Treatment of high blood pressure and Cholesterol
Hossein Dehghani, MD
Hypertension commonly known as high blood pressure, is one of the most common cardiac conditions. Generally speaking, as we age, most of us will go on to develop high blood pressure. Those with high blood pressure go on to need more aggressive management. Hypertension as many other chronic medical conditions needs to be treated with a comprehensive plan that looks at diet, lifestyle changes in addition to medications. Lowering salt intake and weight loss by diet and exercise are equally as important as taking the right combination of medications. Treatment of high blood pressure often needs to be individually tailored due to other medical conditions particularly Diabetes and kidney disease, in addition to particular medication side effects, and patient tolerance for different regimens.
High blood pressure is known as the “silent killer”. Most often unless the pressure is extremely high with the high number above 180 or lower number above 100, the patients do not have any symptoms. As such many people feel “perfectly fine” and do not seek treatment. The truth, however, is that lowering your blood pressure to a normal range is one of the most rewarding ways to significantly lower your risk of not only heart attacks but also stroke and kidney disease. Taking natural supplements have been shown to also lower the blood pressure, however they are usually helpful as additives as opposed to single agents since they usually only lower the blood pressure by 3 points or less!
High cholesterol is another very common cardiovascular problem and risk factor in America. Due to our overall eating habits and lack of exercise we have one of the highest rates of elevated Cholesterol in the Western world. Elevated cholesterol significantly increases risk of stroke and heart attack. Management of cholesterol is another multifactorial approach which involves changes to dietary and exercise habits in addition to initiation and adjustment of cholesterol medications.
People have different combinations of Lipid problems which could be having high triglycerides, elevated bad cholesterol (LDL) or having low levels of good Cholesterol (HDL). Natural supplements such as Red Yeast Rice and vitamins such as Niaspan have been helpful, addressing Cholesterol issues, however if the levels are very high due to genetics and other factors, then stronger medications such as statins are indicated.
