Wednesday, January 9, 2008

High Blood Pressure Treatment

* High blood pressure (hypertension) is designated as either essential (primary) hypertension or secondary hypertension and is defined as a consistently elevated blood pressure exceeding 140/90 mm Hg.

* In essential hypertension (95% of people with hypertension), no specific cause is found, while secondary hypertension (5% of people with hypertension) is caused by an abnormality somewhere in the body, such as in the kidney, adrenal gland, or aortic artery.

* Essential hypertension may run in some families and occurs more often in the African American population, although the genes for essential hypertension have not yet been identified.

* High salt intake, obesity, lack of regular exercise, excessive alcohol or coffee intake, and smoking may all adversely affect the outlook for the health of an individual with hypertension.

* High blood pressure is called "the silent killer" because it often causes no symptoms for many years, even decades, until it finally damages certain critical organs.

* Poorly controlled hypertension ultimately can cause damage to blood vessels in the eye, thickening of the heart muscle and heart attacks, hardening of the arteries (arteriosclerosis), kidney failure, and strokes.

* Heightened public awareness and screening of the population are necessary to detect hypertension early enough so it can be treated before critical organs are damaged.

* Lifestyle adjustments in diet and exercise and compliance with medication regimes are important factors in determining the outcome for people with hypertension.

* Several classes of anti–hypertensive medications are available, including ACE inhibitors, ARB drugs, beta–blockers, diuretics, calcium channel blockers, alpha–blockers, and peripheral vasodilators.

* Most anti–hypertensive medications can be used alone or in combination: some are used only in combination; some are preferred over others in certain specific medical situations; and some are not to be used (contraindicated) in other situations.

* The goal of therapy for hypertension is to bring the blood pressure down to 140/85 in the general population and to even lower levels in diabetics, African Americans, and people with certain chronic kidney diseases.

* Screening, diagnosing, treating, and controlling hypertension early in its course can significantly reduce the risk of developing strokes, heart attacks, or kidney failure.

Monday, January 7, 2008

What do you feel with high blood pressure?

When the heart pumps blood into the arteries, the blood flows with a force pushing against the walls of the arteries. Blood pressure is the product of the flow of blood times the resistance in the blood vessels. High blood pressure is also called hypertension.

Some people with uncomplicated hypertension, however, may experience symptoms such as headache, dizziness, shortness of breath, and blurred vision. The presence of symptoms can be a good thing in that they can prompt people to consult a doctor for treatment and make them more compliant in taking their medications.

Often, however, a person's first contact with a physician may be after significant damage to the end–organs has occurred. In many cases, a person visits or is brought to the doctor or an emergency room with a heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, or impaired vision . Greater public awareness and frequent blood pressure screening may help to identify patients with undiagnosed high blood pressure before significant complications have developed.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Causes of High Blood Pressure

There are two major types of hypertension: essential (primary) and secondary. Essential hypertension is by far the most common, accounting for more than 95% of all cases. The cause of this form of hypertension is not known for certain, but is likely a combination of factors, including:

Genes for high blood pressure
Low levels of nitric oxide, a naturally occurring agent responsible for the dilation of blood vessels (African Americans are believed to have low levels of this substance)
Insulin resistance
Obesity

The causes of secondary hypertension include:

Kidney disorders
Endocrine disorders, such as Cushing's syndrome
Obstructive sleep apnea (episodes during sleep when breathing stops due to obstruction of the air passages).
Stress
Chronic heavy alcohol consumption (accounts for 10% of cases of secondary high blood pressure).
Long-term use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), particularly in the elderly.
Use of certain medications, including oral contraceptives, pseudoephedrine, hormone replacement therapy, and steroids..
Heavy coffee drinking (5 or more cups per day), particularly in those who have previously had high blood pressure.
Use of cocaine, nicotine, or licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) can cause or worsen existing hypertension.

If you are really and truly ready to live without
Hypertension, go to Hight Blood Pressure

You want to feel better and live a happy and healthy life.
We want that for you, too.

