What is blood pressure?

It is the pressure of blood that is found in the circulatory system, it is very closely related to the rate and force of heartbeat also to the elasticity and diameter of arterial walls. High blood pressure causes heart failure in patients. It is also defined as the force that is exerted by the blood on the wall of arteries. Blood pressure is checked in two measurements that are

  • Systolic blood pressure
  • Diastolic blood pressure

Systolic blood pressure:

Systolic blood pressure is defined as the pressure or force of blood that is against the wall of arteries as your heart beats. Reading of blood pressure is always measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg). Systolic blood pressure is 120 mmHg.

Diastolic blood pressure:

Diastolic blood pressure is the pressure on arteries that is measured when the heart rests between beats. This time heart is filled with blood and supplied with oxygen. Normal diastolic pressure is below 80 mmHg and a measurement above 90 shows that the person is having high blood pressure.

It is written as 120/80 mmHg in which 120 shows the systolic blood pressure while 80 shows the diastolic blood pressure.

Diagnosis of Blood Pressure:

High blood pressure usually shows no symptoms and regular checkups or measuring blood pressure is the only way to find out. For the diagnosis of Blood pressure health care provider will use stethoscope, a gauge and an electronic sensor with the cuff of blood pressure. Health care provider will note two or more reading at separate points before diagnosing.

Categories of Blood pressure

Categories of Blood pressure are as follows

Normal:

Systolic is less than 120 mmHg

Diastolic is less than 80 mmHg

Elevated ( Prehypertension)

Systolic is from 120 to 129 mmHg

Diastolic is less than 80 mmHg

High blood pressure (hypertension stage 1)

Systolic is 130 to 139 mmHg

Diastolic is between 80 to 80 mmHg

High blood pressure ( Hypertension stage 2)

Systolic is 140 mmHg or higher

Diastolic is 90 mmHg or higher

Hypertensive crisis

Systolic is higher than 180 mmHg

Diastolic is higher than 120 mmHg.

What are the causes of High blood pressure?

The accurate or exact cause of high blood pressure is not known but there are several things that may contribute in causing high blood pressure are:

  • Smoking
  • Obesity or overweight
  • Taking too much salt in the diet
  • Lacking physical activity
  • Consuming too much alcohol like having more than 2 drinks per day
  • Older age
  • Stress or tension
  • Genetics
  • Having a family history of high blood pressure
  • Chronic kidney disease
  • Thyroid or adrenal disorders
  • Sleep apnea.
  • Women who take birth control pills
  • Pregnancy
  • Illegal drugs like cocaine etc.
  • Medication such as cold remedies , over the counter drugs and some drugs prescribed by the doctor

Complications associated with Blood pressure

When the pressure is excessive on the arteries it can cause damage to the blood vessels and other organs as well. When the blood pressure is high it takes longer to control it and also the damage is high. When the blood pressure gets uncontrolled it can cause complications such as

  • Heart attack or stroke
  • Aneurysm
  • Heart failure
  • Weakened or narrowed blood vessels of the kidney
  • Thickened or torn blood vessels of eyes
  • Metabolic syndrome
  • Trouble with memory
  • Impaired understandings
  • Dementia

Sign and symptoms of High blood pressure (1)

The most dangerous thing about high blood pressure is that you may not know if you are having it. It is said that about one third of people may not know if they are suffering from high blood pressure because it may not have clear sign and symptoms until it gets severe.

To find out if you are having blood pressure or not is to visit doctors on regular basis for checkups. You can monitor blood pressure at home if you are having the Blood pressure apparatus. This monitoring becomes more important if you have close relative suffering from high blood pressure. Some severe symptoms of high blood pressure are:

  • Severe headache
  • Bleeding from nose
  • Fatigue
  • Confusion
  • Problems in vision
  • Pain in chest
  • Difficulty in breathing
  • Irregular heartbeat.
  • Blood in urine
  • Pounding feels in the neck, chest, or ears.
  • Dizziness
  • Nervousness
  • Sweating
  • Trouble in sleeping
  • Facial flushing
  • Blood spots in the eye.
  • Seizure
  • Swelling or edema

Types of High Blood pressure

There are two main types of high blood pressure. Every type exists with different cause.

Primary hypertension:

This is also called essential hypertension and this type of hypertension develops with the passage of time but with no identified cause. People mostly suffer with this type of high blood pressure. The mechanism that causes this blood pressure to increase gradually is still unknown and unclear to researchers. Factors that may play role are:

  • Genes
  • Physical changes
  • Environment

Secondary Hypertension

It usually occurs quickly and become more severe than primary hypertension. Associated symptoms of secondary hypertension are:

  • Kidney failure
  • Obstructive sleep apnea
  • Heart defects
  • Thyroid problems
  • Side effects of medicines
  • Endocrine tumors

Treatment for High blood pressure: (2)

Lifestyle changes can help in managing high blood pressure and the lifestyle changes include:

  • Eating a healthy diet with less salt
  • Regular physical activities
  • Maintain a healthy weight or reduce weight if you are overweight
  • Limit the amount of alcohol consumption
  • Walk in the early morning

Medications:

Sometimes changing lifestyle is not enough so the doctor may prescribe some medications to control high blood pressure. Two drugs given will work better for the severe condition than one drug.  Medications given are

Diuretics: These are the first line treatment for treating high blood pressure. Drugs are chlorthalidone, hydrochlorothiazide and some others like if you have low level of potassium than triamterene or spironolactone is given.

ACE inhibitors: include lisinopril, benazepril, captorpil and others.

Angiotensin ll receptor blockers: include candesartan, losartan and others

Calcium channel blockers: Includes amlodipine, diltiazem and others.

Some additional drugs to treat severe high blood pressure are:

Alpha blockers: includes doxazosin, prazosin and others.

Alpha-beta blockers: include carvedilol and labetelol

Beta blockers: include atenolol, acebutanol

Aldosterone  antagonist: include spironolactone and eplerenone

Vasodilators: Include hydralazine and minoxidil

Central- acting agents: includes clonidone, guanfacine and methyldopa.

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