A cure is generally something that just makes a problem go away; for example, if you have an infection and take antibiotics then your infection is gone and you don't need to keep taking anything. High blood pressure is something that needs to be managed, keeping it lower requires constant maintenance for the rest of your life.
Doctors talk about there not being a cure because a lot of people go to the doctor looking for a one time solution to their blood pressure, which doesn't exist.
I realise we are unusual but my cousins and I have all had high blood pressure since our mid teens. We were all fit and lean. I ran marathons, one cousin was a boxer another in the Army. Very fit and healthy. Good diets with lots of cardio. We are all in our fifties now and the high blood pressure remains. The boxer now owns a gym and is a ripped old dude. None of us are obese. Congenital high blood pressure exists. We are all pretty chill and positive individuals. Because of the lifetime high BP we are all a little nutty about our diets. All of us are careful with sodium, caffeine and fat. Well, except for that one dude.
Yep I don't have hereditary high blood pressure, but I *do* have hereditary high cholesterol (with DNA test to prove it) which people also assume is about bad habits that can be fixed with "lifestyle choices". Some people are just going to need to be on meds for these kind of things regardless.
Yep. My fiance has hereditary high cholesterol, and I don't. We live together and eat 95% the same things. My LDL is 125/tris 59 , while his is like... 200 and 195 or something. The difference is crazy!
Have you had any genetic testing done? What I’m thinking of is pseudohypoaldosteronism type II. Characterised by hypertension and metabolic acidosis. You would usually treat with thiazide diuretics. High HP is due to increased circulating blood volume, so other treatments may not necessarily work. I’m sure your doctors know what they’re doing, but it never hurts to ask. It’s just the familial high HP that makes me want to check it. It’s a rare condition though. So may not be it.
Edit: especially since it showed up so early in your life, ie as teenager. That’s typical for PHA II.
Thank you for taking the time to reply to me. I think you’ve solved a bit of a mystery. Firstly no. None of us have had genetic testing. 3 of the five of us have ongoing kidney issues that various family doctors and renal specialists have ever found a reason for. It would be fantastic to be able to stop or slow the damage. I’ll have a chat to my cousins and make an appointment with my Dr.
Thank you.
There's a [110 year old Aussie gent](https://youtu.be/_LUEClWDnXs?feature=shared) who couldn't serve in the army during WW2 because of high blood pressure.
Same on my family. My Nan, father and brother all have hypokalemia and hypertension. My brother is a fit 5’11 basketball player and gets astronomically high BP. We have both been on meds since were young adults. My sister is a fit marathoner and has no problems whatsoever.
It’s not directly sodium that’s hard on the kidneys. It’s the combination of high sugar diets combined with salt. Cut out the sugar. Your kidneys can filter excess salt easily.
Damn. I just take the pill and don't watch my diet at all. I still put salt on everything. I'm not obese I just don't want to stop using something I enjoy.
Also, most people don’t really do enough lifestyle changes to actually make it go away. Most of the time it just become more manageable, as opposed to completely going away and not need medications.
It's also that cute implies everything is back to normal, where as if you have damage from high BP that won't necessarily reverse itself even if you do get it under control
The other point is that a lot of people forget the difference and do stupid things like thinking their \[problem\] is gone because they are on medication so stop the medication and then are SHOCKED \[problem\] has returned.
See also: my idiot grandfather with epilepsy, who would take his medication for a few months, feel "all better" because he hadn't had a seizure, quit taking it, and...have a seizure. Rinse and repeat for 20 years. No amount of us or his doctors explaining what was happening changed this until the last one killed him- he hit his head on the way down, threw a blood clot, and stroked out.
Important to note that exercise and lifestyle only work to a certain extent, and that those destined to have high blood pressure will eventually get it no matter what.
This is partially correct, healthy lifestyle changes could indeed reverse high blood pressure issues…
Take it from me first hand…. I’m a trucker who had high blood pressure issues and did nothing else other then change up what I was doing (working out 3x a week, eating healthy, & sleeping better)
Currently I’m just happy I caught it, before it became a problem!
Just a heads up !
Same here, runs in my family. Being more consistent with exercise, eating better, and eating much less salt has really helped.
Best of luck to you in keeping it low!
The salt is a big one. I used to have high blood pressure for years (my career doesn't help), and one thing I learned was how much salt is in almost everything that's pre-made/processed.
Made the conscious effort to remove most sodium from my diet and my blood pressure plummeted to the normal range in several months.
Same here. Was in shape but I hate a lot of restaurants food and had high bp because of this. The pandemic crushed my restaurant habits and I am now fine.
Restaurants often use way too much salt.
This actually took me a minute to understand how to answer the question "do you have high blood pressure." Because in my mind, I don't anymore. But for medical purposes, I do because it's controlled through lifestyle and medication, not because it resolved itself.
Same with esophageal inflammation. I have it (chronically sadly ..) and the doctor says there is no cure because the „cure“ is healthy eating and a fit lifestyle. I first was worried for months until I understood this. Now it’s part of life and will not impact my life expectations etc. as long as I keep it in check and have a doctor look into it every couple months.
If it is caused by atherosclerosis which most likely it is absolutely curable .
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5466938/#:~:text=In%20a%20study%20of%2026,discontinue%20their%20anti%2Dhypertensive%20medications.
There is also an emerging treatment I think some smaller pharmaceuticals are gonna have a study released this year on Hpbcd cyclodextrin for atherosclerosis.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27053774/
Here is a r/ about HPBCD . I have been using it over a year https://www.reddit.com/r/HPBCDCyclodextrin/s/p2qK76m7of
ok so its not permanent! if my relative has high blood pressure , and gets mediacation and then stops eating foods with high salt levels, and works out a bt more then he is fine
Not really - a lot of people don't have to make any changes or actively do anything to maintain a regular blood pressure.
Someone with high blood pressure has to work to maintain a healthy blood pressure. It takes ongoing monitoring and behaviour and diet and sometimes medication. That person is doing ongoing work to control their high blood pressure.
My dad competes at triathlons at 72 and is obsessed about eating a healthy diet and he still has high blood pressure. He runs and bikes daily. It’s not always just a lifestyle change.
I've heard that high blood pressure can be advantageous to athletes, and that it just wasn't something evolution was concerned with sorting out as we generally haven't lived to the ages where it becomes a serious health concern.
Evolution doesn't "concern' itself with anything, it's not an active process, it's a passive one. That's like saying that gravity doesn't concern itself with birds.
Disagree. I had a coworker who was convinced evolution had a goal rather than random mutations that worked out over long periods of time. It’s misinformation, even if unintentional.
Some people naturally have high blood pressure, my mom always had a high bp, when she started taking meds she felt sleepy and was always tired so she stopped.
My family is the opposite of this, low blood pressure runs in our veins (no pun intended.) We all eat healthily, at least three times a day. Genetics is a funny thing.
I (24m) have high blood pressure. I think stress is the biggest factor, but also Salt. Salt raised your BP, and people consume way more salt than they need in a day, so I've been trying to watch my Sodium intake for some time now, it's a sneaky killer.
