Issue 3: Blood Pressure

Despite what you may have heard, blood pressure is a good thing.  You have to have blood pressure to keep your vascular system working, sending blood to organs, and generally keeping you alive.  Blood pressure only becomes a problem when it becomes HIGH blood pressure.  (Low blood pressure is another problem altogether and we’ll discuss it at a later date.)

So what causes high blood pressure?  Visualize a garden hose lying in a circle on the ground.  Connect both ends to a water pump (heart) so that you have a complete circle. Fill it with water. Turn the pump on, and that’s your vascular system. Add extension hoses for kidneys, lungs, brain, etc.  You get the idea.

If you were to pick up the hose and squeeze it from the outside, the pressure inside would increase.  If you allowed gunk buildup inside the hose blocking some of the water path, the pressure would increase.  Same thing happens in your blood vessels. That’s a simplistic view of high blood pressure, or hypertension.

Imagine if you did nothing to correct the pressure in the hose.  Over time the hose could weaken.  Connections could weaken.  The pump could be strained and fail.  The gunk inside the hose could break loose and block the hose.  Plus, if we stretch our imagination to think of the hose lying in the yard for years and years, it would become brittle, fragile, and more prone to damage.  Substitute the words aneurysm, stroke, kidney failure, blood clot, thrombosis, heart attack, etc. anywhere in the above paragraph and you understand what a little untreated high blood pressure can do over a period of years.

Treatments for hypertension and cardiovascular health are aimed at reducing the squeezing action of the muscles surrounding blood vessels and eliminating the intravascular gunk and inflammation.  Healthcare folks use terms like ARB’s, ACE’s, beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, thiazides, statins and others to refer to our weapons to fight hypertension and high cholesterol (another article coming soon).

If you are diagnosed with high blood pressure you need to know that treatment options are very effective.  We can successfully treat your “pressure” and help maintain your health.  Usually a combination of medications works well.  But, you must do your part too.  Lose weight, stop smoking, exercise, take your medication regularly, and get regular checkups are effective ways to win the hypertension battle.  It is a lifelong battle, but it is a battle worth fighting for a lifetime if you can prevent the complications of hypertension.

If you have any questions about blood pressure or other items of interest, please call us at L & S Pharmacy.

Richard Logan PharmD