It is increasingly widespread -especially when reaching a certain age- to live with high blood pressure, that is, to have arterial hypertension. Eating poorly, genetics, eating a lot of salt or a sedentary lifestyle are some of the habits that contribute to our tension increasing and, when that term arrives, it is very difficult to go back.
- In order not to get scared with our health, it is important to take care of ourselves from the beginning and, if there is no turning back, strictly comply with the treatment that the doctor recommends. In addition to exercising frequently and eating a balanced diet low in salt.
- Despite the fact that you try to keep your blood pressure at normal levels, it often rises for some justified reason. In these cases you may be restless, and want to run to the nearest hospital. But when to go to the doctor for high blood pressure? We tell you which the most alarming cases are.
Control your blood pressure
- If a normal blood pressure must be found at a maximum of 140 mmHg and a minimum below 90 mmHg, we can speak of high pressure when the figures are between 180/110 mmHg. This means that, when passing through our blood vessels, the blood exerts a lot of pressure when circulating. The next level – very high blood pressure – would be at figures that exceed 220/130 mmHg and, at this point, the patient is in a situation that requires prompt assistance.
- Maintaining these figures continuously over time and not remedying them so that they drop can lead to health problems that affect our different organs. It can also lead to cerebral, cardiovascular or renal complications.
- For this reason it is very important to have our tension always monitored. This means having check-ups – at the pharmacy or at home – from time to time. You should keep in mind that when you do it, try to always do it at the same time and twice in a row. Try to measure it on your left arm, being as relaxed as possible and in a comfortable position. To finish, always write down the values, which will be very useful to be able to make a comparison over time and to be able to inform your doctor of this evolution.
When to go to the doctor?
In general, arterial hypertension does not usually show obvious symptoms in the patient, it is asymptomatic. Its diagnosis is made either by self-measurement at home or in a pharmacy, or it is usually diagnosed by the Primary Care doctor in a review. Although it does not require immediate intervention, if we find ourselves in the first case of diagnosis, we should go to the doctor so that he can establish a follow-up and/or treatment of our hypertension. However, it is not a case that is treated in the ER. Therefore, we talk about going to the doctor for high blood pressure in these situations:
- The first case of visiting the doctor would be to detect outside the consultation that we have hypertension and visit him to let him know.
- You should go to the doctor if, during our treatment, we notice changes in our physical state: laziness, dizziness, vertigo, headache, ringing in the ears… In this case, it is possible that our blood pressure has varied, so we must take it and, if it is necessary to see a doctor.
- If we talk about visiting the ER for hypertension, there is a not very frequent situation in which the patient must go quickly to the hospital: hypertensive crises. They are characterized by high blood pressure -with values greater than 210/120 mmHg-, which makes them require urgent consultation. Immediate attention is important because, when we have high blood pressure, it can lead to serious health risks such as bleeding due to ruptured blood vessels, kidney crises, confusion, and loss of vision…
- In these situations, rapid tension control is required, causing it to decrease in a relatively regular manner, since if it were to do so abruptly, it could cause serious problems for the patient.