City: Keller     State: Texas	Country: United States
Herb Prewitt	Khysunja Frisella

Medical Log:

What is hypertension? It is a blood pressure that is consistently higher than 140+ and or / 90+.The top number is the systolic number, which is the pressure in the artery as the heart is pumping blood into the arteries. The bottom number is the diastolic, which is the pressure in the arteries when the heart is not pumping. A normal blood pressure for an adult is 119/79 or less, borderline is 120 to 139 / 80 to 89. A person having borderline pressure needs to check their pressure more often than most to make sure they don’t go a long time with an elevated pressure.

As a general rule most people do not feel anything when their pressure is elevated, unless they are having an hypertensive crisis. The long term effects on the arteries, heart, and kidneys can go unnoticed until major damage has occurred. So it is important for people in high risk groups to get their BP checked regularly.

Some the high risk groups are people with a family history of hypertension (HTN), obesity, high salt intake, excessive alcohol use, tobacco users. Other factors are pregnancy, kidney failure, stressful lifestyle, over 55 years of age, African American. There is usually no symptoms of high BP unless it becomes a HTN crisis, which the symptoms can include headaches, blurry vision, spontaneous nose bleed ( possible bleeding from eyes).

There are many places to get your BP checked besides the doctors office, such as drug store, grocery store, or at most fire stations. The machines located in stores can be inaccurate, so it is good idea to know what your BP normally runs before using a machine so you can compare the accuracy. Some individuals suffer from “white coat syndrome” which means when they go the doctors office their BP will jump 10+. Therefore your DR will have you track your BP for several weeks outside the office before diagnosing HTN. It is good idea when tracking your BP try to have checked at same place at about the same time of day. During different times in the day your pressure will rise and fall.

One high BP reading does not mean a person has HTN, it does mean it is something worth looking into, as the consequences of untreated HTN can be devastating once it is diagnosed only after symptoms have been noticed. Untreated HTN can lead to heart attack, heart failure, kidney failure, eye sight problems, and stroke.

Once a person has been diagnosed with HTN there are many things that can be done to lower their BP, altering diet, losing weight, stopping tobacco use, reduce salt intake, reduce alcohol use, reducing stress, if these changes do not reduce BP enough. The Dr will then prescribe a medication to lower BP. There are many different types of medications that act in different ways to lower BP. The first medication your Dr prescribes may not work well enough or have some adverse side effects. It is important to track BP when you start taking HTN medication and note any side effects you may experience. There are many types of medications available and different combinations of medications that can tried. It is important to treat HTN as it can lead to many serious medical problems.

Some studies have indicated that as many as 1 in 4 adults have HTN. It is important to get your BP checked regularly so that you don’t suffer from the terrible effects of long term untreated HTN, since it is very treatable and the alternatives are costly in many ways, including an untimely death.

Chief Medical Officer: Lieutenant Eric Wisdom