Please note that we are not advocating that people stop using their normal medication, but would like to make people aware that some alternative therapies can be very effective to help treat problems and create a healthier, younger and more vital you. For more information on ALISTROL, please click here http://www.alistrol.com/

ALISTROL HEALTH
200 West Kellogg Road
Bellingham, Washington – 98226
U.S.A.

Telephone: 1-604-715-4286
Email: customerservice@alistrol.com
Web: ALISTROL

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Diagnosis of High Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is the force of the blood pushing against the walls of the arteries. Each time the heartbeats, or contracts, it pumps blood into the arteries. Blood pressure is at its maximum at this time; this is known as the systolic blood pressure. When the heart is at rest, between beats, the blood pressure falls; this is known as the diastolic pressure. A person with hypertension has an average systolic blood pressure above 140 mm Hg and/or a diastolic blood pressure above 90 mm Hg (usually written as 140/90).

To diagnose hypertension, a physician will obtain a blood pressure measurement during a routine physical examination. An inflatable cuff is wrapped around the arm, and the person taking the blood pressure listens with a stethoscope over the artery. If blood pressure is elevated, the physician will check the pulse rate, examine the neck for swollen veins or an enlarged thyroid gland, listen to the heart for murmurs, feel the abdomen, and examine the eyes for damaged blood vessels in the retina. If the physician suspects hypertension, additional laboratory and blood tests will help determine if it is secondary hypertension or essential hypertension.


If you are really and truly ready to live without
Hypertension, go to High Blood Pressure Treatment

You want to feel better and live a happy and healthy life.
We want that for you, too.

Please note that we are not advocating that people stop using their normal medication, but would like to make people aware that some alternative therapies can be very effective to help treat problems and create a healthier, younger and more vital you. For more information on ALISTROL, please click here ALISTROL

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Symptoms of high blood pressure

Usually, there are no specific symptoms that indicate that someone has high blood pressure. But some population surveys have shown that a wide variety of common symptoms, such as sleep disturbance, emotional upsets, and dry mouth, are slightly commoner in people with higher pressures. The differences are small, however. Going red in the face, or feeling flushed, is not indicative of high blood pressure.

Headache and high blood pressure

If you asked a hundred people what is the commonest symptom of high blood pressure, the chances are that the majority would say headache. In fact, not only do most people with high blood pressure not have headaches any more than the rest of us, but when they do, it's usually not from the blood pressure. Merely having a high level of blood pressure inside your head does not normally produce any symptoms; if you lift a heavy weight, your pressure may go up by 30 or 40 mm Hg, but you don't get a headache.

What can cause headache is muscle tension. Any muscle that is tensed for long enough starts to hurt, and chronic tension in the scalp or neck muscles is a very common cause of headache. A study conducted many years ago shed some very interesting light on the relationship between headache and high blood pressure. Out of 104 people who had high blood pressure but were unaware of it, only three volunteered that they had headaches, although another 14 admitted it when asked. But of 96 people who had been told that they had high blood pressure, 71 said they had headaches. The simplest explanation for this finding is that being told that you have high blood pressure makes you start to worry, and that this in turn causes the headaches.

There is a much smaller number of patients, mostly with very high pressures, in whom headaches are directly related to the height of the blood pressure. In such individuals treating the blood pressure will relieve the symptoms.

If you are really and truly ready to live without
Hypertension, go to Cause of High Blood Pressure

You want to feel better and live a happy and healthy life.
We want that for you, too.

Please note that we are not advocating that people stop using their normal medication, but would like to make you aware that some alternative therapies can be very effective to help treat problems and create a healthier, younger and more vital you.

ALISTROL HEALTH
200 West Kellogg Road
Bellingham, Washington- 98226
U.S.A.
Call Direct: 1-604-715-4286
Email: customerservice@alistrol.com
Website: ALISTROL

What happens inside your body if high blood pressure is not controlled?

You've probably heard that high blood pressure can contribute to heart disease, stroke and kidney failure. You may understand the risk better if you can visualize what's going on inside your body.

