Has Hypertension Treatment Been Hijacked Or Have We Abdicated Responsibility?

As hypertension sufferers, we can all recall the visit to the doctor's office at which we were told we had high blood pressure. For most of us, the treatment prescribed by our doctor was to take medication every day for the rest of our lives. Should we accept prescription medication as being the first step in treating our condition or should it be the last resort?

The pharmaceutical companies and most doctors think it is the first step in treating our condition. Almost like a reflex reaction, the first response our doctor has after determining that our BP reading is above the normal range is to reach for the prescription pad.

When do we have hypertension?

"Normal blood pressure" is generally accepted as being within a range of readings of up to 140 over 90. It can and does vary from person to person; and, even within ourselves our blood pressure can vary according to our circumstances at the time as well as several other factors.

It used to be considered normal for blood pressure to increase in line with our age. The old yardstick being that a healthy systolic pressure (the higher figure of the two numbers) could be up to 100 plus our age. Hypertension, being sustained readings above these levels, was usually treated with prescription medicines.

In recent years that bar seems to have been getting lower and lower. The effect of which is to categorise millions of people as having a condition that previously they did not have, resulting in many more millions of prescriptions for the products of the pharmaceutical companies. The general call now is to maintain our blood pressure at 120/80. Anything above these readings is regarded as potentially being hypertension and meriting medical intervention.

A new condition of "pre-hypertension" has been created. This is when our blood pressure is not yet high but it might develop into hypertension if preventative action is not taken. By which our doctor means medical intervention and the pharmaceutical industry sees as a need for a new product to help our doctor treat our "condition".

Taking hypertension medication is not without risk

All drugs have side effects. The side effects of hypertension medications can be as bad as or even worse than the condition they are meant to treat. Ironically, some drugs used to treat our hypertension actually increase the risk of us having a stroke, developing diabetes and of having hypotension, which can be just as dangerous as high blood pressure. Our doctor has to balance the risk with the benefits and there will always be those cases where the only appropriate treatment is with prescription medicines.

However, prescription drugs are not necessary if we are in the pre-hypertension stage or our blood pressure would previously have been considered normal for our age. There is a range of simple things we can do to maintain our blood pressure or reduce our hypertension naturally without taking drugs. These include:

• Having a healthy diet;



• Being more physically active; and



• Losing weight.

Our society wants a pill for every ailment. In pursuing this goal, we have allowed the pharmaceutical industry to hijack the treatment of our hypertension and have abdicated our own responsibility to look after our health. Prescribing drugs to treat our hypertension should usually be the last resort.