Treatment of Hypertension – Undergoing a healthy lifestyle and consumption of antihypertensive drugs, can be an effective step to overcome hypertension. The value of blood pressure and the risk of patients with complications, such as heart attack and stroke, will determine the treatment to be taken.
Read also: 6 Types of Hypertension, Which One Do You Have?
Treatment of Hypertension
In general, there are two principles of treatment of hypertension, namely:
Lifestyle changes.
Changing lifestyle becomes healthier, can lower blood pressure in a few weeks. A healthy lifestyle that needs to be lived, such as:
- Adopt the DASH diet (dietary Approaches to stop hypertension), that is, eating patterns with more fruit, vegetables, low-fat milk, wheat, and nuts, compared with red meat and foods that contain fat Saturated and high cholesterol.
- Reduce salt consumption to less than one teaspoon per day.
Sodium salt (sodium) is necessary for the health of the body, but too many levels of this salt can also cause high blood pressure. Good salt intake for the body is less than 2,300 mg daily (1 teaspoon salt).
However, for some people, such as the elderly (over 51 years), sufferers of hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease, the amount of sodium that goes in their body, preferably lower than 1,500 mg per day.
Always controlling and limiting the salt intake of your cooking is a good step to prevent and treat high blood pressure to be in the norm. In addition, it is also important to observe the amount of salt contained in any food packaging that will be consumed.
- Strengthen physical activity and exercise routine.
- Lose weight.
- Quit smo**king.
- Avoid or reduce consumption of alco**holic beverages.
- Reduced consumption of high caffeine drinks, such as coffee, tea, or cola.
- Do relaxation therapies, such as yoga or meditation to control stress.
- Healthy food consumption.
Eating healthy foods is the most important part of treating high blood pressure. Start to leave a fast food that contains a lot of saturated fats and trans fats. Switch to healthier foods, such as fruits, vegetables, grains, poultry, fish, milk, low-fat dairy, and potassium-rich foods. Potassium can help prevent and control high blood pressure.
The above ways can be done with or without the consumption of antihypertensive drugs. Nevertheless, the implementation of a healthy lifestyle earlier can make people avoid the consumption of antihypertensive drugs.
Read also: Isolated systolic hypertension: The causes and How to treat it.
Use of medications for hypertension
In some cases, patients with hypertension should take the medicine for a lifetime. However, the doctor may lower the dose or discontinue treatment if the sufferer’s blood pressure is under control by changing the lifestyle. It is important for patients to take the drug in prescribed doses and tell the doctor if there are any side effects. Some types of hypertensive drugs include:
- Calcium Channel Blocker (Nifedipine OROS) class of drugs.
Use of Calcium Channel Blocker (Nifedipine OROS) drug group, either as a single treatment or combination with other anti-hypertensive drugs provide effective hypertensive treatment. The combination of this drug is safe and well tolerated in hypertensive patients.
Nifedipine with OROS (Nifedipine OROS) technology is Nifedipine Osmotic-controlled Release Oral delivery system technology, which allows the Nifedipine drug to persist in the body for 24 hours as well as maintain normal blood pressure throughout the day.
- Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors)
ACE inhibitors work by inhibiting the production of angiotensin hormones, namely hormones that can narrow the blood vessels. With this drug, the vascular wall muscles will be relaxed and slightly widened, so the pressure on the veins decreases.
ACE inhibitors are usually administered in patients aged over 65 years or hypertension patients who have other medical conditions, such as heart disease, heart failure, kidney disorder, and diabetes.
Examples of commonly used ACE inhibitors are captopril, enalapril, Lisinopril, Perindopril, and Ramipril. Side effects of the ACE inhibitor drug include dry cough, headache, dizziness, hyperkalemia, and skin rash.
This one high blood pressure drug can also increase the risk of abnormalities or defects in the fetus if consumed by pregnant women.
- Diuretics
Diuretic drugs work by eliminating excess water and sodium in the body, so the amount of fluid flowing in the blood vessels decreases. In the end, your blood pressure drops. Because of the way such drugs work, you may be more frequent urination after taking this medication. In addition, diuretic medications can also cause side effects, such as fatigue, leg cramps, up to problems in the heart.
Examples of diuretic drugs: chlorothiazide, Chlorthalidone, Hydrochlorotiazide (HCT), Indapamide, Metolazone, Bumetanide, Furosemide, Torsemide, Amilorid, Triamterene, Thiazide (Thiaz) or Aldosterone Antagonist (Aldo Ant) types, and others.
- Bystolic
Nebivolol is used to treat high blood pressure. Lowering high blood pressure helps prevent strokes, heart attacks, and kidney problems.
This drug belongs to the drug group known as beta blockers. This works by blocking the actions of certain natural substances in your body, such as epinephrine, on the heart and blood vessels. This effect lowers heart rate, blood pressure, and strain on the heart.
- Beta Blocker (BB),
- Angiotensin II Receptor Blocker or AT receptor antagonist / blocker (ARB), and
- Direct renin inhibitor (DRI).
Each antihypertensive drug has an effective and safety in the treatment of hypertension. For the selection of antihypertensive drugs are several factors:
- Socioeconomic factors,
- Cardiovascular risk factor Profiles,
- Presence of damage to the target organs,
- There are no accompanying diseases,
- Individual variations of the patient’s response to antihypertensive drugs,
- Possible interactions with medications used by patients for other diseases, and
- Scientific evidence of the antihypertensive drug to be used in lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Read also: 6 Types of Hypertension, Which One Do You Have?
Thank you very much for reading Treatment of Hypertension: Lifestyle and medications for hypertension, hopefully useful.
