Hypertension and Adolescents

The Problem With Hypertension and Adolescents

Hypertension is a very common condition, one that can get to be quite serious and even potentially deadly if left untreated. Hypertension and adolescents is surprisingly common although many people do not realize it. Hypertension and adolescents is particularly dangerous as well because it can cause much more serious problems.

Long term hypertension contributes to significant cardiovascular and renal morbidity and mortality. Hypertension is a silent killer and the main danger from hypertension is the extra load that is put on the heart, and as a result this can lead to complications such as hypertensive heart disease, which is when the heart that has to work harder in order to cope with high blood pressure.

Dealing With Hypertension and Adolescents

When it comes to the matter of dealing with hypertension and adolescents, there are a few steps that you are going to want to take in order to lower and manage your blood pressure. The first and most important step is to make a change in the lifestyle you are living. Focus on your diet, making sure to avoid fatty and sugary foods and instead include healthy, nutritious foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables.

Exercise is also important as you need to maintain a healthy weight in order to properly manage your high blood pressure. Limiting your alcohol intake will be helpful here as well, as drinking too much alcohol can significantly raise blood pressure. It can result in damaging the liver, brain and heart, and can also cause you to gain weight.

If you have any other unhealthy habits such as smoking you should attempt to deal with these as well, especially smoking which injures blood vessel walls and speeds up the process of the hardening of the arteries.

Talk to Your Doctor

It is important that anyone dealing with hypertension and adolescents discusses the matter with a medical professional. This is particularly important because adolescents’ bodies are less able to deal with the effects of a hypertension condition, and therefore are more prone to the serious health problems that may develop as a result of the condition.

By talking to your doctor and having them keep a watchful eye on your condition you will be able to receive a proper assessment and be able to determine which specific treatment is going to work best in your situation. Although prescription medication is often recommended to treat high blood pressure, in the case of adolescents less serious measures are typically suggested.

Gestational Hypertension

Some Things You Always Wanted To Know About Gestational Hypertension

Pregnancy is one of the most beautiful and at the same time most complicated phases in a woman's life. Some lucky few breeze through it as of nothing happened while others would struggle through a load of complications. One such complication that develops during the pregnancy is gestational hypertension.

What Is Gestational Hypertension?

Before you learn about gestational hypertension, let us first understand what is hypertension or high blood pressure. You are known to have high blood pressure when your reading is 140/90 (systolic/ diastolic) or higher. Normal blood pressure would be about 120/80.

There are possibilities that you would suffer from hypertension during your pregnancy. This health problem is classified into three categories. If the high blood pressure is observed after you completed twenty weeks of pregnancy and there is no trace of protein in your urine, you would be suffering from gestational hypertension or pregnancy hypertension.

In case you do have protein in your urine you are suffering from pre-eclampsia. Lastly, if you were suffering from high blood pressure before pregnancy or you develop it before you complete twenty weeks, you are suffering from chronic hypertension.

Is Gestational Hypertension Dangerous?

You would not be considered in any serious danger unless you develop this problem before you completed 30 weeks of pregnancy. In this case the hypertension would be mild and manageable. Your doctor would still keep a close watch since there would be a tiny possibility that you might require a C-section; overall however, both you and your baby would be safe.

When you develop hypertension before you reach the 30th week of your pregnancy you would be open to series of complications such as pre-eclampsia during labor or immediately after delivery, intra-uterine growth restriction, premature labor and in rare cases still birth.

The gestational hypertension usually affects the blood flow to the placenta and therefore endangers the normal development of the baby. This is why you would be required to have an ultrasound check up at regular intervals which would confirm that the baby was okay as well as keep a close watch on the amount of amniotic fluid. If the doctor feels it necessary you might have a Doppler ultrasound which would check whether the baby received sufficient blood flow.

A simple way to keep track on the development of the baby is to count the fetal kicks every day. This would help you know whether the baby was in any kind of distress in between the pre-natal appointments. If you find that the baby is less active than normal, you should immediately notify your doctor.