American Heart Month: The AHA urges you to get help for high blood pressure

Almost every time you visit the doctor, the standard procedure is to have your blood pressure taken, and yet many still don't understand why or what the resulting numbers mean.   Blood pressure is, quite simply, the amount of force your heart uses to push blood through your arteries and veins, each time it beats.

Your heart and circulatory system are designed to work together effortlessly, but when something causes your blood pressure to rise, your heart has to use more force to push the blood through your body.   Over time, this can cause a number of problems.   

Continued high blood pressure can cause the arteries, also known as blood vessels, to stretch.  When vessels are overstretched and unable to return to their normal size, points of weakness can cause a rupture.  This is when strokes or aneurysms can occur.   Even if the vessels don't rupture, the force of the blood can cause small tears in the walls of the vessels and scar tissue begins to build up.  That scar tissue acts as a filter, catching blood cells, cholesterol and plaque that are moving through the bloodstream.

When blood can't get through the arteries, it can form clots.  If clots break off and find their way to a narrowed artery, completely blocking blood flow, heart attack or stroke could result.  Likewise, if plaque, caused by high cholesterol, blocks or limits blood flow, the result is the heart working harder and increasing its pressure to get blood through the blockage.  The overworked heart can then go into cardiac arrest, or heart attack.  Furthermore, when blood supply is limited or cut off, the organs and tissue on the opposite side of that closure can not receive the oxygen that is normally carried to them through the blood.  In this case, your organs may actually begin to see damage as well.

For all of these reasons, it is important to know what your blood pressure reading is, and to take steps to prevent high blood pressure, as well as to prevent high cholesterol that can cause high blood pressure.   Typically, doctors want your blood pressure reading to be 120 over 80 or less.   The first number refers to the amount of pressure your heart is using to push blood during a heart beat.  The second number reflects the pressure in your circulatory system when your heart is resting between beats.   If your blood pressure reading is high, your doctor may want to monitor you over time to see if it remains consistently high.   If so, treatment for high blood pressure is required.

People often equate high blood pressure with being stressed out, but in fact, the two don't necessarily go hand in hand.   Someone who is completely calm can have a high blood pressure reading, and oppositely, a person who feels at their limit where stress is concerned, can have a perfectly normal blood pressure reading.   Since high blood pressure doesn't always have noticeable symptoms, it's important to have it checked periodically.

February is American Heart Month, the perfect time to pay attention to the state of your heart and take appropriate steps to change to a healthier lifestyle.   Here in St. Louis, you can often get a blood pressure reading without even visiting your doctor.  

When you go to Schnucks for groceries or pick up miscellaneous items at Walgreens, it's very easy to take a few minutes to have your blood pressure checked.   Look for self service blood pressure machines at these locations.    This normally just requires sitting for  a few minutes with your arm in a pressure cuff, just like you do at the doctor's office.   The machine will do everything else for you, including giving you a final reading.  If your Walgreens doesn't have an automatic machine, you may visit a Walgreens with a Take Care Clinic inside, and there you'll be able to monitor your blood pressure.   

If it's difficult for you to get out often, you may consider purchasing a home monitoring system.   These are available for purchase at Walgreens and can be of great help to those who don't see their doctor on a regular basis, but need to keep track of blood pressure.

Whether you get a high reading from a self service machine or at your doctor's office, make sure you talk to your doctor about ways to treat high blood pressure before it gets out of control.   It could mean the difference between life and death.
 

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