Preventing and Treating Hypertension

Hypertension is possibly the most prevalent medical conditions in the world today. When left untreated, it can be quite serious. As they operate silently, they can get recognized only when lesions occur on your body. Being a vascular disease it can leave its marks on various body parts including kidneys, heart, blood vessels, brain, etc.

Hypertension can be effectively treated through drugs and even without it. The treatment form that does not involve drugs is directed towards lowering blood pressure and also helps eliminate risks and complications that arise through changes in living patterns. Some of these include:

1. Reduce sausages, salt, beef jerky, cheese snacks, etc.
2. Reduce consumption of alcohol.
3. Reducing the weight of your body through controlled diet and fiber intake.
4. Stop smoking.
5. Exercise for at least thirty minutes, few times each week.
6. Manage your stress.
7. Stop having foods that are rich in triglycerides like molasses, honey, sugars, alcohol, sausage, butter, whole milk, ice creams, chocolates, beef fat, chicken skin, etc.
8. Avoid taking drugs that lead to high blood pressure like antidepressants, oral contraceptives, ergot derivatives, caffeine, stimulants, decongestants, cocaine, etc.
9. You should avoid taking excess salt, particularly if you are having severe cardiovascular and hypertension related problems as they can cause more accidents than usual.

Taking drugs aims in treating mortality and cardiovascular diseases in hypertensive patients. The reduction in mortality and diseases in patients having moderate and mild cases of hypertension has been attributed to the fact that they took proper drugs that were available in the market. The therapeutic difficulties are far higher in cases where there are malignant or severe hypertension cases in patients. However, the choice of giving medicine to patients suffering from hypertension rests with the physician.

The treatment becomes nonspecific in nature when there are cases of essential or primary hypertension. During these times, physicians are required to closely monitor the health conditions of patients. However, in cases of secondary hypertension, there are no specific modes of treatments. For example, drugs for treating cases of hyperthyroidism or surgery in adrenal glands have got no specific treatment.

The following principles have to be followed while administering a drug treatment

1. The drug to be taken has to be well tolerated and orally effective.
2. One should be able to take few doses of this drug.
3. The treatment has to be started with the lowest possible dose and has to be gradually increased if required. There have to be minimal complications.
4. The drug has to be affordable and has to meet socioeconomic obligations in order to ensure they can be continually until the treatment can be stopped.
5. The drugs that are taken to help cure hypertension related cases may often be required to be taken for life. Hence, it is important to verify the nature of treatment that is to be given to the patient to ensure the drugs are safe to be taken for a long period.
6. The medical journals have to be the mode of control for not just monitoring the condition of the patient, but also for adjusting the dosages of these drugs.

Author Bio: Nitin Ajwani enjoys networking with health care professionals and discussing medical scrubs and nursing shoes. He enjoys the challenges of creativity and attention to detail.

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