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    Optimal Life: Essentials of Hypertension
    Optimal Life: Essentials of Hypertension
    Optimal Life: Essentials of Hypertension
    Ebook204 pages2 hours

    Optimal Life: Essentials of Hypertension

    By Christine Lee, Pharm.D., BCPS

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    About this ebook

    Hypertension or high blood pressure is known as the silent killer. If your blood pressure isn’t well controlled, you run the risk of serious, life-threatening complications. Do you know everything you need to do to control your hypertension? The Essentials of Hypertension gives you the tools and guidance you need to be able to say “yes” to this important question. Filled with action steps that will help you work with your doctor more effectively, this book lays out how and why high blood pressure occurs, how to monitor your condition, and gives you tips on the lifestyle changes you can make that will help you get in control, along with an overview of the medications available. You can ignore your hypertension with perhaps serious consequences, or you can get in control now!
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateMar 13, 2014
    ISBN9780983337294
    Optimal Life: Essentials of Hypertension

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      Book preview

      Optimal Life - Christine Lee, Pharm.D., BCPS

      Optimal Life: The Essentials of Hypertension

      Christine Lee, Pharm.D., BCPS

      Copyright © 2013 Dr. Christine V. Lee

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher. Optimal Life, OL and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks for the use of their respective owners.

      ISBN: 978-0-9833372-3-2

      ISBN: 9780983337294

      Printed in the United States of America

      Book Design: RunnWest www.runnwest.com

      Optimal Life Globe Design: Jim Draper www.jimdraper.com

      Optimal Life and OL Logo Design: Heide Couch/RHC

      Design Tech www.rhcdesigntech.net

      A NOTE TO THE READER

      This book does not replace your doctor’s advice; it is meant to add value to your health care by giving you lots of information about hypertension (high blood pressure) so you can understand the disease and the options available to control it. The more you know about hypertension, the more effectively you can work with your doctor.

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      Christine Lee received her Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of the Pacific School of Pharmacy in Stockton, California, and was granted a Bachelor of Science in Clinical Laboratory Science from the University of Nevada, Reno. She is licensed by both the California and Nevada State Boards of Pharmacy. She is also a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist, and a licensed clinical laboratory scientist.

      Dr. Lee founded Optimal Life as the natural outgrowth of her association with American Health Care, which she co-founded in 1986. American Health Care specializes in delivering patient-centric pharmacy benefit, population health, and therapy management programs that emphasize clinical excellence. She also developed proprietary software for virtual medical records that is used by hospitals across the country. She is the preceptor for the company’s pharmacy residency program and co-founded the United American Pharmacy Network. Dr. Lee is affiliated with the American College of Managed Care Pharmacy, the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, the American Society of Health System Pharmacists and the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy.

      When not at work, Christine enjoys the company of her family, maintains her black belt in Taekwondo and loves to run. She is an avid supporter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and has served on the boards of several consulting companies, as well as human rights advocacy groups for the mentally disabled.

      You may contact the author at info@optimalife.net.

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      As with my previous efforts, I would like to thank Sherill Conley Rohde for her assistance. She selflessly invests her time and energy and brings great focus to the material. Every day, her friendship and enthusiasm remind me that we can change lives by giving people the knowledge and tools they need to become as healthy as possible.

      FOREWORD

      High blood pressure is the number one cause of death in the world. Myriad studies have shown that lowering blood pressure saves lives. Despite the epidemic of diabetes worldwide, it is still not ranked in the top ten causes of death. Most patients with diabetes have high blood pressure, so it is imperative that aggressive treatment of high blood pressure be a top priority. Treatment of high glucose is important, but if you only focus on glucose management, you overlook the most important cause of death in patients with diabetes: hypertension. Aggressive management of hypertension in patients, especially those with diabetes, must be a top priority.

      Claude K. Lardinois, M.D., FACP, MACN

      I’ve been an emergency room physician for almost 15 years and a significant number of the cases I see are related to uncontrolled hypertension. Some patients who come to the emergency department with chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, headache, blurry vision, one-sided body numbness or weakness, swelling in the legs, or nausea and vomiting are exhibiting only some of the classic symptoms of uncontrolled hypertension. Some of these patients had a history of hypertension but were untreated; others had no idea they had hypertension and were now in the emergency room.