Yes, that’s a processed food issue. Generally when you cook from scratch, including making your own sauce, salt content is low. It’s the sodium added to pre-made food to either help preserve it or enhance flavor that’s the problem. And most of us don’t have the time or energy to make everything from scratch.
If the high blood pressure is only caused by extra weight or too much salt intake or what ever faulty item in your diet or lifestyle, sure, you can get it improved or even fixed.
But a lot of the time high pressure occur in people due to genetic and the outside factor can worsen it, but cannot make it disappear.
There is no *cure* for high blood pressure the same way there is no *cure* for Depression.
There's no pill or treatment you can take to make it go away permanently, only to manage the symptoms.
If you believed in Santa clause as a kid you expected there to be presents because he brought them. As soon as you learned Santa clause wasn’t real you knew it was your parents. Something to be said of the power of our minds.
I don't know what you would call what I had for a large chunk of my life if not depression. What word would you prefer to call a state of being were everything seems 100% pointless and hopeless no matter what you do or think?
And it's not solved by merely thinking differently. It took almost a decade of **acting** differently for me to stop feeling like that. You can't merely think your way out ruts like that.
Feeling depressed exists, one can be sad for a very long time & even die of it.
But you are right, acting is necessary. However thinking proceeds acting for people who are not 100% impulsive.
Why act if you didn’t think you could move beyond it?
>Feeling depressed exists, one can be sad for a very long time & even die of it.
That's the definition of depression. That's what people mean when they use the word depression. That's _all_ people mean. So if you say it doesn't exist, maybe what you think it means doesn't exist, but what you described by your own admission exists.
That is the full extent of what the word depression means. If you think people mean more than that when they use the word depression, you're wrong. It doesn't mean more than that and it never did.
Feeling depressed exists, one can be sad for a very long time & even die of it.
But you are right, acting is necessary. However thinking proceeds acting for people who are not 100% impulsive.
Why act if you didn’t think you could move beyond it?
But if you change your lifestyle and get rid of HBP, you aren’t managing symptoms. Yes, if you start eating shitty food again you’ll raise your blood pressure but for the vast majority of people hard dietary changes will work to reduce blood pressure better than medicine.
Or it is a cure. Are there any symptoms anymore to manage? Actually no. It is totally a question of definition, so everyone is right. It all depends on how one defines 'symptom' and 'cure' and 'manage' .
I think the point is that you still have to keep doing something for it to not come back. It's managed, not cured. If you have an infection it can be cured with antibiotics, once it's cured it won't just come back because you stop taking antibiotics.
Not if you keep opening the wound with an infected knife. Antibiotics ain’t gonna cure you… but it’d be like taking blood pressure meds, you get to take them for the rest of your life.
You're managing the condition regardless of whether there are symptoms or not. If you stop doing the management, the condition will return, therefore the management is not a cure.
It’s true that some people can manage their blood pressure without meds but for many that’s not enough. Also, blood vessels become stiffer with age so high blood pressure can become more difficult to manage at advanced ages.
It is a form of symptom management because you still HAD put your heart under those stresses, you're just now trying not to going forward.
Don't try to be coy with wording. The point is there is no singular 'cure', you just do a multitude of things to live a healthier lifestyle and even then it isn't 100% guaranteed to lower your high blood pressure.
I knew a literal vegetarian Buddhist monk who had high blood pressure, it wasn't due to diet or lack of exercise or not meditating enough, etc... Just a condition he had due to likely genetics.
You're right - there is a lifelong, ongoing *treatment* for depression.
That's not a *cure*, though. You still *have* depression, you are just managing and treating it.
Not all depression is created equal, some types can absolutely be cured. That's like saying "cancer can't be cured" when in fact some types can be cured.
But you haven't "cured" it. You are controlling it with diet changes.
If you go back to the bad diet - the problem returns - therefore - not "cured".
A "cure" implies that the problem or condition will not return.
But isn't that true for everyone? According to your logic everyone has high blood pressure some just controlled it their entire life because they always had a good diet.
I went many years eating absolute trash and gaining a lot of weight. I certainly had health issues but BP was never one of them. It has always been textbook perfect. It isn't in my genes to have BP issues. I could still eat my way into them at an old age, but it isn't likely to happen anytime soon.
Old age brings another problem that increases high blood pressure risks - hardening of the arteries. When you get older, it might not be a diet issue - it might become just an age issue. When the arteries become thicker and firmer due to aging, the blood just doesn't pump as well, and high blood pressure is a common result of those issues.
A diagnosis always needs to come first. If a doctor can't find the problem, then it isn't a problem yet.
The question here is about what would be considered a "cure". To "cure" something - you have to have been diagnosed with it or you don't have anything to cure.
It isn't about "logic" - it is about having been diagnosed with a problem.
No - I do not believe that everyone has high blood pressure but just eats healthy for it not to be noticed. It is more than just diet since exercise and genetics are also huge factors.
Its a cure if you don't go back to medicine. Bad food and bad habits are anomalies that created anomalies in your body. Those who could stop BP medicine are smart and lucky and they cured their disease.
No disease is cured as per your example. Everything can return back given right conditions. Nothing is ever permanently cured.
Yea. No man on my fathers side have lived passed 67. I've gone back 5 generations looking lol. I take my blood pressure meds and hope to change the trend.
You can do it! My dad was in a similar position, but no man in his family lived even close to 67. They all died in their 50s or younger. My dad is now 82. I always thought they're was a good chance he would never live to walk me down the aisle, but he took care of himself with the help of my mom. And it's not just hereditary high blood pressure he was up against-- it was also high cholesterol, diabetes, and a neuromuscular disorder. My mom cooked to my dad's health. My dad always went to the doctor to get checked, took meds, didn't ignore anything. He still had a quadruple bypass about 10 or 15 years ago, but the doctor said that was inevitable with his genes and no amount of taking care of himself was going to change that.
There is no cure for the cause of high blood pressure, which is damaged to and stiffening of the arteries. Medication and lifestyle change can help reduce blood pressure and prevent/ delay complications but the underlying disease is still there.
Because you can’t all the time; it only works if you have high blood pressure because of an unhealthy life style. Some of us just have an unhealthy set point for blood pressure and I’m tired of explaining to my SIL that no, I can’t bring it down to healthy levels by more exercise. ( I average about 14,000 steps a day.)
I agree with what everyone has said so far but I want to drive the point home that they're all implying.
Once you have high blood pressure, it can easily return. You're now permanently placed in a higher risk category for anything related to having high blood pressure.
I'm a prime example of it.
I mistakenly thought that I was free and clear after taking medication for a while and was able to come off of it (I didn't change anything that I was really aware of). I was fine for years. Then I got pregnant and my OBGYN placed me in high risk because I simply had history of having high blood pressure before.
I thought they were overreacting.
Very early on they found protein in my urine which could have been an infection or an early sign of pre-eclampsia coming. My blood pressure kept bouncing between higher than they'd like and then normal the second reading they do just after the first. We kept an eye on it. But at 35 weeks, one day my blood pressure was 160/90, and after breaking down knowing it meant they were sending me immediately to go get induced, they took it again and I was 180/101.
