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High Blood Pressure and
Diabetes
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High blood pressure (Hypertension) is a significant risk
factor for the development and worsening of many complications of diabetes Mellitus, including
diabetic eye disease heart, brain and kidney disease. It affects up to 60% of individuals with
diabetes Mellitus.
Having diabetes Mellitus increases your risk of developing
High blood pressure (Hypertension) and other cardiovascular problems, because diabetes If you
have diabetes chances of developing high blood pressure also increase. Atherosclerosis can cause
High blood pressure (Hypertension), which if not managed, can cause arteries damage heart
failure, Myocardial infarction, Angina, kidney failure, stroke. In fact, a person with diabetes
and high blood pressure is four times as likely to develop heart disease than someone who does
not have either of the conditions
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Why is it important to treat high blood pressure?
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High blood pressure increases the risk of coronary heart disease (which leads to heart attack) and
stroke, especially when it's present with other risk factors, such as diabetes. When a person has
high blood pressure and diabetes, a common combination, their risk for cardiovascular disease
doubles.
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What Should Blood Pressure Be if You Have diabetes
Mellitus?
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In general your blood pressure should not go above 130/80. The first number is the "systolic
pressure" or the pressure in the arteries when your heart beats and fills the arteries with blood.
The second number is the "diastolic pressure" or the pressure in the arteries when your heart
relaxes.
If you want to prevent diabetes complications, then you should control your blood pressure
strictly. Having a normal blood pressure is as significant to managing diabetes Mellitus as having
good control of your blood sugars when it comes to preventing diabetes Mellitus
complications.
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What Are the Symptoms of High blood pressure
(Hypertension)?
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In most cases high blood pressure (Hypertension) has no symptoms. That's why
it's so significant to have your blood pressure checked on a regular basis (during all visits with
your doctor) and to follow your doctor's recommendations on home blood pressure
measurement.
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How Is High blood pressure (Hypertension) Treated in
Diabetic patients?
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Treatment includes a change in lifestyle risk factors where these can be improved - losing weight
if you are overweight, regular physical activity, a healthy diet, cutting back if you drink a lot
of alcohol, stopping smoking, and a low salt intake. If needed, medication can lower blood
pressure. ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) inhibitors and ARBs are a group of medications that
are often used to treat high blood pressure in individuals with diabetes Mellitus. Although other
High blood pressure (Hypertension) drugs are available, ACE inhibitors have been shown to not only
to be a useful drug to manage High blood pressure (Hypertension), but it has been shown to prevent
or delay the progression of kidney disease in individuals with diabetes Mellitus as these drugs
prevent excreation of protein in urine. ARBs -- These medications keep the blood vessels open and
relaxed to help lower blood pressure. Like ACE inhibitors, ARBs protect your kidneys.
Keep in mind that some blood pressure drugs may adversely
affect your blood sugar level. Blood pressure drugs can also cause impotence like beta blockers.
Talk with your doctor about the side effects of prescribed drugs. Some blood pressures drugs
also seem to work better on certain populations of individuals. Diuretics for example seem to be
particularly useful in the elderly and may also be beneficial in individuals with hypertension
that is salt sensitive as is frequently seen in African Americans. Diuretics are also used to
treat blood pressure in diabetic patients specially elderly individuals. As adequate control of
blood pressure usually requires more than one drug, most health care providers use ACE
inhibitors first then add other anti-hypertension drugs like diuretics.
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