Treating high blood pressure

High blood pressure is a very common issue in an internal medicine office.  High blood pressure, or hypertension, has long been called the silent killer because people often don't have any symptoms at all.  Despite not having symptoms or feeling a thing, having high blood pressure over the long term can put extra strain on your heart and arteries and can lead to things like heart attacks, heart failure, and stroke.

It is actually not unusual at all to have an isolated reading of high blood pressure.  If you are very nervous, or very excited, or working out very hard, your blood pressure will naturally go higher.  This is a normal response and is not bad for you at all.  Even blood pressures of 180 happen under excitement or stress - this is normal and not an emergency.

The problem comes when your pressure is almost always elevated, even when you're relaxed or at rest.  That is not good long term.

It is important in the doctor's office to not necessarily treat every patient who has one high blood pressure reading.  It may be that the person is nervous to meet a new doctor, or afraid they are going to get a shot!  For this reason we would want to confirm high blood pressure readings in most patients before we consider drug therapy.  Even better is to have someone check their blood pressure at home and get a good record of data.

If you do have high blood pressure it is important to get it treated.  It is hard on your blood vessels having high pressure all the time, and it can cause strokes, heart failure, kidney disease, and other issues.  High blood pressure treatment does NOT always mean medicine.  There are lots of options outside of taking a pill and if you come see us we can discuss which of these might work for you.  Sometimes medicines are required, and that is ok as well.  If you need medicine to treat your high blood pressure we will work with you to find one that is easy to take, affordable, and easy to tolerate.  No one likes taking medicine, but it is better than having a stroke or some other complication from blood pressure.  

If you think you have high blood pressure, call us today at 910 230 5661 and schedule an appointment for a check up and to discuss.