Hypertension

What is Hypertension?

Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by the blood on the vessel wall, and when this pressure rises above a certain level, it is called "High Blood Pressure", that is, "Hypertension".

Our vessels, which are exposed to high pressure, lose their properties over time and lead to the deterioration of organs such as the heart, kidney and brain that they feed. Hypertension is a disease that damages our organs over the years without any symptoms. In our country, almost 15 million people have hypertension. Although the number of hypertension patients is high, adequate blood pressure control cannot be achieved in half of these patients. In fact, there are many patients who do not know that they have hypertension. Hypertension is seen in one out of every two people over the age of 40 in Turkey.

The prevalence of hypertension, which is a chronic disease, is increasing in the society and unfortunately only a few of the patients can be treated effectively. There are approximately 1.5 billion hypertension patients in the world and 9.4 million people die each year due to hypertension.

Causes of hypertension?

There are 12 main reasons;

1. Excessive salt consumption
2. Abnormal vascular structures
3. Excess blood
4. Genetic predisposition
5. Sensitive personality (Panic disorders)
6. Adrenal gland disorders
7. Kidney problems
8. Thyroid problems
9. Congenital cardiovascular problems
10. Nervous system diseases
11. Nerve hormone diseases (Neuroendocrine tumors)
12. Potassium deficiency

What are the symptoms of hypertension disease?

Hypertension does not show any symptoms in the early stages. Hypertension, which is an insidious disease, damages the kidney, brain, heart and vascular system without showing any symptoms for years. It can last for years without showing any symptoms in the person and can cause irreversible damage to the organs during this time. Hypertension is the single biggest cause of death worldwide, causing stroke, heart attack, kidney disease and diabetes.

Efforts are being made to increase the awareness of hypertension in the society, which cannot be detected without measurement. Even if you have no complaints, we need to measure your blood pressure and know its value.

Although it is an insidious disease, the most prominent symptoms of hypertension include headache, dizziness, shortness of breath, palpitations, chest pain, and visual impairment. In addition, there may also be cases such as weakness, fatigue, nosebleeds, ringing in the ears, difficulty walking and climbing stairs, sometimes very frequent urination, waking up at night and urinating, swelling in the legs. When one or more of the symptoms of hypertension are felt, a doctor should be consulted.

What are the types of treatment for hypertension?

Since there are many causes of hypertension, its treatment is not uniform and is provided by individual drug selection.

The first choice in reducing high blood pressure is lifestyle change. Sleeping regularly, doing sports, changing eating habits, losing weight, avoiding harmful habits such as smoking and alcohol are indispensable in the treatment of hypertension.

In addition, it is necessary to start drug therapy to lower blood pressure; drugs in the treatment of hypertension; They act in different ways on the kidney, heart, blood vessels and nervous system. The effects of drugs in different ways change their dosage and use. It would be wrong to compare a drug with high mg to another drug with low mg. The thought of "My blood pressure medicine is 300 mg, how can a 5 mg medicine work?" is not correct.

Consult your doctor if you do not trust a drug or think it is not working.