High blood pressure management means treating and controlling this condition for the rest of your life. Your treatment plan for high blood pressure (HBP) will consist of availing current medical care, using prescribed medications and making lifestyle changes.
These courses of treatment are for controlling your HBP and not curing it since no existing cure has been created so far for this disease. This treatment plan should not be stopped since doing so can lead to complications and other health related issues in the future.
Current Medical Care
Your doctor will recommend medical tests and/or checkups if you are being treated for HBP. To make your treatment plan as effective as possible, your physician may either add more medications or change them during the course of time if your meds are not effective enough or if they cause you severe side effects. Regular checkups help make it easy for your doctor to make some modifications to your treatment plan if your blood pressure keeps on rising. You need to regularly monitor your BP and have them checked per recommendation of your physician.
It is best to learn how to take BP measurement. You can have your doctor teach you how to do it. Write down readings every time you take your BP including the time and dates they were taken. You can ask your doctor or health care provider questions about your treatment or condition during your check ups.
Medications
You need to follow all your doctor’s advices especially in taking all your blood pressure medications he has prescribed. It’s important to know the medications you are taking and to take the exact doses that the physician has advised. If you want to know more information about your medications, talk to your doctor or pharmacist to learn more about them.
Refill your meds before they are all used up so you are not forced to skip days or halve your pill. If you suffer from discomforting side effects from the medicines, you need to tell the doctor about it and he may either replace the said medications or adjust the doses. Never decide on not taking your HBP medicines on your own.
Lifestyle Changes
Making the right lifestyle changes like stopping smoking, keeping a normal weight appropriate for your height, eating a healthy diet and exercising every day will help you manage well your HBP.
Pregnancy and High Blood Pressure
Even if pregnant women who suffer from HBP usually birth healthy babies, HBP, nevertheless, can entail problems for both the unborn baby and the mother. HBP can cause damage to the mother’s body organs particularly her kidneys. It can also lead to premature birth of the baby and a low birth weight. You need to talk to your doctor or health care provider if you plan soon to have a baby. You and your doctor can come up with measures that will help manage your HBP while you’re pregnant.
Unfortunately, some women develop HBP during their pregnancy which can lead to a condition called preeclampsia.
Preeclampsia can be fatal for both the fetus and the mother and so special care needs to be taken to avert any potentially serious outcomes. Often with good care, most women with this condition come out all healthy and safe.
High blood pressure can also develop because of severe emotional stress. In order to avoid this, try to relax as much as you can. Don’t take in extra tasks or work that is not necessary, dispel any negative and hurtful thoughts and foster better relationships with others who in turn will interact with you in a more warm and caring way.
Jamie Catlett is an experienced acupuncturist, Chinese herbalist and oriental reproductive medicine specialist at Jacksonville Acupuncture Clinic in Jacksonville, FL.
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