As soon as you take antihypertensive drugs, you have to take the medicine for life. Can you take it later? Beware of high blood pressure damage

"Blood pressure is so high, why don't you take antihypertensive drugs?".

"I heard that once you take antihypertensive medicine, you will take it for a lifetime. If you can take it later, take it later!".

This kind of doctor-patient dialogue can be heard almost every day, and patients with high blood pressure who do not take medicine can also see it almost every day.

These patients are afraid of the side effects of taking antihypertensive drugs for a long time. If they think that they can take the medicine later, they will take the medicine later, even if the blood pressure is high. After it became normal, I stopped taking the drug on its own, and I no longer monitor it. After a few years, my blood pressure became higher!

As a result, when these patients were reexamined, the left atrium of the heart was enlarged, the ventricle was hypertrophied, and the aorta was widened; albumin appeared in the urine; some even developed atrial fibrillation; , Renal failure and uremia, all kinds of damage. This is not an alarmist, such cases are not uncommon in clinical practice.

That is, you are afraid of the side effects of taking medicine, and you do not treat high blood pressure, but high blood pressure will not take care of you and damage you without negotiating.

Do hypertensive patients take antihypertensive drugs for a lifetime? Such a question is too absolute. Because people don't know what variables will happen in their life, doctors only treat diseases and can't tell fortunes.

However, if there is high blood pressure without treatment, the result is conceivable, because the damage of high blood pressure is obvious.

[Hypertension is a chronic disease, which cannot be cured at present, but can only be controlled for a long time]

Hypertension is a chronic disease.

The characteristics of chronic diseases are insidious onset, long course of disease and unhealed, non-infectious, but complex or unclear etiology. Chronic diseases include not only cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and coronary heart disease, but also respiratory, digestive, endocrine, nutritional metabolism, connective tissue diseases, neurological and mental diseases, and even malignant tumors, all of which belong to the category of chronic diseases.

Hypertension is in line with the characteristics of chronic diseases: the onset is insidious, many people do not "feel", and they do not know when the blood pressure begins to rise; the course of the disease is long and unhealed, the hypertension persists for a long time, and the blood pressure level can also fluctuate. Blood pressure can be controlled, but not rooted; high blood pressure is not contagious; the onset of high blood pressure is now known to be related to polygenes and multiple factors, and many risk factors are known, but the exact cause is still unclear, so it cannot be removed.

Therefore, at this stage, high blood pressure cannot be cured and can only be controlled for a long time.

Hypertensive patients, if they control their blood pressure, can reduce the damage caused by excessive blood pressure to the blood vessels and organs of the whole body, can effectively protect the function of the body's organs, and can enjoy the same quality of life as healthy people. This is also medical science. Research confirmed. Of course, it is better to control it early.

How to control?

Lifestyle improvements + medication.

[The premise of taking medication for hypertensive patients is: high blood pressure, which cannot be controlled without medication]

When you have high blood pressure, which cannot be lowered by improving your lifestyle alone; or when the initial blood pressure is too high, second-degree high blood pressure or above, you need to take antihypertensive drugs.

Therefore, it is the first sickness, before taking medicine, taking medicine is to cure the disease!

It is understandable that many patients are afraid of long-term medication and side effects. But why don't you think about it? You have the disease first, the disease will persist for a long time, and the disease will cause damage, so you need drug treatment?

Medical research has confirmed that blood pressure treatment is beneficial (beneficial) for conditions such as high blood pressure. This benefit far outweighs the damage to the body and the adverse effects of the drug. The current clinically recommended first-line antihypertensive drugs are all effective and safe. Hypertensive patients can significantly reduce cardiovascular damage and disease after antihypertensive treatment, and the drug is generally safe. Not to mention young people with high blood pressure, even elderly people with high blood pressure over the age of 80 can benefit from antihypertensive treatment.

Since antihypertensive therapy has so many benefits for patients, why not stick to it? To adhere!

[After taking the medicine, the blood pressure is normal, and it must be adhered to for a long time]

Because high blood pressure cannot be cured, long-term adherence is required after taking the medicine.

Some patients have normal blood pressure after taking antihypertensive drugs, and they stop the drug without authorization. However, after taking antihypertensive drugs, blood pressure is normal, which is the manifestation of the efficacy of antihypertensive drugs. At this time, when the drug is stopped, the antihypertensive effect is gone, and it is reasonable for the blood pressure to rise again. It's just that the patient has no symptoms, no feeling, plus the blood pressure is not measured, and the blood pressure is raised and does not know. Over the years, the damage appeared.

Therefore, if blood pressure is normal after taking antihypertensive drugs, it is necessary to continue taking the drugs.

[Anti-hypertensive drugs can also be reduced or stopped, but only need the guidance of a doctor and blood pressure needs to be monitored]

The patient's condition will also change. After taking antihypertensive drugs, if the blood pressure drops too low, it is possible to reduce the dose or even stop the drug. But it must be under the guidance of a doctor.

Many of the risk factors for hypertension are related to unhealthy lifestyles. Therefore, when some risk factors are controlled, unhealthy lifestyles are improved, and metabolic disorders are corrected, blood pressure will also decrease to varying degrees. If blood pressure can be reduced to normal levels and maintained, antihypertensive drugs can be reduced or stopped.

Hypertension is also related to seasonal and environmental factors. In different seasons and geographical environments, blood pressure levels will also change, and antihypertensive drugs should be adjusted accordingly. It is also possible to reduce or stop the drug.

However, none of these can be said to be cured of high blood pressure, because if various conditions change, blood pressure can still rise.

Therefore, even if the blood pressure of hypertensive patients drops at a certain stage, it is normal to not take medicine. That is not a cure. It is still necessary to monitor the blood pressure, because it is unknown when the blood pressure may rise again.

Some people have had high blood pressure, such as pregnancy-induced hypertension, and white-coat hypertension. Such patients have a high probability of developing high blood pressure in the future, and they should also pay attention to monitoring.

Furthermore, for the elderly and elderly hypertensive patients, a decrease in blood pressure is not necessarily a sign of disease improvement, but may be a manifestation of a decrease in physical health.