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High blood pressure – treatment of hypertension

Bluthochdruck – Behandlung von Hypertonie

It is right to be worried about High blood pressure (hypertension – from Greek hyper=above). High blood pressure can develop slowly, and its onset is rarely noticed by patients. High blood pressure can damage blood vessels without symptoms. That’s why high blood pressure is also referred to as the “Silent Killer”. This is why it is so important to monitor blood pressure regularly and to intervene if necessary [toc].

High blood pressure – symptoms

“High blood pressure? Not me…” That’s the way most people think about themselves. We do not want to scare you, but perhaps about half of the people in Europe are affected by hypertension. As already described, you do not notice hypertension, it occurs initially without symptoms. Symptoms can include nervousness, dizziness or headaches – but are rarely noticed. It is therefore important to clarify this very carefully.

Causes of High blood pressure

How does healthy blood pressure develop in the first place?

There are two phases when the heart is doing its work (cardiac cycle): Systole, the pumping phase, where the heart muscle contracts. Diastole, the filling phase. So there are two alternating pressure phases: The higher systolic pressure is built up during the phase in which the heart muscle contracts, pumping the blood into the veins. The lower diastolic pressure occurs when the heart expands again after the pumping process in order to absorb fresh blood and bring it into circulation.

The large arteries close to the heart and the organ arteries, known as resistance vessels, are there to maintain an even pressure as much as possible. A person exercising needs a different blood flow than someone meditating.

As long as the vessels are permeable and elastic, blood pressure self-regulation usually works well. However, problems occur when an obstruction builds up in the vessels (arteriosclerosis, i.e. deposits) or the elasticity of the large arteries near the heart and the organ arteries decreases.

Vessels that are too narrow do not let the same amount of blood pass
Inelastic vessels can no longer balance peak blood pressure values well

High blood pressure – Forms

Isolated systolic hypertension occurs when the systolic blood pressure (pumping phase of the heart) increases unilaterally but the diastolic blood pressure remains low or even decreases.

Primary hypertension (“classic” hypertension) often occurs in line with increasing age. In this case, both systolic and diastolic blood pressure rise to unhealthy levels.

High blood pressure – Risk factors

  • Unhealthy stress is a risk factor for high blood pressure. Why? Because the body switches to a fight or flight response, but the amount of energy released cannot be converted.
  • Obesity, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and predominantly sedentary activities (lack of exercise) are of course also factors that can cause high blood pressure due to deposits in the blood vessels – but these are not the only ones and don’t apply to everyone. One person can cope better with stress, while another develops hypertension even without any risk factors. Regular monitoring of blood pressure is therefore important to detect a tendency at an early stage before it becomes a health problem.

Treatment of high blood pressure

In the case of a dangerously high blood pressure, it may first be necessary to take medication in order to reduce the risks of secondary diseases caused by high pressure (e.g. heart attack, stroke, diabetes) as much as possible. Therapy will then commence, depending on the type of concomitant diseases that have already occurred – obesity (medical term for overweight), diabetes, kidney disease, etc.

Reducing high blood pressure

As internists, we do provide our patients with recommendations on how they can lower their blood pressure using as little medication as possible – and in the best case, of course, completely without it.

Change of life style with the strongest positive effects

  • Quit smoking
  • Change your diet (don’t worry, we don’t talk about strict diet)
  • Reduce alcohol consumption to moderate levels
  • Integrate physical activity into everyday life
  • Reduce weight
  • Reduce stress

These are proven measures that patients can start with immediately. Of course, the earlier a change in lifestyle is made, the better.

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