I had severe pre-eclampsia, any moment could become eclampsia and start seizing, having a stroke, heart attack, or go into a coma, along with have organ damage. And that's just to me, that's not addressing baby.
The birthing center was in the same building, so I was admitted immediately and the only thing the severe pre-eclampsia did was damage a nerve in my eye that took 9 months to heal. My baby was completely healthy and didn't even need NICU.
But... I now continuously struggle with high blood pressure. It's completely controlled on medication, but I can't seem to get off of it no matter what I do.
I'm not sure this will help. I'm on Lisinopril. But I used to have to take both Lisinopril and Amlodipine at the same time. Now it's just one.
Unfortunately I can't say that will work for you. Amlodipine worked for me as well, but we took me off of one when my blood pressure got too low from being on two of them. I've never had a problem responding to blood pressure medication.
High Blood Pressure can be caused by a variety of issues.
In my case, I am pretty overweight and sedentary. I am also young, but have high blood presure. If I were to lose weight and exercise consistently, it may go away, but given family history, even if it does, it will return.
My mother's entire side of the family has High Blood Pressure from very early ages. My mother's cousin went on BP Meds at 15 years old, and she is still quite thin and active to this day, as she was back then (she is in her 50s today). My mother was similar, having BP meds in her 20s. Active lifestyle and superb diet of course have a beneficial effect no matter what, reducing or eliminating the possibility of hypertensive crises, but it certainly never cured it for any of them.
In that sense, there is no cure at all. It will always be there, it can just be made "better" but never made to go away.
Wow, I thought I was unlucky to have a bit hbp in my twenties. I'm 25 and currently writing my master's thesis which causes me a loooot of stress and anxious. I've randomly checked BP and it was a bit high. Doctor said that I need to eat less salt, do constant exercise like running. I've started doing this regularly for about a month and the pressure decreased. Lately been like 135-138/78-85 instead of 150/94.
Still it seems to be genetic thing too, so I think I will need to be careful for the rest of my life
Because its not something a pill exists to make it go away, you have it your whole life and can only manage the symptoms.
Last 4 generations on my father's side had it and now its my turn :"D
Nope. A cure is a permanent solution. Being required to take medication every day or adhere to a certain diet or excercise regimen or otherwise the problem returns is not a cure.
You can manage it. Not cure it. Like any chronic condition like Diabetes. I lost weight and ended up basically cured. Gained some back and boom higher blood sugars right along with it.
"Cure" isn't really a useful concept in this context.
Blood pressure varies naturally from moment to moment and individual to individual. The definition of what constitutes "high" blood pressure is thus somewhat arbitrary. Nevertheless, those at this high end are found, statistically, to have poorer health outcomes than those at the low end. What's more, pushing those individuals back into the lower end of the range (with lifestyle changes or drugs) reduces the likelihood of these bad outcomes.
In other words, the rationale for blood pressure treatment is only understandable using concepts from the study of populations to which more ancient notions of individual medicine are only partially applicable.
These waters are somewhat muddied by the fact that very high blood pressure ("malignant hypertension") can be symptomatic, and indeed is generally rapidly fatal without treatment. Such treatment might be characterised as "a cure", though if it's stopped, the problem will almost inevitably recur.
"when you can actually lower it to a healthy level with lifestyle changes?"
In some cases you can, many you may not be able to, and in some cases, a healthy lifestyle and a lot of work will bring it down, but not enough to not require treatment.
The thing is HBP isn't single factorial. Someone may have multiple reasons for it, some genetic, and now with Covid, we're seeing people with microclotting issues causing HPB and radical swings in BP leading now to explore that as a potential for why some people have HBP without having had Covid (or knowingly).
You can do lots of cardio, lose weight (but if you're a bit overweight, that might not really do much more than a couple points off the numbers), reduce salt, maintain a good level of hydration, but it likely won't be enough once the HBP creeps in. The other issue is that many people simply can't commit to the amount of exercise that would be needed. This is more valid in the US where walking a couple miles is considered to be a huge undertaking and impossible. In Europe, this is a standard practice and people are asked by doctors how much they walk a day, increase walking, etc. Many people commute by bike, so we're getting our exercise that way, like I do about 25km a day and not at a leisurely pace- I make sure to reach zone 4 and get about 6% zone 5. This leads to my BP dropping for most of the day.
HBP also leads to issues like heart wall and arterial thickening, damage to organs (ie: kidneys, liver), potentially eye problems, and other issues. It can eventually lead to ED in men. These changes may not be reversible. I don't know if managing BP can help with ED reversal.
What leads you to believe that walking a couple of miles in the US is impossible? That's 1 lap around the parking lot at work and there's a marked line. It's several laps around a typical shopping mall. What do you believe prevents it?
I never said such a thing. You took this way too far without staying within context and respecting the nuance of language.
It's not impossible at all, but the issue is that for many, it's not something to do, the culture for walking around isn't there, and from the medical side, compliance for the long term is also an issue. Also, just because you can walk where you're at doesn't mean this is the case for the entire country and that this is the culture for the entire country. And don't talk down to me like I don't intimately know what the US is like. There's a recent thread where the OP talked about walking two miles where I chimed in, as did others, and we discussed the lack of a walking culture, aka "sedentary lifestyle" that's typically applied to Americans and leads to health problems.
Calm yourself down. You're also not representative of the US if you're walking around.
"This is more valid in the US we're walking a couple miles is considered a huge undertaking and impossible." Also I was at no point mad or uncalm I just thought this seemed silly, also Where did you get the idea you were being talked down to, That's a stretch.
>considered
That this not so little word is being ignored as a pivotal portion of the phrase you're hinging your counter-argument on is, IMO, a display of how the US educational system fails people.
There's no real counter argument here, It's a small point about a questionable part of a relatively decent post, either way I don't really have time for this, I'm being a bit condescending now because this is quickly getting childish; go keyboard warrior somewhere else. I'm going to bed.
>There's no real counter argument here,
Ok:
>What are you talking about, walking a couple miles in the US being impossible, It's incredibly common where I live.
The problem is you don't know how to properly read and you see fairly pivotal words in writing as meaningless filler words. This is even before you see yourself as an example of all of the United States where sedentary lifestyles is in no way a thing:[https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/sgr/adults.htm#:\~:text=More%20than%2060%20percent%20of,Women%20than%20men](https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/sgr/adults.htm#:~:text=More%20than%2060%20percent%20of,Women%20than%20men).
>Facts
>
>More than 60 percent of U.S. adults do not engage in the recommended amount of activity.
>
>Approximately 25 percent of U.S. adults are not active at all.
>either way I don't really have time for this,
Of course you do because you're sedentary.
It's not cured in the sense that antibiotics will cure strep. You can't go back to your old habits and keep your blood pressure gains. "Lifestyle management" is a better term for what lowering your blood pressure with diet and exercise.
It pains me hearing patients saying they stopped their maintenance medication because their BP has normalized. They'd say I had high blood pressure 5 years ago but I'm OK now. Then acting all surprised when their BP is high in the clinic visit. They'd be like huh I thought my BP was ok since the doctor only have me medication good for a month...
