Hypertension means high pressure or tension in the arteries or vessels that transport blood from the pumping heart to all the tissues and organs of the body. Normal Blood Pressure is at or below 120/80 mm of Hg; blood pressure between 120/80 and 139/89 mm of Hg is called “Pre-hypertension,” and a blood pressure of 140/90 mm of Hg or above is considered high. The top value, known as the systolic blood pressure, refers to the pressure in the arteries as the heart contracts and pumps blood into the arteries. The bottom value, the diastolic pressure, represents the pressure in the arteries as the heart relaxes after the contraction. The diastolic pressure reflects the lowest pressure to which the arteries are subjected. Medications used in controlling Blood Pressure or Hypertension come under several classes – Diuretics, Beta Blockers, ACE inhibitors, Angiotensin Receptor blockers, Calcium channel blockers, Alpa Blockers, Vasodialators etc. Some common medicines used are Enalapril (Vasotec), Captopril (Capoten), Lisinopril (Zestril and Prinivil), Benazepril (Lotensin), Quinapril (Accupril), Perindopril (Aceon), Ramipril (Altace), Trandolapril (Mavik), Fosinopril (Monopril), Andmoexipril (Univasc ), Losartan (Cozaar), Irbesartan (Avapro), Valsartan (Diovan), Candesartan (Atacand), Olmesartan (Benicar), Telmisartan (Micardis), and Eprosartan (Teveten).
All medicines have possible side-effects, and no medicine is without risk. ACE inhibitors can cause an unpleasant symptoms like cough. Other anti hypertensive medications can cause Fatigue or Dizziness and affect Sexual function, Depression and Irritability, Abdominal pain etc.
“A young man of 30 year old having the complaints of head ache and back pain. On examination the doctor found the Blood pressure to be 132/88 mm of Hg. He was prescribed Losartan 10 mg. On asking how long will he have to continue this, doctor reply was surprisingly “life long”. It was just a “band aid” to the health problem without knowing the underlying cause of the raised B.P. High B.P may be a result of unhealthy diet habits, stress, improper sleep, lack of exercise etc. Managing the root cause like correcting the food habits, helping to achieve a stress free life with exercise and activities than making one force to take medicines life long to produce that effect in the body will bring only adverse effects.
At present drugs for B.P join hands with the life span of painkillers and sleeping pills in individual’s life. It is frequently used drug now consumed even in young age of 30’s today. Drugs promised to be safe on many occasions do harm than good. Any drug if taken for a long time produces a resistance to that dose, then dose is increased, slowly the B.P may reduce with overdose but on the other side it will produce number of side effects. Some times the physician changes the brand of the medicine assuring the patient its safety but again the same story is repeated only the symptoms differs.
Hypertension may cause heart attacks, strokes and kidney damage and lead to premature death but only when the B.P is uncontrollable like above 170 systolic and above 100 diastolic. Even managing a systolic pressure of 150 above and diastolic pressure of 100 and above is acceptable with medication but treating systolic 130-140 mm of Hg and diastolic 80-90 mm of Hg aggressively with heavy medication and suggesting the patient life long medication is really unfair. Sometimes in order to achieve the desired number, the patient is prescribed three to four medication. According to the results of a University of Florida study using drugs to lower your blood pressure may shorten your lifespan instead of extending it, Researchers discovered that tighter control of blood pressure in these patients was NOT associated with better outcomes! The existing evidence comparing the health outcomes between treated and untreated individuals are summarized. Available data from the limited number of available trials and participants showed no difference between treated and untreated individuals in heart attack, stroke, and death.”
Analyzing the root cause that led to increased pressure, Eating healthy with diet restrictions, Healthy physical activities, Yoga and Meditation can help to achieve optimum Blood pressure in all cases especially for the pre hypertensive patients.
Here are some natural ways one can follow if they find out they need to control their Blood Pressure. If they are in the starting phase of Hypertension even without medication they can maintain the Blood Pressure with these simple natural methods.
- Restrict Salt intake : Increased salt intake may lead to Hypertension as too much of salt in the blood may attract and draw more water into the blood which in turn increases the volume of the blood leading to Blood Pressure. High salt containing foods like processed food, preserved food, can food, tinned food, cheese, pickles etc should be avoided. Go for Natural foods and the limit the use of table salt in diet.
- Avoid Caffeine : Coffee, Cola and beverages containing Caffeine increases blood pressure and risk of stroke and heart attack. Choose other alternatives like Ginger tea, Lemonade, Tender coconut water etc which are healthy drinks for body.
- Consume Potassium rich food : Foods like spinach, bananas, asparagus etc are rich in Potassium, these foods helps to lower sodium in the body there by lowering the blood pressure.
- Avoid Alcohol : Increased Alcohol consumption may lead to Hypertension, increased chances of Stroke and Heart attack. Alcohol contains large amount of Calories and contribute unwanted weight gain. Drinking too much alcohol can raise blood pressure to unhealthy levels.
- 7 – 8 hours of night sleep to keep stress hormones at bay : Sleep is very important for Healthy body and a sound mind. It keeps stress hormones at bay and helps to maintain healthy vascular system. Sleep deprivation may obstruct the flow of Oxygen to the body and increase the risk Stroke, Cardiovascular diseases, Diabetes and Hypertension. Have a good night sleep of 8 – 10 hours daily.
- Stress relieving techniques like Yoga & Meditation : Stress relieving techniques like Meditation & Yoga are very helpful to maintain normal blood pressure and reduce the risk of Heart diseases and stroke. Increased stress may elevate stress hormone which increases blood pressure by making the heart beat faster and blood vessels to narrow. Long term stress may even cause damage to heart and cause risk of Heart diseases, stroke.
- Taking 1 – 4 cloves of Garlic daily with food : 1 – 4 cloves of Garlic daily keeps the arteries and heart healthy, it lowers bad cholesterol, improves good cholesterol and maintains normal blood pressure. (Note : Patients suffering from Heart diseases and taking blood thinners like Aspirin should consume garlic only after consulting their doctors.)
- Regular & daily exercise for 15 – 20 minutes : Brisk walking and Exercises help in improving blood circulation and lowers the chances of atherosclerosis and complications of hypertension. It helps to maintain optimum blood pressure.
Siddha Management :
Siddha is very helpful in treating Hypertension especially in the very starting phase and also in the cases who follow the above tips and diet restrictions. Some of the medicines are Venthamarai poo choornam, Jeeraka choornam, Marutham pattai coornam, Sirungi parpam etc.
Siddha drug ‘Venthamarai chooranam,’ a mixture of cardamom, ginger, cumin seeds, long pepper (thippili), dill (sada kuppi), licorice (adimadhuram) and white lotus petal could bring down blood pressure in rats during laboratory experiments in Chennai. Cardiologist Dr S Thanikachalam, who led the research, said: “Every time I see a patient’s case sheet, I underline four causes – smoking, diabetes, hypertension and obesity.” People with hypertension are mostly treated with allopathic drugs, but dropouts are high because many find the drugs expensive and some suffer from side effects. “So, we decided to look at the ancient Indian medical literature for answers,” he said. This detailed study was reported by renowned newspaper Times Of India, in month of June 2014.
Hypertension is a silent killer, a creeping problem, most of the sufferers are asymptomatic and hence early diagnosis is a problem. Instead of switching to strong Allopathic medication try to control and manage it with Natural methods first and then going for higher medications.