Hypertonic disease is one of the most common pathologies of the cardial sphere, which is currently diagnosed with every third resident of our planet aged 45 years. In recent years, the disease has become much younger and now often among the number of hypertension patients you can see very young people with high pressure. The main danger of the pathological state lies in its complications. GB can lead to heart attack and stroke, cause breakdown of the aneurysm of the main vessels, provoke the development of gross impaired renal functioning and a sharp deterioration in the quality of vision.
Human blood pressure has an upper, heart rate or systolic value, as well as diastolic pressure or its lower, renal level. According to WHO standards, the norm of these indicators should be no more than 139/89 mm Hg. Art. , otherwise it is customary to talk about hypertension. Early diagnosis and timely treatment of hypertension - a person’s chance to prevent the occurrence of pathological changes from many internal organs, which will maintain health and enjoy a full life for many years.
Reasons
Unfortunately, modern medical science has not yet been able to fully solve all the likely causes of hypertension, but most of them are known for doctors. To identify which factor led to the development of the disease, only an experienced specialist, who in the process of diagnosis uses not only his knowledge, but also the results of numerous studies confirming or refuting the presence of signs of hypertension in a person.
The main reason for the growth of blood pressure is a violation of the activity of the sympathetic-adrenaline system of a person, that is, the constant irritation of the center responsible for narrowing the vessels in the brain.
This can happen under the influence of numerous exos, as well as endogenous factors that contribute to a sudden cramping of blood vessels.
Symptoms of hypertension can appear in people with so placed exogenous factors in the risk of developing a pathological state:
- frequent stresses and severe nervous tension;
- improper nutrition;
- sedentary lifestyle;
- irregular working day, work on a night shift;
- regular consumption in large quantities of strong alcohol and smoking;
- drugs;
- Intensive sports.
Among the endogenous factors, age and poor heredity come to the fore, when the disease can move from parents to a child. Also, the development of hypertension contributes to:
- vascular lesions atherosclerosis;
- obesity;
- metabolic diseases, in particular, diabetes mellitus, hyperthyroidism;
- Renal diseases;
- increased levels of calcium and sodium in the blood;
- Hormonal changes, which are the most common cause of high pressure in women during pregnancy and menopause.
Classification
Currently, there is more than one classification of hypertension. The disease is usually distinguished by the nature of the course, the presence of complications, the reasons for development, pressure indicators and much more.
Modern cardiologists distinguish several degrees of hypertension (depending on the indicators of high pressure):
- 1 degree-pressure rises to 159-140/99-90 mm Hg. Art. ;
- 2 degree-on the arrows of a mechanical tonometer, an indicator 179-160/109-100 mm RT is diagnosed. Art. ;
- 3 degree - persistent or periodic increase in pressure more than 180/110 mm Hg. Art.
According to the generally accepted classification of WHOs, there are such stages of the disease:
- 1st stage-transient increase in pressure without damage to target organs;
- 2 stages - the presence of signs of damage to internal organs, among which the main target is the heart, blood vessels, eye structures, brain and kidney;
- Stage 3 - a stable increase in blood pressure against the background of the development of complications, from the manifestations of which a person can die.
Hypertensive disease has its own types of currents, among which:
- a benign type or a sluggish GB variant, when the symptoms of pathology develop very slowly, for tens of years, and the risk of complications is evaluated as a minimum;
- A malignant ailment, in which sharp jumps in pressure, lesions of target organs and frequent hypertonic crises are recorded (this version of the disease is difficult to lend itself in drug therapy).
Symptoms
The disease at the initial stages of its development proceeds almost asymptomatic, which complicates its early detection. In such patients, increased pressure can be found by accident when undergoing a physical examination or during the usual admission in the clinic.
A more complex type of hypertension characterizes a number of features that significantly worsen the quality of life of a person and are the reason for his appeal to specialists. The main symptom of the disease is an increase in blood pressure above 140/90 mm Hg. Art. This condition provokes the development of headaches, which are the result of reflex narrowing of the vessels of the brain. As a rule, persons prone to hypertension complain of the appearance of pain in the nape and temples, which is pulsating, which is distinguished by their severity and sudden development. Such pains and pulsation do not pass after taking analgesic agents.
