Treatment of hypertension in the elderly

Despite the fact that hypertension "gets younger" every year, this disease most often develops in people of the older age group. Recent scientific studies have shown that the treatment of hypertension in the elderly can give a noticeable effect. And we are talking about people over 65 years old.

Rescue with medicines

With a tendency to increase blood pressure, older people often find themselves in a high-risk group. Then medical treatment of hypertension should be started without delay.

Safe doses of diuretics

If an elderly person suffering from hypertension is not burdened by other complications, then it is better to start treatment with a thiazide diuretic. And with half the usual dose. Most elderly people are treated with dichlorothiazide with an optimal dosage of 12.5 mg. It should be remembered that large doses of diuretic can increase the level of cholesterol in the blood( which in elderly people is high).But small doses are not dangerous.

If the body of an elderly person has lowered the level of sodium or potassium, then the thiazide diuretic can be combined with a potassium-sparing agent. Treatment of hypertension in the elderly should not be accompanied by the intake of additional potassium, as the kidneys do not always cope with its removal from the body.

Beta-blockers as an additional aid

If for some reason an elderly patient is difficult to take thiazide diuretics, then beta-blockers come to the rescue. However, they are not as effective as diuretics, especially with heart failure, asthma, chronic lung disease or obstructive blood vessel disease.

Meanwhile, if a person does not normalize their blood pressure after taking a thiazide diuretic, adding a beta-blocker often leads to normalization.

When the pressure of

has sharply risen In elderly people there is a risk of hypertensive crisis, that is, a sharp increase in pressure. Many drugs for hypertension for the elderly can cope with the attack.

An ambulance at home will have short-acting drugs - corinfar, cordafen, nifedipine. A tablet placed under the tongue, lowers the pressure after 20-30 minutes. The hypertensive crisis is also facilitated by a capotene tablet under the tongue. It starts to work after 10-15 minutes.

What gives the combination of drugs

The intake of any antihypertensive drug begins with a certain dose. But it can not give satisfactory results. In this case, the dose of the drug is increased or an additional remedy is prescribed. It turned out that combined drugs for the treatment of hypertension reduce the pressure more effectively than increasing the dose of one of them.

The combination of drugs can reduce the dose of each of them. As a result, the probability and strength of the side effect decreases. However, it is necessary to select correctly these medicines, which have a lot of combinations. The optimal combinations of drugs against hypertension, for example, are as follows:

• diuretics with beta-blockers;
• beta-blockers with calcium channel blockers;
• diuretic with an ACE inhibitor;
• ACE inhibitor with calcium antagonist;
• beta-blockers with alpha-blockers;
• calcium antagonists with a diuretic.

Modern methods of treatment of hypertension often involve the use of these combinations as a single medical preparation. In medical practice today, the high efficiency of combined treatment is recognized.

We go to the sanatorium

After a hypertensive crisis, health rehabilitation is necessary. This task is solved by the treatment of hypertension in a sanatorium. In the conditions of the health-improving institution, the following activities are carried out:

• medical baths;
• diet food;
• herbal medicine;
• oxygen cocktails;
• hardware physiotherapy;
• exercise therapy;
• Climatotherapy;
• aromatherapy;
• course of drug treatment.

Often as a supportive therapy hypertensive patients are offered electrosleep, electrophoresis, laser therapy. The impact of electrical impulses reduces pressure, heals the heart, kidneys, brain.

Normalizes the pressure balneotherapy in the form of carbon dioxide, sulfide and radon baths. With the help of these procedures, the work of the immune system improves.

It is very important in the treatment of hypertension in the elderly to include diet food. Patients are transferred to food with low salt content. Fried and fatty foods are excluded. The main principle of heat treatment of products is quenching or steaming.

In a sanatorium, a mandatory procedure for hypertensive patients is exercise therapy combined with long walks.

The choice of procedures is based on the degree of disease and age of the patient. At the end of the health improvement measures, the patient is given an additional examination.

What advises folk medicine

Treatment with products of

The most useful products for those suffering from hypertension are:

• strawberries and fresh grapefruit( reduce pressure);
• walnuts( 100 g) with honey( half a kilogram), take half a tablespoon three times a day;
• grape juice as a pressure regulator, on an empty stomach to eat up to a kilogram of grapes or three times a day to drink a glass of grape juice.

Healing herbs

To make effective treatment of hypertension - folk medicine offers herbs and their collections:

1. Valerian in any form( broths, infusions, powders, for adding to the bath).
2. Crushed bark of mulberry root( 1 st.l) boil in half a liter of water for 10 minutes. Strain after infusion for 10-12 hours. Use constantly instead of water.
3. Grass "Shepherd's bag"( 2 tsp) to insist in cold boiled water( 400 ml) for about 8 hours. Take up to 4 times a day for two tablespoons.
4. Make a collection of crushed leaves of lilac, mulberry, quince( on a teaspoonful).The mixture is filled with a liter of boiling water. Insists for an hour. After filtering place in a cold place. Drink constantly instead of water.
5. Mix a teaspoon of ground cinnamon with kefir( 0,5 l).Drink twice a week for one glass.

Competent use of antihypertensive therapy for the treatment of hypertension in the elderly can not only remove high-pressure attacks, but also suspend the course of the disease. And this, in turn, improves the quality and life expectancy.