Symptoms and treatment of hypertension

According to the World Health Organization, hypertension is one of the most common diseases. Hypertension occurs in every third person and is characterized by high mortality rates in severe stages. Only a complex treatment that combines medications and maintains a healthy lifestyle can be successful.

What is hypertension?

What is hypertension, it is a chronic disease, a pathology of the cardiovascular system. It develops as a result of disruption in the work of higher centers responsible for the functionality of blood vessels. Dangerous hypertension is accompanied by complications and internal diseases.

One of the main manifestations of the disease is high blood pressure (blood pressure), which decreases only after taking special and strong drugs.

Hypertension refers to a pressure of 140/90 mm Hg. and higher when confirmed during two medical examinations.

Hypertension is divided into several types:

• Primary arterial hypertension,
• Symptomatic arterial hypertension,
• chronic hypertension,
• Vascular hypertension.

Symptomatic or secondary hypertension accounts for only 10% of all reported cases of the disease. Hypertensive syndrome - the second name of the disease - is most often accompanied by systemic lupus erythematosus, urolithiasis, anomalies and renal tumors, ischemia, toxicosis in late pregnancy, renal tuberculosis. Although hypertension has no specific symptoms and features, it seriously aggravates the underlying disease.

Essential hypertension is an independent form of the disease.

Chronic hypertension is usually caused by high levels of calcium in the blood, infectious diseases (becoming chronic), diabetes and heredity. It manifests itself in the form of irritability, inattention, fatigue and weakness, often numbness of the arms and legs, speech disorders, hypertrophy of the left ventricle and frequent pain in the heart area.

How does hypertension develop?

The mechanism of development of hypertension is as follows: in response to stress, there is a violation of the regulation of tone in peripheral blood vessels. The result is spasm of the arterioles and the formation of dyscirculatory and dyskinetic syndrome. The secretion of neurohormones in the aldosterone system increases significantly. This causes a delay in the vascular bed of sodium and water, which increases the volume of blood circulation and increases blood pressure. During the disease, the viscosity of the blood also increases, which leads to a decrease in the rate of metabolic processes in the tissues. The walls of the arteries increase in size, the space between them narrows, which affects blood flow. High levels of resistance in the periphery make the disease irreversible. As a result of increased permeability of the walls of blood vessels and their absorption by blood plasma, arteriosclerosis and elastofibrosis develop, which leads to serious changes in the tissues of some organs.

Spontaneous hypertension cannot occur in humans. Vegetative-vascular dystonia (VD) usually precedes hypertension, often accompanied by varicose veins.

Varicose veins are associated with hypertension: Increased activity of the vessel walls in SVD leads to a decrease in their diameter. The resistance of the vessel wall to blood flow increases, which increases blood pressure. Varicose veins are characterized by thickening of the vessel wall, the formation of pockets inside and narrowing, which impedes the normal flow of blood. The diseased blood vessels can no longer cope with the blood flow, which leads to the formation of edema in the tissues and chronic stagnation in the arteries. This gangrene can lead to the development of sepsis and even death.

Classification of the disease

Hypertensive disease varies according to the causes of high blood pressure, organ damage, blood pressure levels and course. The disease can be benign or progressing slowly, or progressing rapidly - malignant. More importantly, it is classified according to the level and stability of the pressure. Distinguish:

• normal GB (up to 129/85 mm Hg),
• border (up to 140/90 mm Hg),
• Grade 1 hypertension (up to 160/100 mm Hg),
• 2 degrees (up to 180/110 mm Hg),
• 3 degrees (more than 180/110 mm Hg).

Benign hypertension consists of three stages. The first or slight pressure is characterized by an increase to 180-104 mm Hg, but returns to normal after a short rest. Some people complain of headaches, sleep problems, fatigue and decreased performance. However, in most cases, the mild phase continues without obvious individual symptoms.

The second or middle stage is characterized by pressures from 200 to 115 mm Hg. at rest. At first, severe and throbbing pain, dizziness, pain in the heart area. Examination reveals heart damage. Sometimes subendocardial ischemia is found. Cerebral strokes, transient ischemia of the brain are possible.

The third or severe stage is accompanied by stable and strong increases in pressure. At the beginning of the phase, the increased pressure occurs intermittently and usually manifests itself after physical exertion, as well as changes in atmospheric pressure, emotional shocks. Normalization is possible after a myocardial infarction or stroke. Headless hypertension often occurs after a heart attack. That is, only a condition in which systolic or pulse pressure is reduced.

Causes of the disease

The causes of hypertension are a violation of the regulatory function of the main parts of the central nervous system, which control the work of all internal organs. Often, excessive stress and overwork can lead to the development of both physical and mental, long-term, constant and intense anxiety and stress.

