Myth vs. Fact
(Part 1)
Common statements I hear from my in patients during their clinic visit:
- Patient’s myth 1 . . . I stopped taking my anti hypertensive meds because my blood pressure is now normal.
Fact: You should continue taking antihypertensive medications even if your BP is already normal.
Fact: Stopping blood pressure medications is dangerous because it can cause the ff:
- CVD infarct or CVD bleed: In layman’s language
this is called stroke. Stopping blood pressure meds will result in rebound hypertension causing your blood vessel to rupture or blood to clot leading to stroke.
- Heart attack: rebound hypertension can damage the arteries of your heart leading to accumulation of platelets on the damaged arteries eventually clogging it causing heart attack.
- kidney damage: one of the most common causes of dialysis is uncontrolled high blood pressure
- Patient’s myth 2 . . . I am afraid I will become dependent to the medications
Fact: Physicians always weighed the benefits and risks of the drugs prescribed to you. If the benefits outweigh the risks, then we will prescribe the meds to you. There are few medicines that can cause dependence. These drugs include OPOID family like morphine, fentanyl, nalbuphine etc, and some sleeping pills to name a few.
- Patient’s myth 3 . . . My BP is elevated but it is ok because it is normal in our family to have high blood pressure.
Fact: High blood pressure can never be normal even if it runs in the family. Once your BP is above 130/70 it is already considered abnormal and should be addressed accordingly to prevent high blood pressure related complications like dialysis, stroke and heart attack. Management of hypertension includes: life style modification, regular exercise, balance diet and anti hypertensive medications.