High blood pressure is known as the ‘silent killer’ because there are essentially no symptoms with this dangerous condition. If you take your medicine, you’ll feel fine. If you don’t take your medicine, you’ll feel fine. That’s why up to 50% of North Americans diagnosed with high blood pressure are what doctors call ‘non-compliant’ – meaning they stop taking their prescribed meds.
This may be extremely dangerous because patients with high blood pressure are at increased risk of stroke, heart disease and kidney disease. Women with high blood pressure experience a risk of developing heart disease that is more than three times higher than women with normal blood pressure. And if you’re a woman taking birth control pills and are also overweight, you’re especially at risk of developing high blood pressure. The World Health Organization estimates that high blood pressure is the leading risk of death and the second leading risk for disability worldwide.
The best way to decrease this risk is to control blood pressure. Since the late 1970s, many guidelines recommend beta blockers, medications which lower heart rate and reduce blood pressure, as a first-line therapy against chronic high blood pressure, or hypertension. In fact, beta blockers are among the most prescribed drugs in North America for the treatment of high blood pressure. A recent study, however, suggests that they may not be as effective as first believed. (more…)
the comments