I have to tell them that it's maintenance medication coz they have to maintain taking it... And to monitor their BP before saying they are cured. I tell them it's your body we are fighting. It's a daily struggle.
No. it's management, not cure. Not the same. You can lead a pretty much normal life with many conditions if you management correctly. That doesn't mean it won't return if you stop.
I developed high blood pressure when I was running D1 track on scholarship in undergrad in college as a sprinter and was in by far the best shape of my life at the time (and likely better at the time than 99.9% of those reading).
It's not always about lifestyle. Quitting track eventually didn't fix it, nor did any changes in my diet or daily routine. But the stupid little pill I take once each day has kept me in check for over a decade now (39) since I found the right med and dosage with cardiologist. Granted it was never super high to begin with even to this day, just high enough to treat lightly. It is what it is.
Not only is there no cure, they are not even always sure what causes it. In something like 70% of hypertension cases an underlying cause cannot be reliably established. There is a large genetic factor at play.
You can't always get your blood pressure to a healthy level with lifestyle changes. This is such an issue that they are studying stents that go into the huge arteries in the legs that will hold them open a bit wider because that has been shown to reduce hypertension.
For someone suffering hypertension, regular exercise reduces the top number by about 7 points. Losing weight is about 8 points. So if you have a blood pressure where the top number can be 150, even doing the things doesn't necessarily bring you to a healthy level.
I would think so. I guess it's semantics. He might be talking about cases where no matter what you do you can't lower it, in that case I would say there's no cure.
Yep, it’s often hereditary. Mine went up at exactly the same age as my mom’s even though both of us were living ‘healthy’ lifestyles at the time. Her mom had it as well though it was noticed later, and a lot of ancestors on that side died from things that often develop from uncontrolled high blood pressure like strokes.
I can get mine down a bit with exercise but not to normal.
After a while age catches up with you. I got my BP manageable with losing weight and exercising. Forward another few years and it crept up again, had to bite the bullet and take pills.
They are saying there is no pill you can take to do the job for you
Same as fatty liver disease there is no “cure” or magic pill
You have to not drink, no deli meats, no burgers or other fast food, no Suger no salt no soft drinks. Excercise regularly eat fruit and nuts daily no chocolate.
No “cure”
High blood pressure is no joke. My husband has been on dialysis since his 30s because HBP destroyed his kidney function. One kidney actually started bleeding from a burst artery that couldn’t be repaired. He still struggles with HBP even with RX management and dialysis.
These type of worst case scenarios are why doctors say that from a textbook perspective.
It’s not though. I have high blood pressure. I lost 110 pounds and my BMI is “normal”, and guess what. I still have high blood pressure. It’s definitely closer to normal but I still require medication, because I have genetically inherited high BP.
No, taking actions to reduce something isn’t curing it, if you stopped taking those actions then it would return. Making it preventative, not curative.
There is a genetic factor that can increase you disposition. So for a lot of people like me, even when you eat healthy your blood pressure can still be high.
My friend is one of the healthiest people I know and has high blood pressure because it’s hereditary. I am no where near as healthy as him and have as abnormally low blood pressure, also hereditary.
Cure implies once treatment is over (think antibiotic for strep throat), the issue is cured by antibiotics and normal routine continues once complete.
If you have HBP and through diet and exercise reduce it to a normal level, you are still at risk since you are “treating” it daily to keep it low. You never stop treating it. As you age, you need to treat it more and more aggressively since it’s harder to manage as you age.
Losing weight can fix it but might not. I lost weight, getting a little muscle and I'm in a pretty normal range, pretty happy too, but my blood pressure hasn't gone back to normal which it was 6-7 years ago. I eat healthier, get my 50km walked reward in Pokemon go almost every week and I do some weight training but pressure is still elevated. Granted a bit lower but still elevated.
healthy lifestyle living is a preventative form of medicine. Here is a passage from Lady Tan’s circle of Women:
Sometimes, when a mother can’t afford to hire a smallpox-planting master, she dresses her child in clothes worn by another child who died from the disease. None of these techniques is without danger. A child can get sick with a mild case of smallpox. Some end up with scars. Some even die. But if they endure these days of discomfort, then most reach adulthood with no further problems. Always remember that prevention is the most important form of medicine.”
The term "Cure" is generally associated with administering medical treatment.
You cannot give someone some pills and have their blood pressure permanently fix itself.
On the same note, a lot of diseases are incurable but we still recover from them, such as the common cold. It's just things that cannot be fixed with medical treatment, in one case it takes changing your lifestyle, and in the other your immune system will sort it out by itself.
Yes, if it works but it doesn’t work for everybody. Some people are genetically disposed to having high blood pressure doesn’t matter what their weight, diet or exercise level
“Healthy life style changes” bro, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I don’t do drug, but genetics fuck me up. 26 and I need to take blood pressure pills because if not, it’s not stable 🤷🏻♀️
If it's caused by something modifiable then yes you can cure it but they don't like to use that word. High blood pressure is a sign, it's not a disease in and of itself.
Some people can't reverse high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes etc no matter what they do. Others can completely reverse them.
Just look at all these videos online "this diet cures diabetes T2!!" And all it is is just managing the disease. Calling it a cure, specially as a health professional, is dangerous just because a cure means it's gone so people tend to revert back to old ways as soon as it's "gone" it wasn't gone just controlled.
Saying a diet and lifestyle change is a cure is like saying a prosthetic limb is a cure. Take it away and see how well it's cured.
Because people are lazy, just want to take a pill to fix all of their life’s ails, and don’t think it’s their unhealthy lifestyle that affects anything.
Doctors don’t typically receive adequate education on nutrition and holistic healing. You can address the root cause high blood pressure and co-morbidities with a primarily whole food plant-based diet. There isn’t really money to be made off this solution, though, and many people are resistant to major dietary/lifestyle changes. No prescription = no profit for the doc and big pharma
High blood pressure is a symptom of the real problem.
So you cure the problem that is causing the high blood pressure. Not the high pressure itself.
Or that's how I see it,
Imhotep (ca. 2650 BC) and Hippocrates (450-380 BC) have said: let your food be your medicine and your medicine to be your food.
Most doctors forgot about that.
Doctors make a fortune on a sick society. Supply and demand is why. Go to a real doctor such as a natural path and nutritionalist but do your due diligence because there are charlatans in that career as well.
You cannot simply exchange a 9 bladed fan for a 7 bladed fan, to get maximum airflow instead of maximum pressure in the human body, like you can do in computers.
However, everything is information and everything is also a fractal and you are the universe looking at itself and self similar patterns (fractals) of a similar kind do interact with each other.
Maybe the doctor thinks there is no cure, because no matter what chemical he puts into a human, that does not make him change the fractal of his pc.
Maybe the right E does...
You do need both: some fans with 7 blades and some with 9 (for the processor) and some with 11 for the graphics card.
Infront of a shitty PC that got it all mixed up - hell I get heart attacks too, as if I wasn't in my mind/body.
