High Blood Pressure

What is high blood pressure?

High blood pressure is a common disease risk factor that occurs when the pressure inside the blood vessel walls is higher than it should be. High blood pressure is a common cause of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke when left untreated. High blood pressure is, in fact, highly treatable, especially when detected early.

Does high blood pressure cause any symptoms?

High blood pressure often causes no symptoms. That’s why it’s vital to be screened regularly for high blood pressure, especially if you’re at a higher risk of developing it. If you have severely high blood pressure that reaches dangerous levels, you can experience shortness of breath, headaches, and nosebleeds.

What are the risk factors for high blood pressure?

While high blood pressure can happen to anyone, specific genetic and lifestyle factors increase your risk of developing it. These include:

• Lack of exercise
• Smoking
• Obesity
• Poor dietary habits
• Older age
• Family history of high blood pressure
• Too much dietary sodium
• Too little potassium
• Stress
• Excessive alcohol intake
• Some chronic diseases

Kidney disease, sleep apnea, diabetes, and other chronic conditions can increase your risk of developing high blood pressure.

How does my doctor diagnose high blood pressure?

The Montgomery Family Care team discusses medications you take, symptoms you might have, and your personal and family histories of disease to determine if you have high blood pressure. They check your blood pressure using a blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope or blood pressure monitoring machine.

Your provider might check your cholesterol or blood sugar using simple blood tests. They could also recommend heart-function tests, echocardiograms, or other diagnostic procedures based on your lifestyle and risk factors.

What are the common treatments for high blood pressure?

The common treatments for high blood pressure include:

Lifestyle changes

Things you can do to reduce high blood pressure naturally include:

• Eating lots of fruits, vegetables, and other high-fiber foods
• Reducing your sodium (salt) intake
• Maintaining a healthy weight
• Getting more exercise
• Reducing stress
• Limiting or avoiding alcohol
• Not smoking
• Monitoring your blood pressure at home

Your provider could recommend that you take dietary supplements.

Medications

If your blood pressure is very high or lifestyle changes haven’t reduced those high levels, the Montgomery Family Care team can prescribe medications to bring your blood pressure down. This medication can also reduce your risk of developing heart problems.

Call the Montgomery Family Care office or book an appointment for high blood pressure online today.