Dear Readers,
C. Ingram from Kingston feels traumatised and is very worried that first her father, 65, and now her mother, 66, are being treated for heart disease. Both parents have been treated for high blood pressure for many years. Miss Ingram asks LIFELINE how does this problem develop? Both her parents have taken anti-hypertensive medication for years.
Although hypertension is a commonly occurring disease what many people do not realise is that it is a major cause of morbidity (illness) and death. Right here in Jamaica hypertension is an important risk factor for heart disease, heart attacks, stroke and kidney disease and the fact is that when the high blood pressure is reduced, the risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness and circulatory insufficiency also reduces. High blood pressure pressures the heart. It causes the enlargement of the left ventricle (the lower chamber of the heart on the left side), and also of significance is that it accelerates the rate of formation of a thero-sclerosis.
BLOOD CIRCULATION
As blood pressure increases in the heart, the heart muscle thickens just as any muscle which is exercised 'bulks up'. This thickening, however, is not good as it reduces the size of the heart cavity so that it contains less blood while it requires more oxygen and therefore an increase in blood circulation to maintain the new increased muscle mass.
The pressure of the blood within the blood vessels and especially within the coronary blood vessels which supply the heart, will, in hypertension, hasten the formation of a thero-sclerotic plagues which block the blood vessels and prevent the proper circulation of blood and its nutrients to the body tissues, the heart muscle, the brain and the kidneys.
A sad fact is that high blood pressure will eventually cause these changes to occur in our bodies regardless of whether or not the blood pressure is only slightly elevated or is very high. It is only a matter of the timing. And enlargement of the left side of the heart (left ventricle) is associated with sudden death.
HYPERTENSIVE DRUGS
More people with hypertension will die from complication of this disease within five years than the number of people who will die from cancer, which every one dreads, during this same time frame.
Active treatment of hypertension is therefore highly recommended to prevent the complications. There are many anti-hypertensive drugs available and once the blood pressure is effectively controlled, this will prevent the development of the alarming complications. Over a period of time an enlarged and hypertrophied heart can regress its bulk and once more attain a normal size.
This also improves the eventual outcome of heart disease, making it more favorable towards a healthy and longer life. Early treatment of hypertension is therefore highly recommended. Early and effective treatment. Do not treat this disease lightly.
A.J.M.
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