Buying A Blood Pressure Instrument To Measure Your Blood Pressure At Home
Blood pressure instruments can be purchased in most pharmacies. Buy a blood pressure instrument that has been approved by the Association for the Advancement in Medical Instrumentation , the British Hypertension Society or the International Protocol . These labels will be marked clearly on the box. If you are unsure whether an instrument is approved, ask your pharmacist for help. Once you have bought the instrument, ask your doctor or pharmacist to check it to make sure the instrument measures your blood pressure accurately.
Diagnosing High Blood Pressure
Diagnosing hypertension is as simple as taking a blood pressure reading. Most doctors offices check blood pressure as part of a routine visit. If you dont receive a blood pressure reading at your next appointment, request one.
If your blood pressure is elevated, your doctor may request you have more readings over the course of a few days or weeks. A hypertension diagnosis is rarely given after just one reading.
Your doctor needs to see evidence of a sustained problem. Thats because your environment can contribute to increased blood pressure, like the stress you may feel by being at the doctors office. Also, blood pressure levels change throughout the day.
If your blood pressure remains high, your doctor will likely conduct more tests to rule out underlying conditions. These tests can include:
- cholesterol screening and other blood tests
- test of your hearts electrical activity with an electrocardiogram
- ultrasound of your heart or kidneys
- home blood pressure monitor to monitor your blood pressure over a 24-hour period at home
These tests can help your doctor identify any secondary issues causing your elevated blood pressure. They can also look at the effects high blood pressure may have had on your organs.
During this time, your doctor may begin treating your hypertension. Early treatment may reduce your risk of lasting damage.
Eat More Potassium And Less Sodium
Increasing your potassium intake and cutting back on salt can also lower your blood pressure .
Potassium is a double winner: It lessens the effects of salt in your system and eases tension in your blood vessels. However, diets rich in potassium may be harmful to people with kidney disease, so talk with your doctor before increasing your potassium intake.
Its easy to eat more potassium. So many foods are naturally high in potassium. Here are a few:
- chips
- other processed snacks
Foods labeled low fat are usually high in salt and sugar to compensate for the loss of fat. Fat is what gives food taste and makes you feel full.
Cutting down on or even better, cutting out processed food will help you eat less salt, less sugar, and fewer refined carbohydrates. All of this can result in lower blood pressure.
Make it a practice to check nutrition labels. According to the Food and Drug Administration , a sodium listing of 5 percent or less on a food label is considered low, while 20 percent or more is considered high (
Read Also: Diastolic Blood Pressure Treatment
Secondary Hypertension Treatment Options
If your doctor discovers an underlying issue causing your hypertension, treatment will focus on that other condition. For example, if a medication youve started taking is causing increased blood pressure, your doctor will try other medications that dont have this side effect.
Sometimes, hypertension is persistent despite treatment for the underlying cause. In this case, your doctor may work with you to develop lifestyle changes and prescribe medications to help reduce your blood pressure.
Treatment plans for hypertension often evolve. What worked at first may become less useful over time. Your doctor will continue to work with you to refine your treatment.
Symptoms Prior To A Massive Blood Pressure Change
Since the blood is responsible for oxygenating most of the bodys organs, when the pressure increases, the body suffers in other ways. Among other things, we can mention blurred vision, headache and dizziness. Other symptoms include poor appetite, vomiting and nausea. These symptoms usually have other origins. However, in people suffering from hypertension it is almost always due to an increase in blood pressure.
Recommended Reading: Does Iwatch Do Blood Pressure
What Is Blood Pressure
Your heart pumps blood around your body through a network of vessels called arteries. With each heartbeat the blood pushes against the artery walls. The strength of this ‘pushing’ is your blood pressure .
Your blood pressure changes throughout the day. It’s lower when you’re asleep or relaxing and goes up when you move around. It can also be increased by stress or extreme emotions and stimulants like nicotine or caffeine.
Some people’s blood pressure stays above recommended levels. This is known as high blood pressure . This can lead to damaged arteries and increase your risk of:
- heart failure
- kidney and eye damage.
This can happen for a range of reasons and there’s a number of things you can do to reduce your blood pressure.
What To Think About
- The medicine your doctor chooses may be based on other health problems you have. For example, doctors often prescribe ACE inhibitors for people who have diabetes or heart failure.
- Some people who get a cough while taking ACE inhibitors do well with ARBs, which usually don’t cause a cough.
- You may need to avoid some over-the-counter medicines. For example, check with your doctor before you take any non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as naproxen and ibuprofenwith high blood pressure medicines. NSAIDs may raise blood pressure and keep your blood pressure medicines from working well. NSAIDs may also interact with your blood pressure medicine and cause kidney problems.
