“I’m dizzy,” “my nose is open,” “I’m nervous.” Ή “I have climbed stairs / I have exercised and measuring my blood pressure I saw that it was high”. Ή “I measured my blood pressure and it was 150/90, what should I do?” Many of these conversations are heard and said daily in homes or clinics and the common denominator is that the people who say them believe them. In other words, they believe that the cause for dizziness, nosebleeds, etc. is hypertension, something that seems to be confirmed by their blood pressure monitor. But is that so? Is high blood pressure the cause of dizziness or is dizziness the cause of high blood pressure? And do we always have hypertension when our blood pressure rises?
“Hypertension is a condition in which the pressure inside the blood vessels is increased above normal limits, with the result that the heart needs to exert more force to expel the blood. Hypertension is asymptomatic, ie it does not give symptoms like those attributed to it above, nor does it appear “to the naked eye”. In order to be diagnosed, the pressure must be measured systematically and correctly “.
There are specific guidelines for the proper measurement of blood pressure, which should be followed carefully in order to determine whether someone has high blood pressure or not. These instructions are as follows:
The person being examined should:
• Sit for at least 5 minutes
• Be relaxed, calm and in a pleasant environment
• Have not drunk coffee and smoked in the previous half hour
• Resting his hand on a fixed point.
It will often be necessary to take 2 to 3 measurements and the first time to measure the pressure in both hands. If we measure our blood pressure at home, we need to do 3 measurements. We do not hold the first measurement and calculate our pressure as the average of the second and third measurement. A common mistake that many people make is to measure their blood pressure when they are irritable or have a headache, with the result that the measurement does not correspond to their real situation, since, in these cases, the pressure is temporarily increased.
Why is hypertension considered so dangerous?
Today it is estimated that in our country 25-30% of the population has hypertension. Hypertension can cause damage to many organs of our body and especially to the heart, brain, kidneys and blood vessels. Every year 20,000,000 people die from cardiovascular disease, with hypertension being responsible for more than any other cause for these deaths.
Specifically, hypertension is responsible for:
• 67% of heart attacks
• 77% of strokes
• 74% of heart failure
Kidney failure, as it is the second cause.
In addition, hypertension:
• It is the most common cause of medical visits
• It is an important factor in the deterioration of brain function and Alzheimer’s disease
• Due to its complications, it consumes a large percentage of the funds directed to the field of health. It is estimated that in the US the cost of its complications exceeds $ 100 billion per year.
The treatment of hypertension in Greece
Hypertension is treated by regulating it which can only be hygienic and / or pharmaceutical. Our country is at one of the highest levels in terms of hypertension. To be precise, it is the No. 2 country in Europe in the study of hypertension and at the same level as the advanced European countries in terms of its regulation. Two Greek Professors have been elected Presidents of the American Society of Hypertension, and one President of the European Society. In 2014, the World Hypertension Conference was organized in Athens with 6,500 doctors from 87 countries, and in 2022 the Pan-European Hypertension Conference will be held in Greece. There are very good clinics for hypertension in all public hospitals and, in addition, there is the special clinic of Metropolitan Hospital which is the first in Greece special clinic in a private hospital that has been certified as a Center of Excellence (Center of Excellence of the European Society of Hypertension) in hypertension, while a corresponding special clinic operates at Healthspot Glyfada.
Despite the effectiveness of clinics and treatments, however, it is estimated that 40% of hypertensive patients are undiagnosed, while of those receiving treatment only 40% have regulated their blood pressure. This means that a great deal of improvement is in the field of diagnosis, and the proper treatment of blood pressure.
Writes:
Mr. Athanasios Manolis, Director of the 2nd Cardiology Clinic at the Metropolitan Hospital,
Head of Hypertension Clinic Healthspot Glyfada and Metropolitan Hospital, Member of the Board of the European Society of Hypertension since 2003, Professor in the Department of Hypertension at Boston University, and member of the writing of hypertension instructions of the European Society of Hypertension until 2007.
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