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How Do You Know When You Have Hypertension |
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Hypertension is a silent disease because most people
don’t know they have it until they are in a crisis. Often hypertension
has so signs and symptoms or it goes undiagnosed because a person only
experiences a mild headache. Getting diagnosed and keeping your blood
pressure controlled can help prevent many complications of hypertension
as well as prevent a crisis.
Doctors consider
hypertension to be a systolic blood pressure of 140 or greater (top
number) and/or a diastolic blood pressure of 90 or greater (bottom
number). This should be noted on more than one occasion before your
doctor puts you on medications. Pre-hypertension is a systolic pressure
between 120 and 139 and/or a diastolic blood pressure between 80 and 89
on multiple readings. This is a good indication that you will develop
hypertension and for this your doctor may recommend lifestyle changes.
The
risk factors for hypertension are thought to be genetics, environmental
pollutants, obesity, age (older = increased risk), gender (male>female),
race (Afro-American), lack of exercise, smoking, and certain
prescription and illegal drugs. Other factors may also affect your blood
pressure such as: the water volume in the body; salt content of the
body; condition of the kidneys, nervous system, or blood vessels; and
various hormone levels in the body pregnancy.
So how does your
doctor know that your blood pressure is high – they need to get the
readings. For this you need to work with your doctor. Chances are s/he
will make arrangements for you to come into the office for blood
pressure checks once or twice a week for a couple of weeks. This way
they can determine if you need to be placed on medications.
Bottom
line is this, your blood pressure is your responsibility. When you go to
the doctor and they take your pressure, ask what it is. If you notice it
is high or near high, ask what they would recommend for you to do to
prevent it from getting higher.
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