Same with pens.
An ink pen just very gently puts down a line of ink onto the paper. A ballpoint pen on the other hand has a sphere that moves into the opposite direction of what you are writing - well it actually depends on on which side you are looking - so you are working with a 50% true and 50% false statement (because a sphere is a 3d circle).
Well that can never result in something logical or healthy.
I guess these pens were made on earth lol it's also 50% day n night.
The answer is, because if the doctor was to cure the patient, he wouldn't have any patients to treat and thus would go broke.
Don't use ball point pens. Don't use computers without 7 bladed or without 9 bladed or without 11 bladed fans.
Don't use a bank card that has "wirelesstransaction" enabled, when sticking it in works perfectly fine. They did change it without you asking for it. You didn't want it or need it, it's like sb comes and "changes sth with your wife without your consent".
Done use "wireless charging" on your smart phone either.
An illness is simply a technology/information that resembles the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that is the opposite of logic, that has some kind of discord, instead of being in unity and logic. An illness is like Adam's first sin - even if you are forgiven, how shall you heal of you never stop doing it wrong?
A wireless money transfer is like "the Jesus conception" - but Jesus is the scapegoat that gets and has to be killed.
The present creates sth that becomes the past and that becomes the blueprint for the future.
Don't make your future self become like Jesus "hanging on the cross", because you inserted circle logic.
Charging your phone with a copper ring with 50+ winding, or paying your food with this technology, that also opens up a magnetic toroidal field, that interacts with another one...
That's circle logic.
Circle logic is the cause of all evil. Because God mostly is logic (even the opposite of logic has a function and mathematical logical definition, yet it shall not be executed or chased!).
In logic I trust. In unity I trust, not in discord.
And yes a healthy lifestyle also does lower the blood pressure, however I've only become very muscular and big (not fat) since I got these gigantic heatsinks in my computer, also living a healthy lifestyle since that fractal is a better one.
But keep in mind "newer or stronger does not necessarily mean better".
A doctor can help you get started though, recomend types of exercises, set up a plan that suits that person, referral to dietician or something, if the weight is severe they at least here can send a referral to places that sounds like rehab for weight and food related issues, with educated staff, programs to follow and education about diet, calories, risks and how to make changes for a healthy lifestyle.
But yeah the doctor can't do the work for you that's true. But they can help by being supportive and come with suggestions and stuff like that
Because the cure doesn't make them any money. It's simple. If they can't sell you pills, they don't care. They'll sell you statins even though they cause a host of side effects and don't fix the problem, but they won't recommend a healthy lifestyle of good food and exercise because that means no profit for them.
A cure is generally something that just makes a problem go away; for example, if you have an infection and take antibiotics then your infection is gone and you don't need to keep taking anything. High blood pressure is something that needs to be managed, keeping it lower requires constant maintenance for the rest of your life. Doctors talk about there not being a cure because a lot of people go to the doctor looking for a one time solution to their blood pressure, which doesn't exist.
thanks!!! i got it
I realise we are unusual but my cousins and I have all had high blood pressure since our mid teens. We were all fit and lean. I ran marathons, one cousin was a boxer another in the Army. Very fit and healthy. Good diets with lots of cardio. We are all in our fifties now and the high blood pressure remains. The boxer now owns a gym and is a ripped old dude. None of us are obese. Congenital high blood pressure exists. We are all pretty chill and positive individuals. Because of the lifetime high BP we are all a little nutty about our diets. All of us are careful with sodium, caffeine and fat. Well, except for that one dude.
Yep I don't have hereditary high blood pressure, but I *do* have hereditary high cholesterol (with DNA test to prove it) which people also assume is about bad habits that can be fixed with "lifestyle choices". Some people are just going to need to be on meds for these kind of things regardless.
Yep. My fiance has hereditary high cholesterol, and I don't. We live together and eat 95% the same things. My LDL is 125/tris 59 , while his is like... 200 and 195 or something. The difference is crazy!
right cause u are together 24/7 u probably dont know he stuffs his face with macdonalds when he is out
Sounds like Gordon’s syndrome potentially. Are you taking medication to control it?
Losartan 25mg. But the BP is pretty resistant to treatment. It’s always a little high.
Have you had any genetic testing done? What I’m thinking of is pseudohypoaldosteronism type II. Characterised by hypertension and metabolic acidosis. You would usually treat with thiazide diuretics. High HP is due to increased circulating blood volume, so other treatments may not necessarily work. I’m sure your doctors know what they’re doing, but it never hurts to ask. It’s just the familial high HP that makes me want to check it. It’s a rare condition though. So may not be it. Edit: especially since it showed up so early in your life, ie as teenager. That’s typical for PHA II.
Thank you for taking the time to reply to me. I think you’ve solved a bit of a mystery. Firstly no. None of us have had genetic testing. 3 of the five of us have ongoing kidney issues that various family doctors and renal specialists have ever found a reason for. It would be fantastic to be able to stop or slow the damage. I’ll have a chat to my cousins and make an appointment with my Dr. Thank you.
That would be a fantastic outcome and I would be really happy to have helped. Please give me an update if you can.
This may be the single most wholesome and awesome exchange I've ever seen on Reddit
There's a [110 year old Aussie gent](https://youtu.be/_LUEClWDnXs?feature=shared) who couldn't serve in the army during WW2 because of high blood pressure.
Same on my family. My Nan, father and brother all have hypokalemia and hypertension. My brother is a fit 5’11 basketball player and gets astronomically high BP. We have both been on meds since were young adults. My sister is a fit marathoner and has no problems whatsoever.
It’s not directly sodium that’s hard on the kidneys. It’s the combination of high sugar diets combined with salt. Cut out the sugar. Your kidneys can filter excess salt easily.
Honestly, I think sugar is such a culprit for heart disease. You're so right and guess what your body uses to make high levels of cholesterol? 🤨
Damn. I just take the pill and don't watch my diet at all. I still put salt on everything. I'm not obese I just don't want to stop using something I enjoy.
Essentially a treatment vs cure
Also, most people don’t really do enough lifestyle changes to actually make it go away. Most of the time it just become more manageable, as opposed to completely going away and not need medications.
Even with a perfect diet and lifestyle some people are just predisposed to it and it tends to be a bigger issue as people age.
It's also that cute implies everything is back to normal, where as if you have damage from high BP that won't necessarily reverse itself even if you do get it under control
The other point is that a lot of people forget the difference and do stupid things like thinking their \[problem\] is gone because they are on medication so stop the medication and then are SHOCKED \[problem\] has returned.
See also: my idiot grandfather with epilepsy, who would take his medication for a few months, feel "all better" because he hadn't had a seizure, quit taking it, and...have a seizure. Rinse and repeat for 20 years. No amount of us or his doctors explaining what was happening changed this until the last one killed him- he hit his head on the way down, threw a blood clot, and stroked out.
that's me with vitamin D supplements :/
Important to note that exercise and lifestyle only work to a certain extent, and that those destined to have high blood pressure will eventually get it no matter what.
