Jenny * had a splitting headache
that day. She did remember having
a conversation with me earlier
about how that could be a sign that her blood
pressure was too high, but she hadn’t purchased an
electronic blood pressure cuff so she couldn’t
check it herself. She decided to stop by
the hospital where she worked in the billing office and have one of us nurses
check it for her. – ah, but there were
some errands to run on this – her day off.
She stopped at the dry cleaners, and the bank and the post office….. and
finally, parked her car in the parking lot at the hospital. Before she could even get out of the car, she
had a stroke - a CVA (Cerebrovascular
Accident). Today, years later, she
remains weak on her right side, and can no longer work. Her speech is difficult
and so social gatherings that she once enjoyed are often difficult and taxing,
leaving her feeling somewhat left out.
High Blood Pressures – Hypertension-- can lead to Strokes, Heart Attacks /MI (myocardial infarct), and
CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease).
People aren’t cookie cutouts – so everyone’s situation can
be a little different. But in general –
there are some factors we can control, and some we can’t. We can’t change our race, our genetic makeup…..
so we won’t talk a lot about those factors today, but we’ll focus on those
things we DO have control over, and I’ll bet you know them too: Diet, Exercise, Stress Management, Sleep,
Maintaining a Healthy Weight and Blood Sugars, watching your Cholesterol levels
and NOT smoking.
In a nutshell:
DIET: in general –
water follows SALT. – So, if I eat a lot of salt (sodium), then my body will
hold onto water to try to dilute the sodium to maintain the proper salt
level. And just like turning up the
water volume in your garden hose increases the pressure….so does extra fluid
for your heart, and we see a rise in blood pressures. Eating a low-salt/sodium diet can help keep
blood pressures in line. So watch for
those hidden sources: anything in a can,
anything frozen dinners, sauces, cheese, hot dogs, lunch meat….get the
idea? Get good at reading labels so you
can make smart choices!
EXERCISE & STRESS MANAGEMENT: - these two can go hand –
in – hand. Besides helping to maintain a
healthy weight, exercise is a great tool to help us deal with stress. Our late, great Caveman, Uncle Joe had 1 of 2
responses when facing a dinosaur: Fight –
or Run; and for either response, his
adrenal glands would pump out a surge of chemicals with the aim of getting fuel
to muscles so he could fight – or run fast, and afterwards he would bask on a
rock somewhere and recuperate and regenerate.
Today, however, we don’t usually
do either - We don’t usually physically
fight off our stressors, or run real fast…we just LIVE in this soup of
high-stress hormonal soup of chemicals, and over time the effects of which can
be felt by just about every body system:
heart, stomach problems and ulcers, depression, worry, trouble sleeping,
even weight gain! Exercise is a great
way to move those chemicals along and
for helping us deal with stress.
Balancing rest and relaxation with exercise helps us maintain healthy
patterns of dealing with these stress hormones.
SLEEP: When we sleep
(deep sleep in particular), the pituitary gland kicks in and growth hormone is
secreted – have you noticed that when
your babies wake up in the morning they look bigger? While as adults, we aren’t growing upwards-
but we do grow new cells, new tissues – regenerating our bodies. Not getting enough sleep means that we don’t
get to regenerate and rebuild. Lack of
proper sleep has been linked to a host of issues that we won’t get into here.
BLOOD SUGARS: it is
harder for the heart to pump sugar-rich blood – much like it would be harder to
pump syrup than water; And high these high sugars and high pressures
do damage to delicate structures like
eyes, hearts, nerves, livers, and kidneys.
CHOLESTEROL (and
SMOKING): - In general, when cholesterols are high, it’s a lot like pouring
bacon grease down your kitchen sink – over time, these plaques narrow the
diameter of your plumbing…making it harder for fluid to flow….much like
narrowed arteries make blood flow harder – resulting in a higher blood pressure.
Taking care of yourself is important to help your blood
pressures stay in normal range. If you
have a diagnosis of hypertension and are on medications – don’t stop taking
your medications…. Sometimes stopping them can cause a rebound hypertension and
blood pressures can go even higher.
If you have hypertension, keep your medical appointments and
follow up with your healthcare provider.
Know your numbers – keeping track of cholesterols, A1C’s, weights –
these are important measures to help you make decisions on how you take care of
yourself every day. If you have
symptoms of a high blood pressure – headache, vision changes, stomach
upset/pain -- please don’t wait….get
checked. After running your errands – it
might just be too late.
*Name changed, but story is based on an actual event
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