for treatment of PPH.

While there are fewer complications with the single lung transplant than with the heart-lung transplant, the survival rate is 70 percent for one year. It has also been reported that the ability of the right ventricle to heal itself is noteworthy. In patients with lung transplants, both the structure and function of the right ventricle dramatically improve.

While there can be complications associated with lung transplants including rejection by the body of the transplanted organ, as well as infection, there are risks with any surgery that involves removal and transplant of major organs. Those who have had lung transplants are required to take medications for life in order to reduce their body’s immune system’s ability to reject the new organ.

Unfortunately, there is no treatment that can stop the progression of Primary Pulmonary Hypertension, however, the existing treatments can aid in slowing the disease’s progression and improve an individual’s quality of life. Treatment, therefore, is critical because without it, patients live less then five years.

This is why seeking a PPH specialist is so important.
While new studies on the treatment of Primary Pulmonary Hypertension are on-going, it is necessary to mention not only the cost of treatment, but the determining factor which caused PPH in the first place.

It is a well documented that Fen-Phen ultimately caused this disease, and litigation is on-going. The problem with those who have taken this weight suppressant is that the effects of the drug do not normally show up for ten years. Thus, you can imagine the anxiety of those individuals who have taken this drug, only to be informed it causes Primary Pulmonary Hypertension.

It is highly recommended if you do show signs of PPH, that you first contact a PPH specialist to determine the cause of your symptoms, and then contact a PPH attorney who can file a lawsuit on your behalf. While this disease may alter your life, the costs involved in treatment and possible surgery are incalculable.

Paula

Nick Johnson asked:


According to research and studies which are on-going, there is reason to hope the prognosis for individuals with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension is variable. Individuals with PPH report they can go about their daily lives by incorporating changes to their lifestyles. Although the survival rate is longer for those without heart failure as well as for those who are diagnosed by a PPH doctor after the age of 40, the survival rate in general is approximately three years.

The dialogue and research continue for those who are diagnosed with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension. Unfortunately, the cause of this dreaded disease is still unknown. While Primary Pulmonary Hypertension is a well described but poorly understood illness, it is nonetheless a disease of the small muscular pulmonary arteries in which lesions involving cells obstruct flow.

Although there is current therapy using vasodilator drugs, especially calcium channel blockers, which have improved the quality of life in a minority of patients; heart-lung transplantation is feasible for only a few. The study of vascular biology in the last several years is likely to provide insight into the cause and cure of Primary Pulmonary Hypertension. The areas involved include the cell biology of pulmonary vascular cells. According to researchers, the future looks bright for understanding and treating this difficult and ambiguous disease.

New therapeutic approaches in Primary Pulmonary Hypertension are targeting how to improve drug delivery. The results in patients who have been treated with epoprostenol suggest that Primary Pulmonary Hypertension can be reversed. This is one such drug that is being studied in depth.

Moreover, treatments which are now being developed include thromboxane-systhesis inhibitors and receptor antagonists, specific phosphodiesterase inhibitors, endothelin-receptor antagonists, and prostacyclin analogues. Cicaprost, which is an oral prostacyclin and is used in Japan, is being studied for its long term efficacy. Inhalation therapy with iloprost is being tested in a large study in Europe.

A new long-acting analogue of prostacyclin called 15AU81 is also under development. Another study revealed that improved survival with the drug Remodulin therapy rose as much as 68% for a 4 year survival rate.
Newer vasodilator agents and modes of administration continue to evolve and improve the quality of life of individuals suffering with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension. For patients with severe and symptomatic pulmonary hypertension, unresponsive to medical therapy, lung transplantation continues to be an effective, life-saving therapy.

While treatment in individuals with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension is critical, the prognosis has been already defined. The problem, however, stems from the fact that the onset of symptoms is latent, albeit 10 years, and for those who do not show any symptoms, especially those individuals who took Fen-Phen as a weight loss supplement. There is no way to determine if one has been affected by the disease.

Although there is certainly enough evidence to support the assertion that Fen-Phen was the primary cause of Primary Pulmonary Hypertension, the difficulty in diagnosing it in an early stage by a PPH doctor is impossible.

Certainly one can notify their PPH doctor that they have been taking the drug Fen-Phen, and perhaps monitoring the individual on a regular basis can help in determining if PPH is present. Unfortunately, the only way to actually determine if the disease is present is through a series of tests and waiting it out.

The old adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” seems apropos at this time. In cases where Fen-Phen was consumed by the public, they can certainly contact a PPH lawyer to discuss litigation. Moreover, in those cases where pregnant moms took anti-depressants which resulted in a birth defect to their newborns, this too can be litigated by a PPH lawyer.

While current resources are available to any individual suffering with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension, it doesn’t negate the fact that their long term prognosis, as of this moment, is not great. One would hope that all of the research that is on-going throughout the US and the world will come to find a drug or a cure at some point.

File a lawsuit with a PPH lawyer is important in several respects. It puts the pharmaceutical companies on notice that more studies and trials should be conducted to ensure the drugs they sell will not ultimately harm the user. While these companies continue to dole out drugs, for which side effects are ever present, people are suffering ill affects and are at the mercy of the doctors.

