Monday, August 4, 2014

Are You a Stroke Risk?

Why is untreated hypertension so rampant?
A lot of people don't know they have high blood pressure and [many] who know don't have it controlled for multiple reasons.

Sometimes it's difficult to control. The average person with high blood pressure needs three pills to control it.

Sometimes it's a financial issue. Some people have to choose between buying food and medicine.

Others don't take it seriously enough. High blood pressure doesn't hurt, so if some people don't feel it, they don't want to treat it.

Are the side effects of high blood pressure medicine a factor?
The side effects can be bothersome. Some men become impotent. Some people have swelling or weight gain.

Unfortunately, doctors often don't hear these complaints. Patients just stop taking the medication.

But everyone should know that there are at least four or five classes of high blood pressure medication. So if someone doesn't tolerate one medication, we can try something else.

Atrial fibrillation is also a factor in some strokes. What is this?
Treating atrial fibrillation — often called "AFib" — is probably the second-most important thing that people can do to reduce their stroke risk.

Atrial fibrillation is a condition when your heart chambers, or atria, aren't working in sync. Your atrium fibrillates or quivers, so blood can pool and clot, then pieces of this clot could break off. If [they] go to the brain, you have a stroke.