the silent killer

THE SILENT KILLER
i told her well just watch it keep going up until you cant watch it anymore
my wife she wasnt amused when i told her that
i was talking about the silent killer
high blood pressure

i pay $19.70 a month for my medicare part d prescription plan
when i go to the pharmacy to pick up my 90 day prescription for my generic blood pressure medication i pay exactly $0.00 for 90 pills
my wife she does the same

so
there is no reason for either of us at least not a financial reason for us to not control our blood pressure

back years ago before there were blood pressure pills to take
high blood pressure was the most common cause of heart disease in the world
now thanks to the development of blood pressure pills and especially now that many of them are generic one can control their blood pressure fairly cheaply

the normal quote unquote blood pressure use to be 140/90
now the new normal is 130/80
it may take one two or three or maybe four in some folks to control their blood pressure

now in the alzheimers world blood pressure control has been one of the emphasis of healthy things to do to help slow down or prevent alzheimers disease
plus
there is a dementia called vascular dementia that is caused by high blood pressure and strokes
many folks with this vascular dementia also have alzheimers dementia
a double whammy

so
controlling your blood pressure is one of the pillars of slowing down the development of dementia

when i would counsel patients about why they need to control their blood pressure when i would tell them controlling it could prevent a heart attack or heart failure
they sort of half way listened to me
but
when i would say well if you dont control it youll probably have a stroke and die or be permanently disabled
that having a stroke seemed to register with them especially if it had happened in the past in their family
later
i added alzheimers disease and vascular dementia to the list

the non compliant ones would squirm
sometimes it worked
sometimes it didnt


essence.com
this week famed director john singleton died at 51 from a stroke
he apparently had long term high blood pressure
i dont know if it was well controlled or not
sometimes in the afroamerican population high blood pressure may be hard to control
or
maybe he was just non compliant with his medicine

also recently well known actor luke perry also died at 52 from a stroke

the problem is that usually there are no symptoms of high blood pressure
thats why they call it
the silent killer

you dont feel anything until
that blood vessel pops and a massive hemorrhage into the brain occurs
sometimes too massive to recover
or
that big glob of fat or blood clot stops up a major brain vessel

sometimes there are warning signs like numbness or tingling or weakness or confusion or stumbling
sometimes
its
just
bam
the vessel pops like a big balloon
and
thats it

dont be a statistic
get your blood pressure under control and your cholesterol and your weight and your diabetes
your family would appreciate you doing that

know the f a s t acronym and act fast

f  face dropping
a  arms are weak
s  speech is difficult
t  time is the essence call 911

sometimes if a stroke victim gets help quick enough they can be saved

the organicgreen doctor