Getting to Know Hypertension "The Silent Killer"

Getting to Know Hypertension "The Silent Killer"
Hypertension is often known as "the silent killer", so called because hypertension often occurs without any complaints, but then the patient will find himself with a complicating disease or complications from hypertension. A person will be said to be hypertensive if he has a systolic blood pressure of more than 140 mmHg and/or a diastolic blood pressure of more than 90 mmHg. It is known that only a third of hypertension sufferers are diagnosed by health workers and only 0.7% are taking medication.
The complaints in people with hypertension are headaches, anxiety, heart palpitations, dizziness, blurred vision, feeling pain in the chest, tired easily, and others. These symptoms should be better recognized by people with hypertension, because if the patient does not pay attention to them, several complications will arise in several organs of the body, complications of diseases such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, retinal damage, peripheral vascular disease, nerve disorders. , and cerebral or brain disorders. The higher the blood pressure, the higher the risk of damage to the heart and blood vessels in large organs such as the brain and kidneys.
The causes of hypertension are divided into two, namely primary hypertension and secondary hypertension. Primary hypertension occurs in about 90% of hypertensive patients where the cause of hypertension is unknown. Secondary hypertension, namely hypertension caused by certain diseases or conditions, for example the patient has kidney disease, from the kidney disease that causes the patient to develop hypertension.
Several risk factors that need to be considered as a cause of high blood pressure are risk factors that cannot be modified and risk factors that can be modified. Risk factors that cannot be modified are age, genetics, ethnicity, and sex. Meanwhile, modifiable risk factors are weight, salt intake, smoking, and excessive exercise.

Some steps that can be taken to prevent hypertension are to always consume healthy food, limit salt intake, reduce excessive caffeine consumption, stop smoking, exercise regularly, maintain body weight, and not consume alcoholic beverages. For patients affected by hypertension, high blood pressure medication must always be consumed every day for life and controlled every month to the doctor.