Working at night, often in a noisy environment can also trigger the disease.

The risk group includes those who like salty foods. Salt causes spasms of blood vessels and prevents the removal of fluid. Heredity plays an important role. If two or more relatives have hypertension, the risk of developing the disease increases.

Some diseases also cause the development of hypertension. These include:

• diseases of the adrenal glands and kidneys,
• thyroid disease,
• Obesity,
• diabetes mellitus,
• tonsillitis,
• Atherosclerosis.

Menopausal women are among the highest risk groups. This is due to hormonal changes in the body, emotional exacerbations, nervous reactions. In women, about 60% of all diseases occur during menopause.

Age and gender determine the increased risk in men. Between the ages of 20 and 30, hypertension develops in about 9% of men. At the age of 40, the percentage rises to 35, and after the age of 65 to 50%. Hypertension is more common in men under the age of 40 than in women. The proportion varies in the older age group - this is explained by a large percentage of male deaths from complications.

The causes of hypertension are hypodynamics and bad habits. Components of tobacco smoke cause spasms of blood vessels and damage the thin walls of blood vessels. Physical inactivity is accompanied by a slow metabolism, and when the load increases, the untrained heart gets tired many times faster.

Symptoms

The clinical manifestations of hypertension in the early stages may be mild. A person may not be aware of the increased pressure for a long time and the processes that develop in the arteries. Early and early signs of hypertension are irritability and increased fatigue for no apparent reason.

Symptoms of early hypertension: neurotic disorders, weakness, sleep disorders, noise and ringing in the ears and dizziness, palpitations.

People notice a decrease in efficiency, loss of concentration. There is shortness of breath. Headaches with hypertension appear more often in the morning in the temporal and occipital region. It can grow at the end of the day and in the backyard. They are associated with disruption of the tone of venules and arterioles. Symptoms of hypertension include pain in the heart area. This is due to the increased work of the heart muscle to overcome the increased resistance. As a result, there is a dissociation between the needs and capabilities of the myocardium, which leads to angina pectoris.

Later symptoms of hypertension include tremors in the eyes and "fly" vibrations, as well as other photopsies. They are explained by spasms of the arterioles of the retina. Malignant hypertension may be accompanied by retinal hemorrhage, which leads to blindness. In rare cases, symptoms of hypertension are manifested by vomiting, swelling of the hands and numbness of the fingers, chills, heaviness in the eyelids and swelling of the face in the morning, excessive sweating.

Complications of hypertension

Complications of hypertension:

• Hypertensive crisis,
• visual impairment,
• Circulatory disorders in the brain
• nephrosclerosis,
• subarachnoid hemorrhage,
• dissection of the aortic aneurysm,
• bradycardia,
• Damage to target organs (kidneys, heart, brain, arteries and veins, fundus vessels),
• Hypertensive cardiomyopathy (HLH, left ventricular hypertension)
• Hypertonic angioedema.

Hypertensive crisis

First you need to understand what a hypertensive crisis is. The term refers to a sharp and significant increase in blood pressure accompanied by symptoms characteristic of the disease. In addition to hypertension, it can cause:

• Chronic and acute glomerulonephritis,
• Toxicosis in late pregnancy,
• renovascular hypertension,
• benign brain tumors,
• heavy metal poisoning,
• Kidney failure.

Crisis can be caused by hormonal imbalances and sudden changes in the weather. One of the most common causes is psycho-emotional trauma. Symptoms: severe and severe headache, nausea with the desire to vomit, dizziness, fainting, short-term blindness and other visual disturbances, weakness, mood swings, tears. Brain symptoms:

• vasospasm,
• Violation of the permeability of the vessel walls,
• The entry of blood plasma into the medulla causes edema.

In the early stages of the disease, crises are mild and short-lived.

Crisis threat in possible development:

• retinal detachment,
• stroke,
• Acute pulmonary edema
• asthma,
• myocardial infarction,
• Angina.

Complications of hypertension pose a serious threat to human life and require regular medical supervision.

Bradycadia

A frequent and dangerous complication of hypertension. It manifests itself depending on the form. The light form may go unnoticed. Severe, frequent, and prolonged dizziness with hypertension may indicate an overt form of the disease. Also, symptoms include - a state of semi-fainting and frequent fainting, sudden changes in blood pressure. Severe form is accompanied by fainting and short-term cardiac arrest. Treatment of hypertension and bradycardia can be homeopathic and medicinal. Usually prescribed diuretics, alpha-blockers, nifedicipin. Homeopathy is prescribed calendula, St. John's wort, strawberries, shakes.

