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Tracy Hansen, Nurse Practitioner Murray County Medical Center
High Blood Pressure….. the Silent Killer (Yikes!)
Why is your blood pressure checked every time you see your provider? Because if it is elevated, it’s best to catch and treat early, before it wreaks havoc on some super important internal organs! We refer to high blood pressure as the silent killer (sounds morbid, I know), but really, even though you feel absolutely great, the high pressures in your pipes may be silently sabotaging the function of your heart, brain, eyes, and kidneys.
I am going to get a little nerdy and talk about how and why your pressures venture north. You can think of your blood pressure as a product of different variables consisting of a pump (your heart), pipes (your blood vessels), and the stuff inside the pump and pipes (your blood).
If some of the things listed below go haywire, the result is higher blood pressure:
• Pipes get narrow or stiff especially as we age or for no reason at all except our genetics (we call this increased vascular resistance)
• More volume (i.e. blood) in your pipes (Think about that extra water weight after Holiday Ham.. my rings barely fit)
• Increased number of pumps (heart rate- But faster is not always better) or increased amount of fluid pushed out by the pump (we refer to this as stroke volume) So why do we care again? Remember in the first part I said high blood pressure can cause damage to important organs.
Below are some of the consequences of untreated high blood pressure:
• Heart failure: when the heart has to constantly pump against a high resistance system, it tends to tucker out overtime.
• Kidney disease: When the kidneys are constantly under high pressure, damage occurs to our filtration system which may eventually lead to dialysis.
• Vision loss: We have a network of very small vessels in our eyes, when these are under lots of tension, we can lose visual acuity or go blind.
• Increased risk of stroke: high pressure in the vessels in our brain can cause them to burst or clog more easily, leading to elevated stroke risk Yikes! What can I do to prevent the effects of high blood pressure?
One of the things you can do is to get screened regularly (at least 1x/year), other lifestyle factors which will contribute to controlling and maintaining blood pressure at a safe level include exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, increasing fruits and vegetables, and avoiding tobacco and excessive alcohol use.
If you have questions or concerns about your blood pressure, it’s best to reach out to your primary care provider to get scheduled for an appointment.
For more information on blood pressure visit: https:// www.heart.org/en/health-topics/ high-blood-pressure/healththreats- from-high-blood-pressure
