Hypertension: How an integrative, problem-solving approach can help
LIVE HYPERTENSION - HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE - MY EXPERIENCE IN THE OFFICE
In a live held in 2016, I explain everything about the subject of hypertension (high blood pressure).
INSTAGRAM POSTS ON THE SUBJECT:
JUNE/2023:
It's very common for patients with high blood pressure (hypertension) to think that when they take antihypertensive drugs (drugs to “lower the pressure”) they are treating the causes of their high blood pressure... They're not. These drugs “force” the body to reduce blood pressure, but most of the time they do NOT act on the causes.
⚠️ Resolving these ERRORS can help solve the problem or at least improve treatment results.
- Improving Life Habits (icaro.med.br/12Habitos), above all drinking water properly and regularly, maintaining an exercise routine, improving diet, avoiding abuse of alcohol, smoking and stimulants / energy drinks and reducing stress (and learning to deal with it better).
- Optimize levels of magnesium, potassium and vitamin D in the body
- Correct hormonal disorders (thyroid, cortisol, testosterone, estradiol, progesterone, etc.)
- See which other drugs may be raising your blood pressure
- Take the necessary supplements for your case, such as Omega3, Coenzyme Q10, Vitamin C, curcumin, resveratrol, quercetin, berberine, pomegranate, etc (icaro.med.br/supplementation)
- Fighting overweight and obesity
- Detailed periodic check-ups (imbalances/diseases in other organs and systems can raise blood pressure), especially with good (and up-to-date) cardiologists
- Avoid excessive consumption of “common salt”
If you only take medicines to prevent and/or treat, you're missing out on a lot of important things
Hypertension = High Blood Pressure Our pressure naturally rises in various situations, such as at the start of physical activity, in stressful situations, when we ingest too much common salt, among others - in several cases this rise is necessary, above all to improve the arrival of blood to various areas of the body; in other cases, when the body experiences it, it uses mechanisms to reduce/balance the pressure, such as triggering thirst, increasing kidney function, etc.
In isolated episodes of increased blood pressure, when they cause symptoms such as headache, dizziness, impaired vision, chest pain (among others, some of these or associated), the most common thing is for people to go to the emergency room (or their trusted doctors) and resort to pressure-lowering drugs, the antihypertensives.
The problems with this approach (only medicating when there is an increase) are: - There are significant increases in pressure, potentially dangerous, without associated symptoms. Watch out! Regularly measure your blood pressure and identify the disorder when it is apparently “silent”; - Often, those who have sporadic episodes of high blood pressure do NOT try to resolve the CAUSES of these episodes and, as a result, over the years, the condition worsens and they end up developing chronic hypertension, with all its complications; - Unfortunately, often there is not even “time” to develop the chronic condition: some patients progress straight to a stroke or heart attack and end up with sequelae or even dying.
We most commonly refer to the DISEASE “high blood pressure” or hypertension in relation to the CHRONIC condition of elevated blood pressure, i.e. basically when the pressure is increased in several measurements, at different times on different days in the near future. If the diagnosis is simple, however, the treatment is not so much: most people think that treating high blood pressure is mainly “taking medication for life” and this is WRONG!
Medicines HELP reduce blood pressure, but they don't work “miracles on their own”: medicines that “lower blood pressure” do NOT solve the causes of high blood pressure and can therefore “lose their potency” over time, so they have to be changed or their doses increased or combined with others in order to continue controlling the pressure.
🧑🏻⚕️ I treat many patients with hypertension in my office and I see that many can reduce their use of medication (and, in some cases, even stop needing it) when they pay proper attention to these factors... Your good doctor will know how to address them in the best possible way, ok?
Português do Brasil 
English 