Who Can You Look At And Know They Have HighBlood Pressure?

· There are no cut and dried physical traits but there are some red flags

· Overweight

· Type A personality and lifestyle

· A sedentary lifestyle

· A menu overloaded with salt, fried foods, red meats

· Florid or red faced coloring

· Persons with chronic pain, anxiety or stressful lifestyles

What Do You Know Can Cause High Blood Pressure?

· Smoking

· Excessive alcohol consumption

· Drug abuse

· Obesity

· Genetics

· Unhealthy diet and lifestyles

When Should Anyone Start Learning The Warning Signs Of High Blood Pressure?

· Knowledge is power and the sooner the better

· Look at your family; do the elders in your family have Hypertensive Heart Disease?

· If your family members are diagnosed with high blood pressure, you need to begin instructing and supporting them to follow their physician orders.

· The best way to give instruction and support to ones you love with hypertension is to follow your own advice!

· Change your own lifestyle and diet and exercise program to see and feel the difference!

Why Is High Blood Pressure Such A Big Deal?

· The one thing that is often forgotten (perhaps conveniently so) is that Hypertension ( AKA high blood pressure) is First Stage heart Disease

· Uncontrolled, undiagnosed, untreated high blood pressure over time causes internal damage to heart, kidneys, and your circulatory systems.

· High blood pressure used to be called “the silent killer” because there had not been any education done on all of the above items!

· If diet, exercise, regular checkups by your physician are not part of your life now and for the rest of your life; your risk increases for a term called “high mortality risk”

· The ultimate risks include stroke, heart attack, blood clots, kidney failure, heart failure, and edema.

How Do You Know If Your High Blood Pressure Is Under Control?

· Even for persons under a physician’s care, taking their medication correctly, exercising as suggested, and eating a heart healthy diet there is still work ahead!

· You must monitor every aspect of your diagnosis.

· Keep a routine for checking your blood pressure but do not keep that routine “set in stone”

· Always keep a written diary of medications (time taken, any adverse effects noted, if taken with or without food)

· Always keep a written diary of recordings of your blood pressure (Date and time taken, if before or after exercise if taken before or after food)

· Always keep a written diary of stress, anxiety, excessive exercise

· Always keep a written diary of your diet, especially during the first two years (at least) of being diagnosed with Hypertensive Heart Disease

How Do You Keep Four Written Diaries For At Least Two Years?

· Do Not Panic!

· You can develop your own diary, you can use a template, or you can just use a spiral notebook!

· Whatever you decide to use, keep it simple and keep it consistently.

· In addition, ALWAYS take your diary with your medications every time you see your physician!

Sample Diary

Blood Pressure

Date and Time Taken

Before or After Exercise or Food

Stressful Events, Anxiety or Excessive Exercise

Date and Time of Food Consumption

Names, Times Taken and Amounts in Milligrams of Medications

Examples

117/70 left arm 116/67 right arm

10/2/09 1:00 PM

After breakfast, no exercise other than walking in and out of job interviews and Staples store

10^th day of cross country move

10/2/09 7:30 AM toasted bagel with one-ounce cream cheese with two cups of coffee. Cracker type bread strips at 11:00 AM before interview

Metoprolol Tartrate 50 mg; one tablet twice daily in morning and again in the evening.

Lisinopril and Hydrochlorothiazide 20mg/25mg; one tablet daily in morning

The above example is actually my spouses’ blood pressure taken the day this article was written. Of note is the fact that we are extremely glad to be once again in our “heart home” and despite the excessive exercise of packing and unpacking, driving cross country, searching for a new place to live and to work this is an unusually good reading for my Honey. I was worried the batteries were bad, but after double checking our 26 year old daughter’s blood pressure (84/56) I knew Honey’s was accurate! My hubby was diagnosed with Hypertensive Heart Disease in 1988, heart disease runs in his family, he is overweight, his lifestyle has definitely slowed as he has grown older and he is prone to edema of the lower extremities. On the good side, he sees his physician regularly, he takes his medication exactly as prescribed, and he eats before taking his medications. His type of work has him on his feet over five to six hours at a time and even with a rubber mat, this is hard on anyone’s feet, legs, circulation.

Why is standing and working for long periods of time hard on your circulation?

Your heart is a pump and like any pump needs to be primed in order to work effectively. Walking is that priming of the pump. Walking is without a doubt the best exercise anyone at any age can do. Walking consistently, even for short distances for very short periods of time will do more for than your health than any amount of money spent at gyms, spas, or home exercise equipment.

So, how much walking are we talking about because after a long work day, who wants to walk anywhere except to the sofa?

Actually, the worst time to try to walk is after working for any length of time. The best time to plan a walk is first thing in the morning. Not on an empty stomach, either, so you have to get up half an hour earlier.

OK OK I heard those groans! What would you rather do then? Stay in like normal and keep having to add more and more medications year after year?

Look, start small, walk for five minutes in one direction, turn around and walk back home.

There, now do that ten-minute walk three times a week for three weeks.

Then increase it by five minutes for another three weeks. Now you are walking ten minutes in one direction and ten minutes back home.

Increase that walk every three weeks, still at just three times a week until you are walking for a total of forty minutes, so twenty minutes forward, twenty minutes back. How long did it take to get up to a forty minute walk three times a week?

Uhhhh…does this involve math? Because I am not math ready…let me ask Honey. Ok, my David said “Five minutes every three weeks? Until you have twenty minutes one way? How many three-week intervals? Well, Boo, how many five’s are in twenty?”

Boo (me) answers “Uh, four?”

Honey says “Very good Boo! Now multiply four by three and what do you get?”

Boo triumphantly shouts “Twelve! Imagine, Honey, in just twelve weeks you and I can be walking forty minutes a day three times a week! Won’t that be great? Let’s start tomorrow!”

You see? I am not math ready for a reason!!!

Honey answers quietly and with a smile, “We’ll see.”