An Introduction to Treatment for High Blood Pressure

At one point, Doctors hesitated to prescribehave little or minimal side effect to the patient and
medication for patients with a blood pressure readingprotect against possible further complications down
of less than 159/99 Hg. This was described as "mildthe line.
hypertension" and as such not deemed at the timeOn of the most important aspects of where
to be dangerous.treatment differs nowadays is that Doctors can quite
The rationale behind this that Doctors felt that thepossibly provide one single course of medication that
adverse side effects of the medication used at thecan treat conditions like Hypertension and
time would possibly be of more danger to the patientaccompanying medical problems like congestive Heart
than the high blood pressure readings.Failure.
Times have changed however and this line of thinkingThe generally accepted initial approach to
is no longer in use. Both of the above perceptionsHypertension Treatment nowadays is to start slow
relating to the danger of the side effects and the& low and then build gradually where possible
mild nature of the blood pressure readings have leadgradually increasing the dosage of the medicine
to the discontinuance of this practice.prescribed until the blood pressure level sinks to a
Recent research has firmly established the value ofnormal level. If this is not shown to work or causes
treating "stage 1 Hypertension" (a reading oftroublesome side effects then a wide number of
between 140/90 - 159/99 Hg) with medication ifreplacement medications are available for use.
necessary. It is now also considered prudent to treatThe presently accepted course of treatment for
patients who also suffer from Diabetes and HighStage 1 Hypertension is to start with one drug and
Blood Pressure if their readings are as low as 130/80add a second if the blood pressure reading does not
Hg. The sensitivity of medication nowadays is suchrespond or decrease to normal levels. The target
that blood pressure levels can be controlled withlevels here are 140/90 Hg. For those with diabetes or
much lower dosages meaning that the danger of sidechronic kidney disease then the ideal targets are
effects can also be reduced.reduced to 130/80 Hg. For "Stage 2 Hypertension"
There has never been a greater variety of(the old levels of conventional High Blood Pressure)
medication for High Blood Pressure available tothen the accepted treatment programme is to start
Doctors from which to choose. Thesewith at least 2 drugs. Again if the response to this is
"antihypertensive drugs" also include many types ofnot within an acceptable timeframe then the
medication where there is a combination of severalintroduction of a third drug may occur.
different types of drug. The newer types ofJust when you think that Hypertension can be
medication quite often have a different chemicalcontrolled with purely medication. There is a marked
makeup and structure compared to the older onesimprovement to all of these programmes when the
but quite often produce nearly identical effects onmedication is accompanied by the introduction and
the human body.implementation of lifestyle changes such as a well
The range and sophistication of medication is suchbalanced diet, reduction in the consumption of alcohol,
now that Doctors can produce care plans andincreased exercise and a complete cessation of
treatment programmes tailored to the individualsmoking.
patient and in most cases prescribe medication that'Nuff said really.