Complications of hypertension include the following syndromes:

• myocardial damage,
• kidney damage,
• vascular encephalopathy,
• Arterial hypertension syndrome.

Related clinical conditions: ischemic stroke, CHF, coronary revascularization, renal failure, arterial disease, papilloma.

Target organ damage

A heart

Left ventricular hypertrophy often develops. This is because the heart muscle pushes the blood with great effort into the deformed arteries. Such work leads to thickening of the muscle wall and lack of blood circulation. This is dangerous with muscle tension and heart fatigue. Another pathology is a violation of diastolic function of lzh. Increased fatigue of the heart muscle leads to a moment when it can not take a comfortable position. The thickened wall cannot relax during the diastolic phase, when oxygen saturation occurs normally. All this leads to a third pathology - chronic insufficiency. It develops as a result of constant oxygen starvation. The disease is very difficult to treat and, along with other pathologies, results in death.

Ships

In hypertension, the arteries are constantly narrowed due to the contraction of the muscle layer. This causes the blood vessels to stop relaxing and the muscle tissue to be replaced by connective tissue. This is called vascular reconstruction. Loss of vision, peripheral atherosclerosis of the extremities and other diseases are associated with this complex and irreversible result.

Brain

Bleeding causes almost 25% of all strokes. And the main cause of bleeding with a high mortality rate is hypertension. Adequate blood supply to the brain leads to ischemic stroke. This complication accounts for more than 70% of cases. This is caused by a narrowing of the blood vessels in the brain or a blockage of the duct by a thrombus. Another pathology is hypertensive encephalopathy. This is an emergency condition accompanied by severe headaches, high blood pressure and neurological symptoms. If you are dealing with hypertension, you have a chance to develop cognitive impairment and dementia. These are changes in subcortical substance and brain atrophy, which are responsible for the disruption of thought processes.

kidneys

One of the most common complications is microalbuminuria. The earliest sign of the development of kidney damage and kidney failure. Chronic renal failure is characterized by loss of the kidneys' ability to excrete metabolic products from the blood.

Diagnosis of the disease

Effective treatment of hypertension is possible only with early diagnosis and adherence to all rules and recommendations. High blood pressure is not always an indicator of hypertension, it can be a situation. And repeated visits to the doctor are not detected. A single measurement of blood pressure may not detect the disease: it is necessary to measure the dynamics of blood pressure with recurrent symptoms. After diagnosis, doctors make a differential diagnosis to determine the symptomatic form of the disease.

Pressure measurement

Dynamic pressure measurement is used to determine the extent and presence of disease. This is done as follows: the atmosphere should be comfortable and calm. Measurements begin no later than ten minutes after the patient's admission. Smoking, drinking any food and strong drinks (tea, coffee, alcohol), any physical activity, use of eye or nose drops are excluded one hour before the visit. During the first treatment, blood pressure readings are taken from both hands of the patient, and a second measurement is taken 2 minutes later.

With a reading difference of more than 5 mm Hg. Continue high arm pressure measurements.

Treatment of hypertension

How to treat hypertension depends on the stage of the disease, complications, age and many other parameters. Medical treatment options are selected by the attending physician. The desire to fight the disease alone can have catastrophic consequences. Modern treatment of hypertension begins with non-pharmacological methods that increase the effectiveness of drugs several times. You need to start by setting up a daily routine, eliminating any stress, do not forget about sports and long walks. An important point in how to deal with hypertension is diet. The patient should avoid or significantly reduce salt intake, drink less, and eliminate alcohol and coffee altogether. If you follow all the recommendations, you can prevent drug treatment of the disease.

During treatment, it is important not only how to deal with hypertension, but also how to eliminate the causes of high blood pressure.

Medications are commonly used to treat:

• diuretic,
• Inhibitors
• Type 2 receptor antagonists
• Calcium channel blockers.

Blood pressure medication - only by prescription

homeopathic treatment

Given the question of how to get rid of hypertension, it is worth paying attention to homeopathic remedies. They are usually recommended when the target organs are already affected. Homeopathy has an important advantage for hypertension: a mild effect. The drug has no contraindications and side effects. The disadvantage is that treatment with homeopathic remedies is very slow. Consider when choosing this method:

• Homeopathic medicines are prescribed at the same time as medicines.
• Combining medicine and a healthy lifestyle
• With a moderate degree of risk, this type is often the only possible one.

Inpatient treatment of hypertension

Inpatient treatment is usually given with a complex hypertensive crisis:

• Acute hypertensive encephalopathy,
• asthma,
• pulmonary edema,
• Acute coronary syndrome (unstable angina and myocardial infarction),
• aortic aneurysm,
• Severe arterial bleeding
• Eclampsia.

