Treatment for high blood pressure

High Blood Pressure Characteristics

There are many people who suffer from high blood pressure, some having it higher than the others. Many different factors contribute to the development of high blood pressure. First of all, obesity seems to be one of the main causes, going hand-in-hand with high cholesterol and lack of exercise. Moreover, old age seems to have high blood pressure as a side-effect. If you are a smoker, then your chances of having a high blood pressure are higher than usual. Finally, having a history of high blood pressure in your family can reflect on your well-being in this respect too. What is more, all the causes and symptoms of high blood pressure can be related to some kinds of cardiovascular diseases. Thus, you need to know how to normalize blood pressure before it is too late.

Upon visiting your doctor and being examined, if you have a slightly increased or normal blood pressure, he/she might recommend you to reorganize your lifestyle, introducing exercises and paying more attention to what you eat. However, if your blood pressure is quite higher than what is considered normal, you might need to be treated with medications. Finally, if you have a sky rocketing blood pressure, you will have to visit a specialist in the field, starting a more radical treatment, depending on the cause.

Possible Treatments

Those who have minor blood pressure problems may introduce exercises in their lives, stop smoking or drinking alcohol, losing excessive weight or reorganize his/her diet, making it more balanced and light, yet healthy. Furthermore, people who get their blood pressure raised by stress should work on developing some relaxation techniques like yoga or meditation. Also, your caffeine consumption should be limited to no more than 5 cups a day.

As for those who need medications, you might be given different combinations you might have to take for several years. If these prove to be effective, you might stop taking them in the long run, since they might normalize your blood pressure permanently. Nevertheless, these may have many side-effects some of which may be drowsiness, skin rashes, coughing, pain around the kidney area etc. Some of the drugs used for treating high blood pressure are alpha-blockers, alpha-agonists, renin-inhibitors, diuretics, beta-blockers etc.

Finally, once you start to be on any of these treatments, it is important to stay in contact with your doctor, who will follow your progress and make certain changes in the treatment if it proves to be inadequate.