      These patients are often faced with a diagnosis of hypertensive heart disease, a group of disorders due to hypertension, which include coronary heart disease and heart failure, and stroke and kidney insufficiency, among other problems. Uncontrolled hypertension and its effects are also involved in the causes for cardiopulmonary arrests. All of these illnesses could have been avoided with early diagnosis and proper treatment of hypertension.

      Hypertension continues to be a major public health problem due to its significant morbidity and mortality. It’s known as the silent killer for a good reason.

      Yvonne Maywether, M.D., FACEP

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      CHAPTER ONE

      Why Should You Care About Hypertension?

      What is Hypertension and Who Has It?

      Women’s Health

      Men’s Health

      Health Over 60

      Health for African-Americans

      A Word About Salt

      Summary

      Facts at a Glance

      Your Three Action Steps

      CHAPTER TWO

      How Do You Know If You Have Hypertension?

      Measuring Blood Pressure

      How is Hypertension Diagnosed?

      Emergency Hypertensive Crisis/Hypertension Urgency

      Goals and Follow-Up

      Should You Monitor Your Blood Pressure at Home?

      White Coat Syndrome

      Summary

      Facts at a Glance

      Your Three Action Steps

      CHAPTER THREE

      Causes of Hypertension

      Fluid (Water) Retention

      Blood Vessel Constriction

      Different Types of Hypertension

      Primary Hypertension

      Secondary Hypertension

      Resistant Hypertension

      Urinary Problems

      Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Sleep Disorders

      Obesity

      Medications, Herbal Supplements and Food

      Summary

      Facts at a Glance

      Your Three Action Steps

      CHAPTER FOUR

      What Are the Risks?

      Cardiovascular Risk (Heart Disease)

      Damage to Your Arteries and Heart

      How to Monitor and Prevent Artery and Heart Damage

      Damage to Your Kidneys

      How to Monitor and Prevent Kidney Damage

      Damage to Your Eyes

      How to Monitor and Prevent Eye Damage

      Damage to Your Brain/Stroke

      How to Monitor and Prevent Brain Damage/Stroke

      Summary

      Facts at a Glance

      Your Three Action Steps

      CHAPTER FIVE

      Treatment

      What is the Goal of Treatment?

      Lifestyle Modifications

      Medications

      Types of Medications

      Diuretics

      ACE Inhibitors, ARBs and Renin Blockers

      Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitor (ACE Inhibitor)

      Angiotensin Receptor Blocker (ARB)

      Calcium Channel Blocker

      Mechanism of Action/How it Works:

      Monitoring/Tests You Should Have:

      Beta-Blockers

      Alpha Blockers

      Vasodilators

      Central Alpha Receptor Agonist

      Summary

      Facts at a Glance

      Your Three Action Steps

      CHAPTER SIX

      In Case You Were Wondering

      Resources

      Hypertension Action Plan

      Weight Management

      Physical Activity

      The DASH Eating Plan

      How to Start Exercising

      Tobacco Cessation (Quitting)

      Getting Ready to Quit

      Quitting

      AACE Blood Pressure Guidelines

      Medications

      Bibliography

      INTRODUCTION

      You’ve probably picked up this book because you or a loved one has high blood pressure. Perhaps you’ve just been diagnosed. When you’re first diagnosed with a chronic illness, it seems like your stress levels increases. Ten minutes before you sat down in the doctor’s office you didn’t have that stress. So what happened? You didn’t change or turn into a blue monster in ten minutes. The stress is from knowing that you now have to deal with something else in your life. The question, Can I turn this around? is pounding in your head. Perhaps you’ve known for a while that you have hypertension and your stress comes from the fact that it’s not in control. Maybe you’ve tried losing weight or cutting out salt, or maybe one or two different medications, but your blood pressure is still high. This also causes stress in your life: you know there’s a problem, but you don’t know what to do about it anymore.

      In any area of our lives, what we feel we cannot control takes up 90 percent of our focus and adds stress - whether or not it really is 90 percent of our problem. But I can tell you, once you make the decision to control your hypertension and start taking the action steps to get there, it only becomes about 10 percent of your stress. And stress is something you want to lessen because it can increase your high blood pressure.

      Stress can elevate your blood pressure by 15-20 mmHg. It’s been shown that the elevated blood pressure from stress can linger well past the stressful moment. In one study where people were asked to recall an angry situation, some people still had elevated blood pressure of 10 mmHg higher than normal 15 minutes later. If you have hypertension and are experiencing a stressful moment, try to calm yourself: look at a

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