- Don’t take any other prescription medicines, over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, or other natural health products unless you talk to your doctor first. Medicines can interact with each other and keep blood pressure medicines from working right or cause a bad reaction.
Also Check: Reversing Pulmonary Hypertension
Ways To Manage Your Blood Pressure
If your blood pressure is rising gradually but not classified as hypertension yet, making lifestyle changes can help prevent this condition and protect your heart health.
If you already have high blood pressure, you should see a healthcare provider. Your doctor will likely prescribe you medication to lower your blood pressure immediately, then create a plan to help you achieve more long-term improvements. Treatment plans for high blood pressure usually focus on improving your overall health. These plans should include efforts like:
- Weight loss
- Quitting smoking
- Reducing alcohol
These changes won’t lower your blood pressure immediately the way medications will, but over time, your doctor may be able to reduce or even stop medications if you can successfully lower your blood pressure with lifestyle changes.
How Do You Make Lifestyle Changes
Making any kind of change in the way you live your daily life is like being on a path. The path leads to success. Here are the first steps on that path:
Recommended Reading: Does Apple Watch Have A Blood Pressure Monitor
What Causes High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure usually develops over time. It can happen because of unhealthy lifestyle choices, such as not getting enough regular physical activity. Certain health conditions, such as diabetes and having obesity, can also increase the risk for developing high blood pressure. High blood pressure can also happen during pregnancy.
You can manage your blood pressure to lower your risk for serious health problems that may affect your heart, brain, kidneys, and eyes.
Treating High Blood Pressure With Medicines
If lifestyle changes don’t lower your blood pressure to your goal, you may need to take daily medicines as well.
Medicines controlbut usually don’t curehigh blood pressure. So you will probably need to take them for the rest of your life. Most people need to take two or more medicines.
- High Blood Pressure: Should I Take Medicine?
Some people find it hard to take their medicines properly. They may feel it’s too much troubleespecially when they don’t feel sick. Or they’re worried about side effects. Some people find it hard to keep track of when and how to take their medicines.
If you have trouble taking high blood pressure medicines for any reason, talk to your doctor.
Read more about Tyrell and why he started taking his medicines properly. |
Also Check: Low Blood Pressure Shaking
How To Bring High Blood Pressure Down Immediately Without Remedies
Learn how to bring high blood pressure down immediately in an emergency. Apply one of these tricks and it will get back to normal fast.
Blood pressure may vary from time to time and without notice. Both extremes are extremely dangerous and can even end a life. If you have a person around you with this type of problem, do you know how to bring high blood pressure down immediately in an emergency?
If you are the one who suffer from pressure do you know how to act to control the situation? In this article we will answer both questions.
Obviously, if you have a blood pressure crisis, you should seek professional care as soon as possible. However, until that attention comes, you can do several things to control the situation. However, before telling you what you can do in these situations, lets talk about your symptoms.
What Is The Best High Blood Pressure Medication
Selecting the “best” high blood pressure medication depends on several things, including the general health of the patient, his or her age, ethnicity, and whether or not they have any co-existing medical issues or drug sensitivities.
For example, in a hypertensive patient with asthma, it may be inadvisable to prescribe a beta-blocker, as these drugs can aggravate that respiratorycondition. Similarly, in patients prone to constipation use of certain calcium channel blockers might best be avoided — along with diuretics — as both these classes of drugs can inhibit proper bowel function.
African-American patients respond to some antihypertensive medications better than others.
Certain groups of patients require the use of a specific class of high blood pressure medication. These include:
Pregnant Women
- The drug of choice for hypertensive, pregnant women is one of the oldest high blood pressure medications on the market. Methyldopa, which works to lower blood pressure through the central nervous system, has the lowest risk of harming the mother and developing fetus.
- Other possible safe options include labetalol, beta-blockers, and diuretics.
- Two classes of drugs that should never be used during pregnancy include ACE inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers.
African-Americans
Elderly Patients
With age, comes an increased risk for systolic hypertension which can be aggravated by severe atherosclerosis.
Don’t Miss: How To Calibrate Omron Blood Pressure Machine
What Changes Do You Need To Make
Make these lifestyle changes to help lower your blood pressure:
- Lose extra weight. If you are overweight, losing as little as 4.5 kg may lower your blood pressure. It may also allow you to take less blood pressure medicine. Losing weight may also lower your cholesterol.
