[Shaunte]

4. There are many causes of hypertension, so be sure to get a complete physical and work-up if you have not already.

5. Someone mentioned that high blood sugar=high blood pressure. This is actually not true. Like blood pressure, our glucose (blood sugar) levels fluctuate throughout the day, this however does not cause hypertension. There is a link however between those who have type 2 Diabetes and hypertension. Research is currently ongoing between this link.

6. I also saw a mention of potassium in one of the postings. I just wanted to mention that potassium is in no way related to managing your blood pressure. If you are placed on a diuretic (water pill) by your MD then they may add potassium because certain diuretics can cause a drop in your potassium levels with the excessive loss of fluids. I mention this because potassium is an electrolyte with a very tight range that you need to be within (and your body will regulate this on it's own with a normal diet). Going above or below this range can be VERY dangerous. Unless your MD has said otherwise, I would not worry about supplementing this.

7. You could also have what is known as essential hypertension, which has no known origin. And in many of these cases, the only way to manage it is with medication.

8. If all else fails, I wouldn't be resistant or feel bad about going on medication. Hypertension is known as the "silent killer" because there really are no symptoms. Once you get to the point that you are having headaches, your blood pressure is too high at the point and you are already doing irreversible vascular damage. If you smoke, it's time to quit. If you are not already monitoring your cholesterol levels, please be sure that you start. The combination of high cholesterol (specifically high LDL) and hypertension is almost a guarantee that you will be in my unit recovering from bypass surgery in your senior years. I hate to scare you, but I just want to stress that there are things that you can do now to help prevent developing coronary artery disease which causes heart attacks and strokes in the future (all leading causes of death in women). You can also irreversibly damage your kidneys and eventually develop renal failure. The implications of unmanaged hypertension is huge!!!

I just feel really bad for many of my patients, because I feel if this had been managed when they were in their 30's and 40's, they could have avoided all of the issues they are experiencing in their 60's and 70's. Believe me you don't want to deal with cardiac disease later on in life. Take care of yourself! And it sounds like you are being proactive about it, which is wonderful!!!!

Feel free to email me offline also if you want to discuss anything further.