After admission, the clinic's doctors begin to carry out basic diagnostic measures:

• Measurement of blood pressure dynamics every 15 minutes,
• electrocardiography,
• general blood and urine analysis,
• echocardiography,
• Biochemical analysis for the detection of potassium, sodium, urea, calcium, creatinine, fibrinogen, coagulogram,
• Ophthalmoscopy.

The patient should also be referred by a neurologist, Reberg test and rheoencephalography, as well as admission to determine the type of cerebral hemodynamics. Inpatient treatment while in the hospital depends on the presence of complications, the severity of the attack and the presence of other diseases. First aid is aimed at reducing the activity of the left ventricle and relieving the following symptoms:

• peripheral vasoconstriction,
• cerebral ischemia,
• Heart problem.

The use of antihypertensive drugs, hospitalization in the ICU, and regular blood pressure monitoring are important in the treatment of a complex attack.

Non-drug treatment of a hypertensive state includes boosting immunity, cleansing the body, massage, gymnastics and diet. It is important to follow the doctor's instructions and not to violate the prescribed regimen.

How to live with hypertension

How long people with hypertension live is an important question for people diagnosed. The outcome of the disease depends on the stage and nature of its course. Severe form, vascular damage, third stage of the disease and damage to target organs worsen the prognosis. Premature death occurs from heart attacks and strokes, acute heart failure. Unfavorable prognosis for patients at an early age.

The life expectancy of hypertensive patients depends not only on proper medication and regular visits to the doctor, but also on personal attitude and adherence to basic rules. These include:

• psychological climate,
• diet,
• Physical training,
• There are no bad habits.

Another important condition is to understand what the disease is, how it develops, and what consequences it has on the whole body. There is no need for medical education to understand the nature of the disease. There are many good books and textbooks written for ordinary people. One of them is A. Yakovlev's book "Propaedeutics of internal diseases". The book provides a brief and clear overview of the main provisions of hypertension, as well as the most popular treatment regimens for hypertension.

Psychological climate

Understanding how to treat hypertension and choosing a treatment method, you need to move on to an equally important issue - a healthy lifestyle. When working night shifts, it is often not possible during arguments, constant and long business trips, strong emotional stress, negative emotions, fears, anger. All these conditions are accompanied by the production of large amounts of adrenaline, which leads to disruption of the circulatory and nervous systems. It is important to manage your emotions, think more positively, and exclude any source of stress around you. Herbal teas, meditations, walks, doing what you love will help in this work.

By creating the most comfortable conditions around you, you increase your chances of recovery.

Diet

Excess weight and hypertension are not compatible. Even if you do not have extra pounds, treatment begins with nutritional correction. In the early stages, this is enough to manage the pressure and prevent it from rising. There are several ways to lose weight with hypertension. The key is to limit calories. This can be achieved by eliminating or reducing the daily ration of sweet and fatty foods, flour products. To lose weight, the diet should not be mixed with fasting: it is forbidden for hypertensive patients. In order to lose weight and normalize blood pressure, it is necessary to monitor the amount of animal fats in the diet. It is necessary to exclude cholesterol-rich foods as much as possible, as well as switch to low-fat fish, fruits and vegetables, natural vegetable oils. Sausage, fat, fried meatballs and fatty meats, butter, fatty cheeses are worth giving up completely.

Contraindications to hypertension - any drinks and foods that irritate the nervous system. These include not only tea, coffee and alcohol, but also carbonated drinks, hot spices, fragrant spices.

It is important to include foods rich in potassium and magnesium in your diet. These elements have a good effect on the heart muscle, strengthen the walls of blood vessels and the nervous system. Contains large amounts of potassium:

• plum,
• apricot,
• cabbage,
• pumpkin,
• banana.

Rich in magnesium:

• Buckwheat, oats and millet,
• root,
• beets,
• Black currant,
• Parsley and lettuce leaves
• walnut

An important rule: these products should not be combined with milk. Calcium has a negative effect on the digestion of elements.

Physical training

Complications of arterial hypertension and the disease itself does not mean that the patient should refrain from any activity. Gymnastics, simple exercises, yoga or long walks, swimming are indicated for hypertensive patients. Exercise not only carries the burden of positive emotions, but also helps to fight excess weight.

You should start with the simplest exercises, gradually increasing the time and complexity of the exercises. This also applies to swimming and walking.

Rehabilitation for hypertension in the third stage, as well as complications such as hypertensive stroke, coronary heart disease, angina pectoris should be carried out only under the supervision of physicians. Usually, patients are sent to special resorts and sanatoriums for rehabilitation. Which includes a whole set of measures: proper nutrition, physical activity, medication.