LET ME PAINT YOU A PICTURE:
You leave work feeling good, driving down the Motorway/Freeway, the sun is just starting to set, the traffic is moving along three lanes with no delays, you feel good and picture in your mind, the beach, near where you’re meeting your Wife, Partner, Family and Friends for an anniversary celebration later that evening.
The Motorway/Freeway represents your arteries, your car is travelling along the outside lane, no hold ups, all is good. At the same time your heart is pumping oxygenated blood through your arteries, there are no hold ups, blood flows freely to the brain and your organs, blood pressure is normal, all is good
What you don’t know is that there is an accident ahead, the police are closing the outside lane squeezing the traffic from three lanes to two.
You’re still happily travelling along, radio playing, all is good. At the same time your heart is pumping oxygenated blood around your body, however one of your arteries has narrowed a bit, possibly a build-up of plaque, this is stopping your organs and your brain from getting the right amount of oxygenated blood.
To compensate, your brain tells the heart to pump a little harder to ensure your organs get the correct blood supply, you’d be unaware of the change and not feel any different, you’ll also be unaware your heart is having to pump harder to get oxygenated blood through the artery that has narrowed, to ensure your brain and organs get the right amount of blood, the heart has to pump harder to overcome the narrowing of an artery, this results in your blood pressure increasing.
Back on the Motorway/Freeway you still don’t know why the traffic is slowing, some way ahead the Police are starting to move the damaged cars off the road.
Your heart is still happily pumping blood around your body, albeit pumping a lot harder due to narrowing of your artery, however just like your car which has just gone from two lanes to one, your organs tell your brain they’re not getting enough blood, the artery that was slightly blocked has become more restricted and slowing down the supply of oxygenated blood to your organs.
Again, the brain senses this reduction in blood supply and tells the heart to pump even harder, the heart increases the pressure to compensate, your brain and organs receive the correct blood supply. And as before, you’re not aware that your heart is now pumping even harder and your blood pressure has increased to a dangerous level.
At this moment in time the increase in blood pressure is putting a strain on your arteries, especially the heart and the brain. There’s also a possibility an artery in the brain may burst causing a bleed and possibly a stroke.
The arteries that are narrow due to a build-up of plaque are still passing rich oxygenated blood to keep organs alive. Your blood pressure has been gradually increasing as arteries become more restricted due to build-up of plaque. At this moment you won’t be aware your blood pressure has now increased to dangerous levels.
However, a piece of plaque now comes adrift and cannot get past the area where the arteries have narrowed, immediately your organs send a message to the brain saying we urgently need blood, the brain tells the heart to pump harder, this is the start of a heart attack.
Hopefully the clot will pass
IF IT DOESN'T YOU MAY DIE
UP TO THIS FINAL SCENARIO you may have had no symptoms that your heart is having to pump harder and harder which causes Blood Pressure to rise.
There are more than 7.5 billion people living in our world, of which there are around 1.3 billion people with ‘Stage One Hypertension’. This is when systolic blood pressure is between 140mmHg and 159mmHg, and diastolic blood pressure is between 90mmHg and 99mmHg.
These readings are commonly written as a range between 140/90 and 159/99.
Of the 1.3 billion people with high blood pressure, there is an estimated 300 million people that don’t know their blood pressure is high.
In addition, there are around another 2.5 billion people with blood pressure between 120mmHg/80mmHg and 139mmHg/89mmHg.
These readings are commonly written as a range between 120/80 and 139/89.
This is classed as ‘Pre-Hypersensitive.
Adding 1.3 billion people with "Stage One Hypertension" to the 2.5 billion people with "Pre-Hypertension". It means that 3.8 billion people, that's 50% of the worlds population, have blood pressure that needs monitoring or treating. That is why high blood pressure is called the "Silent Killer".
Please have a look around my web site, there may be some information that could be life changing.
Please note that several blood pressure readings may be required over a period of time before any treatments are prescribed. A single reading may be at a time when blood pressure has spiked or "White Coat Syndrome" has influenced a blood pressure reading.
More on this in section (2) - Types of Hypertension.
The health of your heart
The health of your heart is so important, and different to other organs in your body, most diseases don’t kill you in minutes, however, if your heart stops pumping oxygenated blood to your brain, and all attempts to keep a flow of blood fail, (CRP) your brain cells start to die, after around 10 minutes your brain cells stop working, there is no way back.
Disease can have an impact on causing blood pressure to rise!
Or
Is high blood pressure a cause of disease!
This website has been written to provide information on the many conditions and diseases that may cause or be caused by high blood pressure. High blood pressure, heart disease and stroke kill more people at this moment in time than all cancer deaths put together.
If you have any concerns, it may be wise to get your blood pressure checked, it takes a few moments. I’ve recently been to two funerals, they were both under sixty, both died from a heart attack caused by a blocked artery, there’s a possibility, if they’d had their blood pressure checked it may have highlighted a partially blocked artery.
A stent may have stopped the heart attack with a procedure known as a Coronary Angioplasty.
A coronary angioplasty is a procedure used to unblock coronary arteries (which are the main blood vessels supplying the heart) that have narrowed over time.
This procedure is explained more fully in the Members Section. Hopefully your blood pressure will be good, if not your Doctor or Health Professional can prescribe a way forward.
A coronary angioplasty is a procedure used to unblock coronary arteries (which are the main blood vessels supplying the heart) that have narrowed over time.