Often, hypertension feels solo dizziness, which can occur after performing simple work. The symptom is often accompanied by nausea and vomiting, as well as general malaise due to an increase in intracranial pressure. The narrowing of the vessels of the auditory apparatus causes noise in the ears when it seems to a person that his ears are very laid, and he practically loses his ability to normally perceive the sounds of the environment.
Violation of coronary blood flow leads to the development of myocardial ischemia. Such patients have shortness of breath and rag pains that are good for correction with nitrates. The organ at this time works in an enhanced mode to be able to push the blood batch into narrowed trunk vessels. Each attack of angina pectoris accompanies a rapid pulse, a pronounced heartbeat and risk that such a formidable complication of a pathological state will arise as myocardial infarction.
With hypertension, impaired eyes of the eyes with a sharp deterioration in vision and the development of hypertension angiopathy of the vessels of the retina are determined. The eye bottom is also involved in the pathological process, which swells and squeezes the visual nerve. At this time, a person notes "goosebumps" in front of his eyes, darkened circles and the like.
A complication of symptoms of high pressure in women most often occurs during menopause when menopause occurs. During this period, a hormonal restructuring occurs in the body of the representative of the weaker sex with a violation of the production of biologically active substances that control the normal level of pressure. That is why hypertension is the most common consequence of menopause among women.
Complications
GB refers to the number of insidious diseases that are slowly progressing and are very often diagnosed at the stage of the appearance of the first complications of the pathological process. With a constant increase in blood pressure in the target organs, dystrophic and sclerotic changes take place, leading to gross disorders of functionality. First of all, kidneys, brain, heart, visual analyzer and blood vessels suffer from arterial hypertension.
There are several risk factors that affect the rate of development of complications with hypertension and the degree of their severity:
- bad habits, especially smoking;
- a sedentary lifestyle and an increased body mass index;
- increased cholesterol in blood and hyperglycemia;
- frequent stresses;
- a deficiency of potassium and magnesium in the body;
- age -related changes;
- Hereditary predisposition.
With a hypertensive disease, the heart is forced to work in conditions of high load, which is associated with the need to push blood into narrowed vessels. Over time, the myocardial wall thickens and in a person there is hypertrophy of the left ventricle and oxygen starvation of the heart muscle.
From the side of the heart, several types of complications of hypertension are distinguished:
- ischemic disease;
- angina pectoris;
- atherosclerosis of the coronary vessels;
- acute form of heart failure in the form of myocardial infarction;
- Chronic heart failure.
A high level of blood pressure provokes the appearance of disorders from the brain in a person, which in practice manifest themselves of severe dizziness, headaches, ears, memory reduction and more. There are several options for complex cerebral complications of hypertension:
- encephalopathy with vestibular disorders;
- ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke;
- Cognitive disorders of brain activity.
As you know, the kidneys control the amount of water and salt in the body. But with an increase in blood pressure, they can fully perform their main work. This contributes to the emergence of a number of complications, among which:
- Renal failure;
- violation of the function of filtering and release of fluid;
- nephrosclerosis.
Such disorders lead to the development of a number of symptoms in hypertension, which indicate a pathology of the kidneys. A sick person begins to complain about general weakness, malaise, emergence, unreasonable nausea.
The defeat of the eyes is manifested by the occurrence of hemorrhages in the retina, edema of the optic disk and a progressive loss of vision. On the part of the peripheral vessels with arterial hypertension, the most formidable complication is the stratification of their wall, in particular, the known aortic aneurysm, which is formed and proceeds asymptomatic, often causing a sudden fatal outcome.
Diagnostics
Diagnosis of GB with the establishment of the stage and the degree of development of the disease is an important step towards the appointment of adequate treatment of the pathological condition. That is why, when the first signs indicate indicating a hypertensive disease, you should immediately contact a medical institution to find out the causes of increased pressure and methods of its correction.
