Glossary of Health Terms

Hypertension (High Blood Pressure) is the leading cause of stroke resulting in paralysis, brain damage and even death. Your first stop is usually to your family doctor for a prescription of the latest high blood pressure meds to take for the rest of your life! These new Hypertension medications tout an array of ugly side effects including impotence, nausea, weight gain, fatigue, depression and more…

Hypertension is usually heightened by atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis, obesity and smoking, and even drinking your morning coffee. Hypertension is most common in people with stressful lifestyles. Like most of us today stress is in plentiful supply explaining the expansion in the increased diagnosis of high blood pressure. Even in people in their late twenties are susceptible. High blood pressure causes stroke by bursting the blood vessels in in the brain which are the smallest in the body. Hypertension is high blood pressure that remains elevated over time. This condition can be a symptom of something serious going on in your body. Uncontrolled, it can signal problems to come. Keeping your blood pressure under control is tremendously important to your overall health. High blood pressure is one of several factors associated with cardiovascular disease which is the number one killer of both males and females in America. Cardiovascular disease claims more lives annually than all cancers combined, killing approximately one million people in the U.S. each year and it disables countless others. How can you control your BP without the side effects of life long medications? There is an answer…
FACT: As many as 50 million Americans either have high blood pressure or are taking high blood pressure medication.

What causes high blood pressure?
The cause of high blood pressure is unknown in 90% of cases. When the cause is unknown this is called essential hypertension. In secondary hypertension, a disease or other physical problem is behind the disease. Common causes are kidney or thyroid disease. Many factors are associated with high blood pressure including genetics, age, race, stress, obesity, smoking, a high-salt diet, excessive consumption of alcohol, and a sedentary lifestyle.

What are the symptoms?
High blood pressure can develop over many years with no noticeable symptoms. That's why regular blood pressure checks are so important. Only when high blood pressure is severe do symptoms appear. Warning signs can include nosebleeds, racing or irregular heartbeat, headaches, and dizziness. It's a mistake to conclude that you don't have high blood pressure because you don't have any symptoms.

Males are affected earlier
Men are more likely to develop high blood pressure than women in young adulthood and early middle age. Thereafter, the incidence of high blood pressure is higher among women. In general, our blood pressure tends to rise as we get older -- that's true for both men and women.

High blood pressure is serious business. Unchecked, it can cause many health problems, including heart attack, stroke, kidney damage, and blindness. On average, people with uncontrolled high blood pressure are:

Seven times more likely to have a stroke.
Six times more likely to develop congestive heart failure.
Three times more likely to have a heart attack.

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