High Blood Pressure may matter to you
RIBI (Rotary International Britain & Ireland) in collaboration with the Stroke Association organised a stroke awareness week and events in many parts of the UK for the Week commencing 31st April. In Peterborough at Queensgate 203 people had their blood pressure measured by doctors and 47 that is 23% were found to have elevated blood pressure and were recommended to visit their GP's for further investigation. It is estimated there may be as many as 10 million people with a high blood pressure condition in the UK, and as this is a risk factor in a number of diseases including stroke it is important for you to be aware of the opportunity to find out whether you may have a high blood pressure a significant risk factor in your own health. Your GP or practice nurse should be willing to measure your blood pressure for you and offer you advice if you are concerned. In middle age it should be checked regularly.
To lower the risk of stroke do the following:
We know from personal experience that measuring blood pressure properly and interpreting it is not as straightforward as it first seems and it is well known that whilst many people experience essential hypertension a risk condition more common with aging and probably connected with changes in the circulatory system such as the so called "hardening" of arteries. Some people have white coat hypertension which is an anomaly created by the measurement process. When the latter is not recognised by the doctor, patients may even find themselves on life long medication that they don't need. A small proportion of people have high blood pressure as a symptom of a distinct illness e.g. kidney disease. In these cases if the illness can be cured then the high blood pressure can be reduced along with it.
We strongly recommend that you ensure the following points when you have your blood pressure measured even by a doctor you trust. This will increase the chance that if you are diagnosed with essential hypertension you are more likely to really have it.
If you are told you have a blood pressure problem, ask to have a second opinion, and if necessary insist, it is your right and a good idea before you are put on life long medication! If the GP discourages you then record what he says exactly and say you still want the second opinion and you want him to record that fact on your medical record. If he still refuses it is one of the few complaints you can proove against a poor GP and when you complain to the General Medical Council and or NHS it can result in consequences for them which they deserve! By the way if you are a GP and feel unhappy at us advising your patients this way, what is your purpose? A good GP won't be creating this kind of problem, don't you want your professional colleagues to adhere to the high standards you do? Being a doctor carries a huge responsibility and no one can expect perfection in diagnosis or treatment only best efforts. Surely it is only right to expect that professionalism has some minimum standard and assisting a patient to get a second opinion is definitely a part of that.
Under current recommended practice unless your blood pressure is dangerously high your GP should have 3 high readings from consecutive visits before suggesting treatment, i.e. medicine to reduce your BP.
Ideally if not elevated very much, then life style changes (losing weight, getting exercise, eating less salt, and fatty food, even changing job!) may be enough to reverse your elevation and get you back to normal. If you struggle with these then NLP and Hypnotherapy are good for helping you make the changes. (You can ring us on 0845 644 1098)
If you are offered chemicals then don't be surprised if your GP or specialist tries more than one before you get the right one for you. Indeed it may be that you need low doses of more than one medicine to correct your blood pressure. This approach is often tried before you are put on high doses of any particular drug. Be aware that most drugs have side effects (e.g. feeling cold, needing to visit the toilet, headaches.....) and these may be uncomfortable or worse if you're on the wrong drug . Note also that treating essential hypertension is preventive medicine for a risk factor for circulatory disorders such as coronary and stroke. High blood pressure is not in itself an illness, though in some cases it may be a symptom of an illness. In that case it is not called essential hypertension.
If you experience side effects discuss them with your doctor, you may need a change and this may be urgent if the effects are serious. There is a possibility that if you have whitecoat hypertension rather than essential hypertension when medicated you may experience the symptoms of hypotension - low blood pressure. These may include feeling dizzy or light headed especially after bending down. Unless your medication has just been changed and has created intollerable side effects, seek advice (from GP or pharmacist) before you stop taking medication to avoid problems from "withdrawal".
If blood pressure doesn't come down after a number of different attempted drug regimes, be suspicious that there may be problems with the measurement of BP or some other problem with the diagnosis as essential hypertension. Ask for a second opinion.
It may be possible to change your blood pressure through hypnotherapy, particularly if it is driven by stress, emotions or unconscious decisions. This is worth trying if you have not had success with the other approaches tried by your GP and he hasn't fixed it so far. You are entitled to try something which is none invasive, none chemical and as natural as dreaming, though directed at eliminating a perceived problem.
Be aware that there is a third form of hypertension, and more obvious in young people, high BP can be a symptom of existing illness e.g. kidney problems. You GP should be able to detect other symptoms and put two and two together.
We strongly recommend that if you are interested in this material and have a "scientific mind" that you look at the British Hypertension Society Web site http://www.bhsoc.org/. This provides the standards your GP works to. It won't mention hypnotherapy. This is because hypnosis is not like a drug that you can easily administer in objective clinical trials. It's success depends upon the desire of the patient to make changes and the skill of the therapist to establish a personal rapport and effective personal intervention with you to get you to achieve the outcome you desire.
Biofeedback experiments have shown that blood pressure can be controlled by "subjects" through the mind-body interaction, even though they are not aware of precisely how they do it. Relaxation is only part of the story as you might have guessed. You will also know you can't spend all day being totally relaxed, so your blood pressure and pulse rate will go up and down according to what you are doing. The level your blood pressure ranges over can be changed by drugs and or your mind-body interaction. Hypnosis can enable your unconscious mind to shift blood pressure into a more healthy range. It can also enable you to make life style changes that can again impact on a range of risk factors for health including dealing with weight problems, giving up smoking etc.
If you are interested in measuring your own blood pressure you can measure it for yourself by buying and using modern equipment which is available from chemists for £50-100. Choose equipment which meets EU standards and if you have a rather large or small arm you will need to buy the relevant cuff. You can prove for yourself whether blood pressure is a risk issue, and whether it has been dealt with by whatever methods you are willing to try! Follow the manufacturers instuctions and use the BHS web site for guidance as to how your GP should be dealing with your problem if you have one. You can also use your measurements to establish whether hypnotherapy has actually affected your BP range. In our case we guarantee results so you can be confident or get your money back. (Unlike GP's or even heart specialists!)
Note some GPs do check BP over a period of time by automatic monitoring equipment which can eliminate the risk of you being misdiagnosed with essential hypertension when you have white coat hypertension. This is now less common because it takes more time, effort and cost than the scheme which is recommended by BHS. The medical profession are a bit uncomfortable about whitecoat hypertension as it complicates and increases the cost of diagnosis. Some choose to medicate and be safe rather than establish a more definite diagnosis. Indeed some specialists who teach the subject in Medical School advocate this. We think ignoring the effects of hypotension from overtreatment is a problem for patients which should be dealt with more readily by the medical profession. It is worth reflecting that in Germany doctors unlike British doctors are more concerned with treating low blood pressure, which is perhaps most common in teenage girls. Low blood pressure is a risk factor for different problems e.g. having accidents from feinting or feeling distant, light headed etc.
© Dr's A.T. and J. Small 2003 The authors give permission for this to be reproduced only for personal use, and not for commercial gain, and when reproduced it shall be legal if it includes this copyright notice. Permission to reproduce for commercial gain is easy to obtain and at a reasonable rate. Please contact the authors via change.TOGAIN (+44) (0)845 644 1098. It is better to save your energy for the next challenge rather than reinvent this wheel. http://change.togain.co.uk
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