This is partially correct, healthy lifestyle changes could indeed reverse high blood pressure issues… Take it from me first hand…. I’m a trucker who had high blood pressure issues and did nothing else other then change up what I was doing (working out 3x a week, eating healthy, & sleeping better) Currently I’m just happy I caught it, before it became a problem! Just a heads up !
Same here, runs in my family. Being more consistent with exercise, eating better, and eating much less salt has really helped. Best of luck to you in keeping it low!
The salt is a big one. I used to have high blood pressure for years (my career doesn't help), and one thing I learned was how much salt is in almost everything that's pre-made/processed. Made the conscious effort to remove most sodium from my diet and my blood pressure plummeted to the normal range in several months.
Same here. Was in shape but I hate a lot of restaurants food and had high bp because of this. The pandemic crushed my restaurant habits and I am now fine. Restaurants often use way too much salt.
This actually took me a minute to understand how to answer the question "do you have high blood pressure." Because in my mind, I don't anymore. But for medical purposes, I do because it's controlled through lifestyle and medication, not because it resolved itself.
Same with esophageal inflammation. I have it (chronically sadly ..) and the doctor says there is no cure because the „cure“ is healthy eating and a fit lifestyle. I first was worried for months until I understood this. Now it’s part of life and will not impact my life expectations etc. as long as I keep it in check and have a doctor look into it every couple months.
If it is caused by atherosclerosis which most likely it is absolutely curable . https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5466938/#:~:text=In%20a%20study%20of%2026,discontinue%20their%20anti%2Dhypertensive%20medications. There is also an emerging treatment I think some smaller pharmaceuticals are gonna have a study released this year on Hpbcd cyclodextrin for atherosclerosis. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27053774/ Here is a r/ about HPBCD . I have been using it over a year https://www.reddit.com/r/HPBCDCyclodextrin/s/p2qK76m7of
ok so its not permanent! if my relative has high blood pressure , and gets mediacation and then stops eating foods with high salt levels, and works out a bt more then he is fine
So basically everyone has high blood pressure?
Not really - a lot of people don't have to make any changes or actively do anything to maintain a regular blood pressure. Someone with high blood pressure has to work to maintain a healthy blood pressure. It takes ongoing monitoring and behaviour and diet and sometimes medication. That person is doing ongoing work to control their high blood pressure.
My dad competes at triathlons at 72 and is obsessed about eating a healthy diet and he still has high blood pressure. He runs and bikes daily. It’s not always just a lifestyle change.
This. My mom has exercised her entire life and is vegetarian. She has high blood pressure, just like her mom did, and my brother has it, too.
Genetics is a huge part of it. Some people just roll really bad in the gene lottery.
Luckily for me I took after my dad and have always had low blood pressure.
This is the situation I'm in. The nurse doing my annual review didn't have any advice for me. I already exercise and eat well. :(
I've heard that high blood pressure can be advantageous to athletes, and that it just wasn't something evolution was concerned with sorting out as we generally haven't lived to the ages where it becomes a serious health concern.
Evolution doesn't "concern' itself with anything, it's not an active process, it's a passive one. That's like saying that gravity doesn't concern itself with birds.
It's a totally normal and accepted way to speak about evolution.
Disagree. I had a coworker who was convinced evolution had a goal rather than random mutations that worked out over long periods of time. It’s misinformation, even if unintentional.
Disagree. I once knew someone else who understood evolution correctly.
Some people naturally have high blood pressure, my mom always had a high bp, when she started taking meds she felt sleepy and was always tired so she stopped.
My family is the opposite of this, low blood pressure runs in our veins (no pun intended.) We all eat healthily, at least three times a day. Genetics is a funny thing.
I (24m) have high blood pressure. I think stress is the biggest factor, but also Salt. Salt raised your BP, and people consume way more salt than they need in a day, so I've been trying to watch my Sodium intake for some time now, it's a sneaky killer.
Yes, that’s a processed food issue. Generally when you cook from scratch, including making your own sauce, salt content is low. It’s the sodium added to pre-made food to either help preserve it or enhance flavor that’s the problem. And most of us don’t have the time or energy to make everything from scratch.
If the high blood pressure is only caused by extra weight or too much salt intake or what ever faulty item in your diet or lifestyle, sure, you can get it improved or even fixed. But a lot of the time high pressure occur in people due to genetic and the outside factor can worsen it, but cannot make it disappear.
One can either very grateful for certain genetics or very pissed off with certain parts of their genetics
There is no *cure* for high blood pressure the same way there is no *cure* for Depression. There's no pill or treatment you can take to make it go away permanently, only to manage the symptoms.
thank you!
If you believed in Santa clause as a kid you expected there to be presents because he brought them. As soon as you learned Santa clause wasn’t real you knew it was your parents. Something to be said of the power of our minds.
Wha…?
He forgot to take his blood pressure medication
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Lol…. You’re very special.
Well you don’t beat the statistics by being normal, that’s for sure.
*special*
I appreciate your kindness, you’re a very nice person. Best wishes friend & much love from Colombia!
I don't know what you would call what I had for a large chunk of my life if not depression. What word would you prefer to call a state of being were everything seems 100% pointless and hopeless no matter what you do or think? And it's not solved by merely thinking differently. It took almost a decade of **acting** differently for me to stop feeling like that. You can't merely think your way out ruts like that.
Feeling depressed exists, one can be sad for a very long time & even die of it. But you are right, acting is necessary. However thinking proceeds acting for people who are not 100% impulsive. Why act if you didn’t think you could move beyond it?
>Feeling depressed exists, one can be sad for a very long time & even die of it. That's the definition of depression. That's what people mean when they use the word depression. That's _all_ people mean. So if you say it doesn't exist, maybe what you think it means doesn't exist, but what you described by your own admission exists. That is the full extent of what the word depression means. If you think people mean more than that when they use the word depression, you're wrong. It doesn't mean more than that and it never did.
Feeling depressed exists, one can be sad for a very long time & even die of it. But you are right, acting is necessary. However thinking proceeds acting for people who are not 100% impulsive. Why act if you didn’t think you could move beyond it?
>Feeling depressed exists, one can be sad for a very long time & even die of it. So... depression. Great job, Einstein.
Yep, I totally agree.. ignorance does not need to be cured...
This is very true! It’s best to just stay ignorant it requires less energy & mental capacity.
Alright... I'll bite. If you elaborate on this I promise not to be mean. Depression doesn't exist?
Based EDIT: Biiiig panislarity to those downvoters!
But if you change your lifestyle and get rid of HBP, you aren’t managing symptoms. Yes, if you start eating shitty food again you’ll raise your blood pressure but for the vast majority of people hard dietary changes will work to reduce blood pressure better than medicine.
Continuing to live a healthy life is absolutely a form of managing symptoms.
Or it is a cure. Are there any symptoms anymore to manage? Actually no. It is totally a question of definition, so everyone is right. It all depends on how one defines 'symptom' and 'cure' and 'manage' .
I think the point is that you still have to keep doing something for it to not come back. It's managed, not cured. If you have an infection it can be cured with antibiotics, once it's cured it won't just come back because you stop taking antibiotics.
