Wednesday, November 11, 2009

How to Deal with High Blood Pressure

How to Deal with High Blood Pressure
Most alternative medicines for high blood pressure offer relief from the problem without these unwanted effects. Most of us will not experience symptoms that suggest we have high blood pressure. Properly known as hypertension, the problem manifests itself quite unnoticed at first. Stress can lead to hypertension, but stress, anxiety and tension are not the same as high blood pressure. A doctor will diagnose hypertension when the patient's systolic blood pressure crosses 240 mmHg. Simultaneously, diastolic blood pressure may go above 120 mmHg. If both these finding occur at the same time, there is no room for doubt.

When the patient experiences symptoms like recurring headaches, he or she may have malignant hypertension. This can lead to a number of problems, including kidney failure. Generally, high blood pressure is a serious problem to patients suffering from diabetes. This is because diabetes tends to weaken the walls of the heart and arteries. In such a case, high blood pressure can prove to be a fatal complication.

High blood pressure is not an illness in itself, but it can lead to some organ damage. People with high blood pressure are very prone to strokes, heart attacks, problems with the eye's retinas and kidney disease. Pregnant women can certainly not afford to ignore hypertension because it often leads to many complications.

Patients with high blood pressure must modify their lifestyles. Those who are overweight need to start exercising regularly. They must also eliminate excess salt from their diets and include plenty of fruit, nuts and green vegetables. If they live stressful lives, they need to eliminate the stress-inducing factors. Doing this can sometimes include moving out of an overly noisy neighbourhood and switching to a less demanding job. Additionally, the patient will probably have to take certain antihypertensive medication.

It is possible to live a full and functional life with high blood pressure without using pharmacological medicines. For instance, many patients have found considerable relief by using hawthorn. Studies have shown that a majority of patients with type 2 diabetes using hawthorn for around 16 weeks displayed a reduction in their mean diastolic blood pressure.