High Blood Pressure (Hypertension) and You

1 in 3 Americans have high blood pressure or hypertension and don't know it, are you one of those people? 

High blood pressure is a common health condition. The long term force of blood against the walls of your arteries can be high enough that is causes heart problems and heart disease. 

Blood pressure is determined by 2 things: the amount of blood your heart pumps and the amount of resistance to blood flow in your arteries.

The more blood your heart pumps and the narrower your arteries, the higher your blood pressure.

Can you have high blood pressure without symptoms? Yes you can, some people have high blood pressure for years and don't know it. But, the damage to your health and body still occurs even if you don't have any symptoms. Scary huh?

Make sure you know your numbers! 

How do we manage high blood pressure?

Understanding the numbers: Helpful information in this cool infographic.

So you have high blood pressure and the doctor just put you on medication...not the end of the world, I take mediation for blood pressure too.... many common medicine classes are listed below. It takes time for your medicine and lifestyle changes to work, be patient. 

Risk Factors via the Mayo Clinic
High blood pressure has many risk factors, including:
Age. The risk of high blood pressure increases as you age. Through early middle age, or about age 45, high blood pressure is more common in men. Women are more likely to develop high blood pressure after age 65.
Race. High blood pressure is particularly common among blacks, often developing at an earlier age than it does in whites. Serious complications, such as stroke, heart attack and kidney failure, also are more common in blacks.
Family history. High blood pressure tends to run in families.
Being overweight or obese. The more you weigh the more blood you need to supply oxygen and nutrients to your tissues. As the volume of blood circulated through your blood vessels increases, so does the pressure on your artery walls.
Not being physically active. People who are inactive tend to have higher heart rates. The higher your heart rate, the harder your heart must work with each contraction and the stronger the force on your arteries. Lack of physical activity also increases the risk of being overweight.
Using tobacco. Not only does smoking or chewing tobacco immediately raise your blood pressure temporarily, but the chemicals in tobacco can damage the lining of your artery walls. This can cause your arteries to narrow, increasing your blood pressure. Secondhand smoke also can increase your blood pressure.
Too much salt (sodium) in your diet. Too much sodium in your diet can cause your body to retain fluid, which increases blood pressure.
Too little potassium in your diet. Potassium helps balance the amount of sodium in your cells. If you don't get enough potassium in your diet or retain enough potassium, you may accumulate too much sodium in your blood.
Too little vitamin D in your diet. It's uncertain if having too little vitamin D in your diet can lead to high blood pressure. Vitamin D may affect an enzyme produced by your kidneys that affects your blood pressure.
Drinking too much alcohol. Over time, heavy drinking can damage your heart. Having more than two drinks a day for men and more than one drink a day for women may affect your blood pressure.
If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation. For healthy adults, that means up to one drink a day for women of all ages and men older than age 65, and up to two drinks a day for men age 65 and younger. One drink equals 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof liquor.
Stress. High levels of stress can lead to a temporary increase in blood pressure. If you try to relax by eating more, using tobacco or drinking alcohol, you may only increase problems with high blood pressure.
Certain chronic conditions. Certain chronic conditions also may increase your risk of high blood pressure, such as kidney disease, diabetes and sleep apnea.

Sometimes pregnancy contributes to high blood pressure, as well.


Changing your lifestyle can go a long way toward controlling high blood pressure. Your doctor may recommend you eat a healthy diet with less salt, exercise regularly, quit smoking and maintain a healthy weight. But sometimes lifestyle changes aren't enough.

Medications are commonly prescribed for those with hypertension. No matter what medications you are put on, lifestyle changes have to be made to lower your blood pressure.

Important lifestyle changes include:

• Diet changes : lower salt intake, heart healthy choices
• Stop Smoking, a very important health change
• Exercise daily, get off the couch and move 
• Limit your alcohol intake 
• Maintain a healthy weight for your age, loose weight if you are obese

Lifestyle changes are hard, but they are very important to your health and happiness going forward.

Wear Red For Awareness #goredforwomen #hearthealth

According to the American Heart Association, one in three women dies of heart disease or stroke each year. To help fight the high rate of heart-related deaths, every February the American Heart Association directs their attention to awareness days and campaigns that teach the general public about the importance of adopting behaviors that lead to improved heart health. February 6 is National Wear Red Day and the health professionals from NurseWise – a multilingual nurse triage and health education provider – are encouraging Americans of all ages and genders to wear red in support of the American Heart Association’s quest to decrease avoidable heart issues.

"At NurseWise we believe in and continuously promote health education and empowerment," said Kim Tuck, RN, President and Chief Executive Officer at NurseWise. "In the United States, heart disease is the leading cause of death for women. We encourage everyone to wear red on Friday, February 6, to increase awareness about heart health and behaviors that can easily be adopted to reduce the chance of developing heart disease, stroke and other serious heart conditions."