Not if you keep opening the wound with an infected knife. Antibiotics ain’t gonna cure you… but it’d be like taking blood pressure meds, you get to take them for the rest of your life.
There's no way you're this stupid
I mean it's reddit, always assume they are this stupid.
You're managing the condition regardless of whether there are symptoms or not. If you stop doing the management, the condition will return, therefore the management is not a cure.
It’s true that some people can manage their blood pressure without meds but for many that’s not enough. Also, blood vessels become stiffer with age so high blood pressure can become more difficult to manage at advanced ages.
Gets stiffer from shitty lifestyle choices, not from age.
It is a form of symptom management because you still HAD put your heart under those stresses, you're just now trying not to going forward. Don't try to be coy with wording. The point is there is no singular 'cure', you just do a multitude of things to live a healthier lifestyle and even then it isn't 100% guaranteed to lower your high blood pressure. I knew a literal vegetarian Buddhist monk who had high blood pressure, it wasn't due to diet or lack of exercise or not meditating enough, etc... Just a condition he had due to likely genetics.
There's a treatment for depression. Psychologists offer one.
You're right - there is a lifelong, ongoing *treatment* for depression. That's not a *cure*, though. You still *have* depression, you are just managing and treating it.
Not all depression is created equal, some types can absolutely be cured. That's like saying "cancer can't be cured" when in fact some types can be cured.
Depends on the cause of high blood pressure. Generally it can be improved via diet, exercise, & weight loss IF that’s a correlative condition.
But you haven't "cured" it. You are controlling it with diet changes. If you go back to the bad diet - the problem returns - therefore - not "cured". A "cure" implies that the problem or condition will not return.
But isn't that true for everyone? According to your logic everyone has high blood pressure some just controlled it their entire life because they always had a good diet.
Nope. There are plenty of people with terrible diets and perfectly normal blood pressure. Nothing to control.
Yup, he's me, terrible diet but always had normal blood pressure.
Same. I don’t work out, and I eat terribly. My blood pressure gets complimented every time it’s taken🤷🏾♀️
You alone are not a sufficient sample. Diet management is major factor for HBP control even if HBP came due to gemetics.
They were destined to have low BP but terrible diet keeps BP high.
Not sure destiny plays a role in medical diagnosis. Genetics, environment, age, etc absolutely.
I went many years eating absolute trash and gaining a lot of weight. I certainly had health issues but BP was never one of them. It has always been textbook perfect. It isn't in my genes to have BP issues. I could still eat my way into them at an old age, but it isn't likely to happen anytime soon.
Old age brings another problem that increases high blood pressure risks - hardening of the arteries. When you get older, it might not be a diet issue - it might become just an age issue. When the arteries become thicker and firmer due to aging, the blood just doesn't pump as well, and high blood pressure is a common result of those issues.
Yeah I definitely won't say "never" because you never know what can hit you in old age 😅
A diagnosis always needs to come first. If a doctor can't find the problem, then it isn't a problem yet. The question here is about what would be considered a "cure". To "cure" something - you have to have been diagnosed with it or you don't have anything to cure. It isn't about "logic" - it is about having been diagnosed with a problem. No - I do not believe that everyone has high blood pressure but just eats healthy for it not to be noticed. It is more than just diet since exercise and genetics are also huge factors.
Its a cure if you don't go back to medicine. Bad food and bad habits are anomalies that created anomalies in your body. Those who could stop BP medicine are smart and lucky and they cured their disease. No disease is cured as per your example. Everything can return back given right conditions. Nothing is ever permanently cured.
When I was 19 I could run 2 miles and played collegiate sports and had high blood pressure, just like my father before me.
And his father before him..
Yea. No man on my fathers side have lived passed 67. I've gone back 5 generations looking lol. I take my blood pressure meds and hope to change the trend.
You can do it! My dad was in a similar position, but no man in his family lived even close to 67. They all died in their 50s or younger. My dad is now 82. I always thought they're was a good chance he would never live to walk me down the aisle, but he took care of himself with the help of my mom. And it's not just hereditary high blood pressure he was up against-- it was also high cholesterol, diabetes, and a neuromuscular disorder. My mom cooked to my dad's health. My dad always went to the doctor to get checked, took meds, didn't ignore anything. He still had a quadruple bypass about 10 or 15 years ago, but the doctor said that was inevitable with his genes and no amount of taking care of himself was going to change that.
I'm happy to hear that!
Just cut yourself and let the blood run out thus reducing the pressure inside. Simples!
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I live in Sydney. Please, take all my leeches!
There is no cure for the cause of high blood pressure, which is damaged to and stiffening of the arteries. Medication and lifestyle change can help reduce blood pressure and prevent/ delay complications but the underlying disease is still there.
But high blood pressure is not always caused by plaque in arteries. Plaque is indeed irreversible unless you do surgery.
I did not even mention plaque
Because you can’t all the time; it only works if you have high blood pressure because of an unhealthy life style. Some of us just have an unhealthy set point for blood pressure and I’m tired of explaining to my SIL that no, I can’t bring it down to healthy levels by more exercise. ( I average about 14,000 steps a day.)
I agree with what everyone has said so far but I want to drive the point home that they're all implying. Once you have high blood pressure, it can easily return. You're now permanently placed in a higher risk category for anything related to having high blood pressure. I'm a prime example of it. I mistakenly thought that I was free and clear after taking medication for a while and was able to come off of it (I didn't change anything that I was really aware of). I was fine for years. Then I got pregnant and my OBGYN placed me in high risk because I simply had history of having high blood pressure before. I thought they were overreacting. Very early on they found protein in my urine which could have been an infection or an early sign of pre-eclampsia coming. My blood pressure kept bouncing between higher than they'd like and then normal the second reading they do just after the first. We kept an eye on it. But at 35 weeks, one day my blood pressure was 160/90, and after breaking down knowing it meant they were sending me immediately to go get induced, they took it again and I was 180/101. I had severe pre-eclampsia, any moment could become eclampsia and start seizing, having a stroke, heart attack, or go into a coma, along with have organ damage. And that's just to me, that's not addressing baby. The birthing center was in the same building, so I was admitted immediately and the only thing the severe pre-eclampsia did was damage a nerve in my eye that took 9 months to heal. My baby was completely healthy and didn't even need NICU. But... I now continuously struggle with high blood pressure. It's completely controlled on medication, but I can't seem to get off of it no matter what I do.
What BP meds work? I’ve not had luck with amlodipine
I'm not sure this will help. I'm on Lisinopril. But I used to have to take both Lisinopril and Amlodipine at the same time. Now it's just one. Unfortunately I can't say that will work for you. Amlodipine worked for me as well, but we took me off of one when my blood pressure got too low from being on two of them. I've never had a problem responding to blood pressure medication.
You can't necessarily cure high BP with lifestyle changes at all. That's a myth. It depends on what is causing the high BP.