Simply put, when your blood pressure is high, your heart has to work harder than normal, which puts both the heart and the arteries under a greater strain.

Your heart

If you work hard lifting weights, your arm muscles will enlarge. In the same way, when the heart has to work harder for an extended time, it tends to enlarge. When your blood pressure is too high, your heart has to work progressively harder to pump enough blood and oxygen to your body's organs and tissues to meet their needs. The heart muscle stretches and thickens, and the heart stops functioning properly. A significantly enlarged heart has a hard time meeting the demands put on it and can fail.

Your arteries

Arteries are the vessels, which carry blood throughout your body. When your blood pressure is too high, the arteries become scarred, hardened and less elastic. This occurs to some degree in all of us as we age, but elevated blood pressure speeds this process, which is called 'hardening of the arteries' or atherosclerosis.

Hardened or narrowed arteries may be unable to supply the amount of blood the body's organs need. If the organs don't get enough oxygen and nutrients, they can't function properly. There is also a risk that a blood clot may lodge in an artery narrowed by atherosclerosis, depriving part of the body of its normal blood supply.

If the arteries that supply blood to the heart become clogged, blood flow to parts of the heart is slowed. When one vessel is completely closed off, blood ceases to flow to part of the heart, and portions of the heart muscle are damaged. This is a heart attack.

Narrowing of the arteries may also cause chest pain, called angina pectoris. Narrowing of the arteries in the legs causes cramping and pain because the tissues are not getting enough oxygen.

Your brain

Stroke may be caused by the progressive narrowing of the blood vessels in the brain. When blood flow becomes inadequate, brain cells are robbed of oxygen, and they die. Narrowing of the vessels also leads to a situation where a blood clot cannot move through the arteries; it blocks the flow of blood and deprives the tissue beyond of oxygen. About 80% of strokes are caused by the blockage of an artery in the neck or brain.

People who suffer a stroke often are left with paralysis on one side of the body and loss of speech.

A stroke is an emergency just as is a heart attack. Its symptoms are:


Weakness, numbness or paralysis of the face, arm or leg - particularly on one side of the body
Difficulty speaking or understanding simple statements
Blurred or decreased vision in one or both eyes
Sudden, unexplainable and intense headache
Dizziness, loss of balance or loss of coordination, especially when combined with another symptom
Sudden nausea, fever and vomiting - distinguished from a viral illness by the speed of onset (minutes or hours vs. several days)
Brief loss of consciousness or period of decreased consciousness (fainting, confusion, convulsions or coma).

Your kidneys


High blood pressure can cause narrowing of the arteries in the kidneys - just as in other parts of your body - which can lead to kidney failure.
The primary function of the kidneys is to filter toxic chemicals from your blood. This process is accomplished in specialized structures inside the kidneys. The blood pressure of the vessels inside these filtering structures is critical for their proper functioning.

When the arteries are narrowed and thickened by high blood pressure, blood flow to the filtering structures is reduced, and they cease to function properly. The amount of fluid that the kidneys can filter is reduced, leading to kidney failure. Toxic materials build up in the body. People with kidney failure need to undergo dialysis - use of a machine as an artificial kidney - and may ultimately need a kidney transplant.

The kidney has its own feedback mechanism to maintain optimum blood pressure to assure its proper functioning. When this internal mechanism senses that blood pressure is too low, it tries to compensate by raising blood pressure, which begins a deadly spiral of higher and higher pressure.


Your eyes

As in other parts of your body, the blood vessels inside your eyes may also narrow and harden due to uncontrolled high blood pressure. This can cause clot formation and bleeding inside the eye, which leads to vision impairment and even blindness.

If you are really and truly ready to live without
Hypertension, go to http://www.ALISTROL.com

You want to feel better and live a happy and healthy life.
We want that for you, too.

Please note that we are not advocating that people stop using their normal medication, but would like to make you aware that some alternative therapies can be very effective to help treat problems and create a healthier, younger and more vital you. For more information on ALISTROL, please click here http://www.ALISTROL.com