A complex of diagnostic measures in case of suspicion of hypertension includes a number of laboratory and instrumental studies, including:
- laboratory blood test that allows you to determine the level of potassium and magnesium, creatinine, harmful cholesterol, glucose and the like;
- biochemical examination of urine with the determination of the amount of protein;
- Electrocardiography (ECG);
- ultrasound examination of the heart;
- Doppler floometry;
- Inspection of the eye bottom.
The diagnosis procedure for hypertension, which allows to determine the degree of disorders, consists of two stages:
- The first stage is the determination of the clinical manifestations of the disease from the words of hypertension and obtaining the results of additional studies;
- The second stage is a special study that allows you to determine the exact degree of the disease and the presence of its complications in the patient using magnetic resonance therapy (MRI) or X-ray examination.
Daily monitoring of blood pressure allows the accurate picture of the course of the disease. Thanks to it, you can set the range of pressure fluctuations throughout the day and determine its average indicator, which will characterize the degree of hypertension. The main drawback of such a study is its high cost.
Treatment
Treatment of exacerbations of hypertension should occur in a cardiological hospital, where there is the possibility of constant control over the level of blood pressure. In addition, if necessary, the doctor can amend the patient’s therapy plan and prescribe more effective drugs to him in each specific clinical case.
They begin to treat the disease with the appointment of a special diet, which strictly limits the table salt, fatty and fried dishes, as well as offal, smoked meats, flour products. Hypertensive nutrition is aimed at improving the general condition, preventing the development of edema, normalization of weight and the like.
According to the new European recommendations, the treatment of GB must be comprehensive and must include a number of drugs, the effect of which is aimed at reducing blood pressure and eliminating the risks of transformation of the disease into a malignant version of its course or the development of complications of the pathological state. Among the most used groups of drugs for hypertension should be distinguished:
- alpha-blockers;
- Gangloblocators;
- ACE inhibitors;
- beta-blockers;
- calcium channel blockers;
- diuretics.
The doctor pays particular attention to the appointment of diuretics. The fact is that not every diuretic is safe for the body of hypertension due to its properties to wash potassium. That is why the use of such drugs should be combined with the use of potassium preparations under the control of the biochemical composition of blood. In addition, diuretics not only reduce pressure, but also eliminate tissue edema by excreting excess sodium.
It is strictly forbidden to treat hypertension independently.
It is also not recommended to use hypotensive drugs of traditional medicine without coordinating such use with the attending physician. Forbidden action, as the main contraindication, can provoke an urgent hypertensive crisis and the need for the patient’s immediate room in a specialized hospital to clarify the causes of complications and resolve the issue of further tactics of their elimination.
Prevention
For the prevention of hypertension, it is necessary to undergo a set of measures aimed at timely detection and elimination of the risks of the development of a pathological state, as well as stabilization of already increased pressure. In order to prevent the occurrence of the first signs of the disease, a person should normalize his lifestyle, abandon bad habits and salt consumption, increase his physical activity, and also lose weight. Particular attention should be paid to potential patients in whom the risk of developing hypertension is hereditary. This category of people should always be at hand for measuring pressure, with which they can monitor its condition.
The occurrence of disorders by blood pressure can be warned if:
- lead an active lifestyle (medical physical education, fitness, massage, fresh air walks, skiing, swimming in the pool) and regularly train in the gym;
- abandon harmful food, smoking and not drink alcohol;
- reduce salt use to 3-4 g per day;
- prohibit yourself to eat foods with a high content of animal fats, preservatives, cholesterol;
- observe a clear daily routine and practice a full sleep;
- prevent the appearance of excess fat deposits, which provoke obesity;
- prevent stressful situations;
- regularly undergo a preventive examination by a cardiologist and take the necessary tests;
- When the first signs of increasing pressure appear, immediately seek medical help.
Persons to whom the tendency to hypertension was inherited should be attentive to their state of health, play sports and regularly examine. The finished diagnosis of GB implies dispensary observation of patients and, if necessary, send them to the commission to establish disability.