So How Can I Lower My High Blood Pressure
For more information on lowering your blood pressure through lifestyle changes, you can browse this website.
If having a more structured approach would be beneficial, then take a look at my guide to lowering blood pressure naturally:
As the imaginative title suggests, the book is laid out in nine easy-to-follow steps. Each of these covers different things you can do to lower your blood pressure. Choosing tasty nutritious foods to eat and drink which can benefit your blood pressure. Finding ways to be more active in your daily life. Making time to relax properly.
You can follow these steps at whatever pace suits you. And slowly but surely bring yourself and your blood pressure into better balance and optimal health.
I should emphasise that following this guide does not lead to a life of denial! Lowering your blood pressure, and getting healthier and happier is actually very enjoyable. Who doesnt like good food and drink ? And there are many ways to be more active. Of course, now you also have a good reason to make sure you get more quality down time as well.
However you do it, and whatever your genetic predisposition, I wish you all the best in getting your blood pressure to healthier levels. If I can do it, you can do it!
Is high blood pressure hereditary? References and further information
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160912122350.htm
Recommended Reading: Increase Blood Pressure Causes
Risks Of High Blood Pressure
If your blood pressure is too high, it puts extra strain on your blood vessels, heart and other organs, such as the brain, kidneys and eyes.
Persistent high blood pressure can increase your risk of a number of serious and potentially life-threatening health conditions, such as:
- have a relative with high blood pressure
- are of black African or black Caribbean descent
- live in a deprived area
Making healthy lifestyle changes can sometimes help reduce your chances of getting high blood pressure and help lower your blood pressure if it’s already high.
Hypertension: What You Need To Know As You Age
You cant see high blood pressure, also called hypertension. And most ofthe time, you cant feel it. But if youre among the 78 million Americanswith hypertension or are one of the 70 million with prehypertension, its important to understandits effects on your healthand to take action today to bring your numbersdown to healthier levels.
Blood pressure is the force of blood against the inner walls of yourarteries. It has normal fluctuations throughout the dayfalling when yourerelaxed or asleep, rising naturally in the morning, and increasingtemporarily when youre under stress, excited or exercising. But when yourresting blood pressure level rises too high, it can scar, stiffen and/orweaken blood vessels. This effect can double your risk for aheart attack quadruple your odds for astroke raise your risk forheart failure, vision loss, kidney problems,dementiaand circulation problems such asperipheral artery disease weaken your bones and contribute toerectile dysfunctionin men.
Recommended Reading: Apple Watch 2 Blood Pressure
Home Blood Pressure Monitoring
Some people buy their own blood pressure monitor to use at home. This means you can measure your blood pressure on an ongoing basis.
The blood pressure readings you do at home are as good as those done by your doctor.
If you decide to buy one, it’s important to get the correct cuff size. If the cuff is too big or too small, it can give an inaccurate reading.
If you take your own blood pressure and get an unusually high reading, take it a second time after at least five minutes. If it’s still high and you’re worried, contact your nurse or GP.
How Is High Blood Pressure Treated
If high blood pressure is due to a condition like kidney disease or lung disease, treating it might be enough to get the blood pressure back to normal.
Doctors also might recommend lifestyle changes. If you have hypertension, your doctor might want you to:
Eat a healthy diet:
- Eat more fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy.
- Limit salt.
- Avoid alcohol.
Get regular exercise:
- Try to exercise for 3060 minutes at least 3 times a week. But teens with severe hypertension should not do any weightlifting or power-lifting, bodybuilding, or strength training until their blood pressure is under control and a doctor says it’s OK.
Not smoke. Or if you do smoke, quit:
- People with high blood pressure should not smoke, and their home and car should be smoke-free.
If diet and exercise changes do not improve the blood pressure, doctors may prescribe medicine.
Don’t Miss: Does Apple Watch Detect Blood Pressure
Drink Milk Coconut Water And Cranberry Juice
Milk is a superfood. It consists of potassium, calcium, and Vitamin D. These nutrients are directly proven to lower blood pressure immediately.
Coconut water is highly rich in potassium, electrolytes, and minerals. These nutrients are an immediate solution to hypertension.
Not only that, at times, deficiency of these minerals can cause hypertension.
A study in West Indian Medical Journal proved that coconut water drops the pressure by margins.
Cranberry juice is rich in proanthocyanidins. This helps in reducing high BP by dilating blood vessels and increasing blood flow.
Articles published in Nature, 2016 proves that berry juice lowers systolic blood pressure.
However, milk is not suitable for everyone as people have lactose intolerance.
Thus, consultation with a doctor before the change in diet is advisable.