Things You Should Know Before Treating High Blood Pressure

Blood pressure readings at home are more accurate than readings taken at a doctor’s office when it comes to predicting heart disease. This means that if a doctor only relies in the office readings, many people could be incorrectly treated for mild high blood pressure.

Although doctors have known for almost 50 years of practice that trip to physician or the hospital can cause an inflated blood pressure reading often called white coat hypertension, doctors did not know if these people were at high risk for heart disease than people with normal readings.

Higher office readings are labeled white coat hypertension because the pressure sometimes rises when people feel stressed by a visit to the doctor. According to some studies that 10 to 20 percent of all people with mild hypertension may suffer from white coat hypertension.

However, people with white coat hypertension did not have the heart damage associated with high blood pressure, an enlarged heart and reduced heart function.

Sustained and untreated high blood pressure can damage the heart, arteries, kidneys, brain and eyes. People with uncontrolled pressure have seven times more strokes, four times as much congestive heart failure and three times as much coronary heart disease as people with normal pressure.

People with white coat hypertension were found to have normal heart function and no physical signs of true high pressure.

Study suggests that if there is no apparent heart damage, people with white coat hypertension do not have increased pressures.

To avoid unnecessary treatment, people with mild hypertension could be monitored at home before any drug treatment is started. Portable units are available to take and record the pressure of a person at regular intervals.

You wear the monitor throughout the day and keep a record of your physical activities. Later, the doctor compares your pressure readings to the corresponding physical activities. Also, many doctors are now encouraging their patients with high blood pressure to monitor their own levels manually. You use your own stethoscopes and cuffs and record your readings at home.

You bring your records of the readings to each check up by the doctor. This way, the doctor can evaluate you based on your normal daily pressure, rather than on an inflated pressure reading taken during an occasional, but stressful, visit to the doctor’s office. Keep in mind that this kind of health problem is reversible with exercise and drug maintenance. You just have to follow your doctor’s advice to achieve a lower pressure.

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