Once you take antihypertensive drugs, you have to take them for life. Is it better to take them later? Beware of high blood pressure damage missed life

"Blood pressure is so high, why not take antihypertensive drugs?".

"I heard that once you take antihypertensive drugs, you will take them for a lifetime. If you can take them later, take them 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 be seen almost every day.

These patients are afraid of the side effects of taking antihypertensive drugs for a long time. After it became normal, the drug was stopped on its own, and it was no longer monitored. After a few years, the blood pressure became even higher!

As a result, when these patients came for reexamination, the left atrium of the heart was enlarged, the ventricle was thickened, and the aorta was also widened; albumin appeared in the urine; , Renal failure and uremia, all kinds of damage. This is not alarmist talk, such cases are not uncommon in clinical practice.

That is, you are afraid of the side effects of taking medicine, and if you do not treat high blood pressure, high blood pressure will not take care of you, and you will not discuss the damage.

Do hypertensive patients take antihypertensive drugs for a lifetime, or take the drugs for life? Such a question is too absolute. Because one's life does not know what variables will happen, and doctors can only treat diseases and cannot tell fortunes.

However, if high blood pressure is not treated, the result is predictable, because the damage of high blood pressure is obvious.

【Hypertension is a chronic disease, currently there is no cure, only long-term control】

Hypertension is a chronic disease.

The characteristics of chronic diseases are insidious onset, long course and protracted healing, non-infectious, but complicated 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, nervous and mental diseases, and even malignant tumors, all of which belong to the category of chronic diseases.

High blood pressure is in line with the characteristics of chronic diseases: the onset is hidden, many people do not "feel", and do not know when the blood pressure starts to rise; Blood pressure can be controlled, but the root cause cannot be removed; 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 also known, but the exact cause is still unclear, so it cannot be eliminated.

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

Hypertensive patients, if their blood pressure is controlled, can reduce the damage of high blood pressure to blood vessels and organs throughout the body, effectively protect the functions of body organs, and enjoy a quality life like healthy people. Research confirms it. Of course, it is better to control it early.

How to control?

Improve lifestyle + drug treatment.

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

When you suffer from high blood pressure, you cannot lower it by simply improving your lifestyle; or if your initial blood pressure is too high, or you have secondary high blood pressure or above, you need to take antihypertensive drugs.

Therefore, you have to take medicine when you are sick first, and taking medicine is to cure the disease!

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

Medical research has confirmed that for diseases such as hypertension, antihypertensive treatment is beneficial (beneficial). This benefit is far greater than the damage to the body caused by the disease and the adverse reactions of the drug. At present, the first-line antihypertensive drugs recommended clinically all have clear efficacy and good safety. After antihypertensive treatment for hypertensive patients, cardiovascular damage and diseases can be significantly reduced, and the overall medication is safe. Not to mention younger people with high blood pressure, even those over 80 years old with high blood pressure can benefit from antihypertensive treatment.

Since antihypertensive treatment has so many benefits for patients, why not insist on it? To adhere!

[Blood pressure is normal after taking the medicine, you must persist for a long time]

Because high blood pressure cannot be cured, it needs to be persisted for a long time after taking medicine.

Some patients have normal blood pressure after taking antihypertensive drugs, so they stop taking the drugs without authorization. However, normal blood pressure after taking antihypertensive drugs is the embodiment of the curative effect of antihypertensive drugs. When the drug is stopped at this time, 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, and the blood pressure is not measured, so he doesn't know if the blood pressure rises. Over the years, the damage appeared.

Therefore, if the blood pressure is normal after taking antihypertensive drugs, you must continue to take the drugs.

[Antihypertensive drugs can also be reduced or discontinued, but only under the guidance of a doctor and monitoring of blood pressure is required]

The condition of the patient will also change. After taking antihypertensive drugs, if the blood pressure drops to a low level, the dose can be reduced or even stopped. But it must be under the guidance of a doctor.

Many of the risk factors for high blood pressure 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 drop to varying degrees. If the blood pressure can be reduced to a normal level and maintained, the antihypertensive drugs can be reduced and discontinued.

High blood pressure 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, and the dose can also be reduced or discontinued.

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

Therefore, even if the blood pressure of a hypertensive patient drops at a certain stage, it is normal if he does not take medicine.

Some people have had high blood pressure, such as gestational 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 drop in blood pressure does not necessarily mean that the disease is getting better, but may be a manifestation of a decline in physical health.