In the case of Primary Pulmonary Hypertension, consulting a PPH lawyer is not only vital, but should be a mandatory action taken by everyone who has ever been affected by a drug or an anti-depressant that has caused severe illness or loss of life.

Greg

Hamza Davis asked:


Authorities are reporting that the levels of hypertension being reported are changing and that trend levels are being reversed. The instance of hypertension, having been in decline over the past three decades is increasing.

In the United States of America there are a staggering oversupply of fifty million people over the age of six who are sufferers of steep blood pressure otherwise known as hypertension. There are very few diseases quite as sinister or fatal as high-priced blood pressure. The real danger with it is the unitary absence of any form of external ominous sign whatsoever.

After conducting a preliminary analysis of those suffering from high blood pressure then you would procure that 30 percent of those suffering from it are unitaryly unaware of its existence! It is a frightening fact that if high-priced blood pressure is ignored and left untreated it will antecedent almost irreparable damage to the body’s internal organs.

Hypertension is the single most paramount contributor to the manifestation of stroke, one of the biggest killer diseases known to man. Hypertension is also the single largest determinant of heart illness in the United States of America alone and contributes to over 500,000 deaths a year. Excessive blood pressure, left untreated, can reduce your lifespan by up to twenty years!

An immediate inarguable diagnosis of hypertension is essential if it exists. In todays current climate, such is the desire to pick up on occurence of hypertension at their earliest occurrences that the levels at which hypertension was considered alarming have now been lowered and an interim condition of “Pre Hypertension” has now been recognised.

The goal is to try and catch those whose blood pressure levels were once deemed to be at the high-priced end of being normal and stop them from becoming sufferers of hypertension. Sustainable changes to your lifestyle are an meaningful part of the whole new approach to the treatment of steep blood pressure.

With hypertension, if we take a base point of 115/75 mm Hg it has been proven that there is a 100 percent boost in the danger of a lethal heart attack or stroke with every 20 point systolic increase or 10 point diastolic swell. The external signs and prognostics of high blood pressure may not be that obvious to the lay person, to the proficient they can be spotted quite easily. Sometimes all it takes to lower the blood pressure levels are lifestyle changes whilst in certain other cases, medication is required.

With Hypertension and with the knowledge that we now have at our disposal there is no reason that it should be the meditative medical condition that it once was. The bottom line is that we all probably know someone who either has hypertension already but we also all know someone who not only has excessive blood pressure but has yet to be diagnosed with it.

Michael

Benisato asked:


I know that there are medications to treat hypertension but are there other natural home remedies that can aid in lowering blood pressure?

Carrie

judicious asked:


what should be done to control hypertension.

Julio

exceptional8226 asked:


Does anyone have long term experience taking amlodipine for hypertension,and what problems if any?

Melanie

Adam Singleton asked:



Hypertension, or high blood pressure, currently affects one in every three women and two in every five men - but 90 per cent of people who suffer from hypertension still don’t know why they have it. Despite the millions of pounds of research that has gone into investigating hypertension, its causes are still hazy in most cases - a fact that seems rather scary, considering that people who have high blood pressure are at much greater risk of developing heart disease or having a stroke. So how do you know if you’ve got hypertension - and, if you do, what measures can you take to control it?

The only real way to identify high blood pressure and establish whether or not you have hypertension is to visit your doctor or a nurse and get your blood pressure measured. Most doctors advise that the average person has their blood pressure checked at least once every five years. In most cases a good blood pressure reading is said to be somewhere around 120/80.

However, it’s important to remember that if you get your blood pressure checked and the reading seems a little low or high, it might not necessarily be because you have hypertension: in fact, your blood pressure will rise if you’re worried or stressed, just as it may decrease if you’re feeling particularly relaxed.

Many people these days buy their own blood pressure monitor so that they can provide a number of readings for their GP who can then decide whether or not the readings add up to someone who has hypertension. If you do this, it is best to vary the circumstances in which you take the measurements so, for instance, take some when you are relaxing in front of the television and others when you are stressed or have been exercising. When your GP analyses these readings he or she will have a much more accurate image of what your blood pressure does in your normal life.

If you’re given hypertension medication (anti-hypertensives), ensure that you tell your pharmacist before buying any over-the-counter medicines for a cough or cold. Some drugs are incompatible with medicine that’s designed to reduce blood pressure, but your pharmacist should usually be able to advise you on which remedies are safe to consume. It’s also possible that you may have misgivings about taking medication for hypertension and, if this is the case, you should discuss your concerns with your GP.

However, making changes to your lifestyle could mean that you can avoid the need to take medication for your hypertension altogether. For instance, taking regular exercise or making the effort to keep your weight down to its optimum level could eliminate the need for you to take tablets to reduce your blood pressure. Additionally, reducing your salt intake to just six grams a day, maintaining a healthy diet and attempting to reduce your stress levels could also have significant benefits.

Even if you take these measures your GP may decide that the only way to completely control your blood pressure is for you to take medication. This does not mean you have failed because even people with very healthy lifestyles can have hypertension since it is usually an inherited condition and continuing these healthy measures may reduce the number of anti-hypertensive tablets you have to take to properly control the condition.

Debra