To help you remember, the nurses at NurseWise have created a set of health tips in honor of National Wear Red Day using the acronym “HEART.”

H – Have heart awareness. Know your status! Make, schedule and KEEP routine appointments with your medical provider to stay abreast of your specific heart-health status and to learn warning signs that might indicate the need for specialized medications, lifestyle changes or testing. Knowing your heart stats and family predispositions for diseases of the heart is the first step in achieving more informed and improved heart health.

E – Exercise regularly. Your heart is a muscle, and just like the rest of the muscles in your body, it needs regular exercise to operate at its best. Start small by adding a short, slow-paced 10- or 15-minute walk to your day at least twice a week. Ask your medial professional for exercise recommendations based on your health status.

A – Always side with safe over sorry. You know your body better than anyone. If you start noticing an irregular-heartbeat, shortness of breath, dizziness, frequent headaches, impaired vision, tingling in your left arm or short memory lapses, see a medical professional immediately. Never hesitate to see a doctor if you notice a change in the way you feel or notice an abnormality in your breathing or heart rate. Seeing a medical provider could save your life and uncover budding health conditions before they become serious health conditions.

R – Rest is essential. Getting seven to eight hours of sleep on a regular basis is essential to your health. Despite your busy schedule and long list of things to do, if you aren’t getting proper rest, you will stifle your body’s ability to repair itself during the sleep cycle. Find a sleep routine that works to help you get to sleep at a set time every day so your body can perform its natural healing processes.

T – Take time to decompress. Stress is a leading factor that contributes to conditions like high-blood pressure and stroke. Explore exercise and breathing techniques to help you find calm even in the midst of a busy workplace and personal schedule. If stress ever becomes overwhelming or your feel like you’re going to do something to hurt yourself or someone else, please call 9-1-1 right away to speak with someone who can get you the help you need. There’s no need to ashamed of stress. Every animal and human experiences it in some form, because stress is a natural function of the body. How you treat stress is what makes the difference in your quality of mental and physical health. There are techniques, medications and homeopathic remedies that can help you find the balance you need to keep your heart and body functioning at their best.

For more information about National Wear Red Day, please visit: https://www.goredforwomen.org/home/get-involved/national-wear-red-day/

About NurseWise

NurseWise is a wholly owned subsidiary of Centene Corporation that is in the business of providing multilingual telehealth (nurse triage and health education) services. For more information, please visit our website at www.nursewise.com or contact us at info@nursewise.com.

Be Still My Beating Heart , Look at Your Patient First #screamandshout #cardiacarrhythmia #ECG

Does your heart skip a beat? Palpitate or stop suddenly ( I hope not).....well you might just have some arrhythmia going on. What is an arrhythmia you ask? A fancy word for an abnormal beating of your heart due to some electrical or mechanical abnormality.

If you are a nurse and you are reading this, you may be just as bewildered as I was once about heart arrhythmia's.
I learned to always look at my patient first and formost, know normal sinus rhythm , and then learn from there.
Is your patient pink, warm, dry and talking to you.....then you are ok!
Is the patient moving in the bed? is he scratching his chest? well you might just have some artifact and you almost jumped on your patient and scared the living crap out of him. Look for the simple fixes first unless he is grey, blue, or a nice shade of purple with no pulse.....then you can shout OH Sh@# and get some help......lol
Those crazy monitors are not always right, just because it says he is in Vtach, is he?? maybe, maybe not!
Practice, practice, practice and it comes with time and experience. A few embarrassing moments aside and you will learn, it has happened to all of us, don't let any ER or critical care nurse tell you that they have not been fooled before by a patients cardiac rhythm before, they are lying if they tell you otherwise.

Now what if you are not medically inclined? how do you interpret this chart?  Best thing is to find out what kind of irregular problem you or your loved one has and learn as much about it as you can from your cardiac doctors or credible websites. Knowing all these different cardiac rhythms if you don't need to will just overwhelm you right now. Learning normal is a great way to learn what abnormal is. Start with the normal ECG components at the top and the anatomy of the heart itself, it is a fabulous organ.

Original document is located here http://www.docstoc.com/docs/48034809/Arrhythmia-Recognition

Here are some of the most common Arrhythmia's to remember and be aware of if you are a nurse. Know these first and then work on the harder blocks etc.
I will review those in another post...............until later, have a great day or night!

Cardiac Arrest Vs. Heart Attack , Do You Know The Difference #february #heartmonth #gored

Lets get smart for our hearts, this month is heart month, educate yourself on your heart, stroke awareness and what your numbers are. Heart disease is a killer of women everyday, any of us could be next. Put on those red dresses and strut your heart healthy stuff!

Green Tea~ 11 Reasons why you should drink more

 

A simple thing you can do to boost your health and wellness, try a cup in the morning instead of your coffee, start the day off to a great one!