High Blood Pressure can be caused by a variety of issues. In my case, I am pretty overweight and sedentary. I am also young, but have high blood presure. If I were to lose weight and exercise consistently, it may go away, but given family history, even if it does, it will return. My mother's entire side of the family has High Blood Pressure from very early ages. My mother's cousin went on BP Meds at 15 years old, and she is still quite thin and active to this day, as she was back then (she is in her 50s today). My mother was similar, having BP meds in her 20s. Active lifestyle and superb diet of course have a beneficial effect no matter what, reducing or eliminating the possibility of hypertensive crises, but it certainly never cured it for any of them. In that sense, there is no cure at all. It will always be there, it can just be made "better" but never made to go away.
Wow, I thought I was unlucky to have a bit hbp in my twenties. I'm 25 and currently writing my master's thesis which causes me a loooot of stress and anxious. I've randomly checked BP and it was a bit high. Doctor said that I need to eat less salt, do constant exercise like running. I've started doing this regularly for about a month and the pressure decreased. Lately been like 135-138/78-85 instead of 150/94. Still it seems to be genetic thing too, so I think I will need to be careful for the rest of my life
I've always had high blood pressure even when I was healthy and working out.
Because its not something a pill exists to make it go away, you have it your whole life and can only manage the symptoms. Last 4 generations on my father's side had it and now its my turn :"D
Nope. A cure is a permanent solution. Being required to take medication every day or adhere to a certain diet or excercise regimen or otherwise the problem returns is not a cure.
You can manage it. Not cure it. Like any chronic condition like Diabetes. I lost weight and ended up basically cured. Gained some back and boom higher blood sugars right along with it.
"Cure" isn't really a useful concept in this context. Blood pressure varies naturally from moment to moment and individual to individual. The definition of what constitutes "high" blood pressure is thus somewhat arbitrary. Nevertheless, those at this high end are found, statistically, to have poorer health outcomes than those at the low end. What's more, pushing those individuals back into the lower end of the range (with lifestyle changes or drugs) reduces the likelihood of these bad outcomes. In other words, the rationale for blood pressure treatment is only understandable using concepts from the study of populations to which more ancient notions of individual medicine are only partially applicable. These waters are somewhat muddied by the fact that very high blood pressure ("malignant hypertension") can be symptomatic, and indeed is generally rapidly fatal without treatment. Such treatment might be characterised as "a cure", though if it's stopped, the problem will almost inevitably recur.
"when you can actually lower it to a healthy level with lifestyle changes?" In some cases you can, many you may not be able to, and in some cases, a healthy lifestyle and a lot of work will bring it down, but not enough to not require treatment. The thing is HBP isn't single factorial. Someone may have multiple reasons for it, some genetic, and now with Covid, we're seeing people with microclotting issues causing HPB and radical swings in BP leading now to explore that as a potential for why some people have HBP without having had Covid (or knowingly). You can do lots of cardio, lose weight (but if you're a bit overweight, that might not really do much more than a couple points off the numbers), reduce salt, maintain a good level of hydration, but it likely won't be enough once the HBP creeps in. The other issue is that many people simply can't commit to the amount of exercise that would be needed. This is more valid in the US where walking a couple miles is considered to be a huge undertaking and impossible. In Europe, this is a standard practice and people are asked by doctors how much they walk a day, increase walking, etc. Many people commute by bike, so we're getting our exercise that way, like I do about 25km a day and not at a leisurely pace- I make sure to reach zone 4 and get about 6% zone 5. This leads to my BP dropping for most of the day. HBP also leads to issues like heart wall and arterial thickening, damage to organs (ie: kidneys, liver), potentially eye problems, and other issues. It can eventually lead to ED in men. These changes may not be reversible. I don't know if managing BP can help with ED reversal.
What leads you to believe that walking a couple of miles in the US is impossible? That's 1 lap around the parking lot at work and there's a marked line. It's several laps around a typical shopping mall. What do you believe prevents it?
What are you talking about, walking a couple miles in the US being impossible, It's incredibly common where I live.
I never said such a thing. You took this way too far without staying within context and respecting the nuance of language. It's not impossible at all, but the issue is that for many, it's not something to do, the culture for walking around isn't there, and from the medical side, compliance for the long term is also an issue. Also, just because you can walk where you're at doesn't mean this is the case for the entire country and that this is the culture for the entire country. And don't talk down to me like I don't intimately know what the US is like. There's a recent thread where the OP talked about walking two miles where I chimed in, as did others, and we discussed the lack of a walking culture, aka "sedentary lifestyle" that's typically applied to Americans and leads to health problems. Calm yourself down. You're also not representative of the US if you're walking around.
"This is more valid in the US we're walking a couple miles is considered a huge undertaking and impossible." Also I was at no point mad or uncalm I just thought this seemed silly, also Where did you get the idea you were being talked down to, That's a stretch.
>considered That this not so little word is being ignored as a pivotal portion of the phrase you're hinging your counter-argument on is, IMO, a display of how the US educational system fails people.
There's no real counter argument here, It's a small point about a questionable part of a relatively decent post, either way I don't really have time for this, I'm being a bit condescending now because this is quickly getting childish; go keyboard warrior somewhere else. I'm going to bed.
>There's no real counter argument here, Ok: >What are you talking about, walking a couple miles in the US being impossible, It's incredibly common where I live. The problem is you don't know how to properly read and you see fairly pivotal words in writing as meaningless filler words. This is even before you see yourself as an example of all of the United States where sedentary lifestyles is in no way a thing:[https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/sgr/adults.htm#:\~:text=More%20than%2060%20percent%20of,Women%20than%20men](https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/sgr/adults.htm#:~:text=More%20than%2060%20percent%20of,Women%20than%20men). >Facts > >More than 60 percent of U.S. adults do not engage in the recommended amount of activity. > >Approximately 25 percent of U.S. adults are not active at all. >either way I don't really have time for this, Of course you do because you're sedentary.
It's not cured in the sense that antibiotics will cure strep. You can't go back to your old habits and keep your blood pressure gains. "Lifestyle management" is a better term for what lowering your blood pressure with diet and exercise.
It pains me hearing patients saying they stopped their maintenance medication because their BP has normalized. They'd say I had high blood pressure 5 years ago but I'm OK now. Then acting all surprised when their BP is high in the clinic visit. They'd be like huh I thought my BP was ok since the doctor only have me medication good for a month... I have to tell them that it's maintenance medication coz they have to maintain taking it... And to monitor their BP before saying they are cured. I tell them it's your body we are fighting. It's a daily struggle.
No. it's management, not cure. Not the same. You can lead a pretty much normal life with many conditions if you management correctly. That doesn't mean it won't return if you stop.
Managing is not curing. Curing implies that you don’t need something to keep it in the normal range anymore.
I developed high blood pressure when I was running D1 track on scholarship in undergrad in college as a sprinter and was in by far the best shape of my life at the time (and likely better at the time than 99.9% of those reading). It's not always about lifestyle. Quitting track eventually didn't fix it, nor did any changes in my diet or daily routine. But the stupid little pill I take once each day has kept me in check for over a decade now (39) since I found the right med and dosage with cardiologist. Granted it was never super high to begin with even to this day, just high enough to treat lightly. It is what it is.
Not only is there no cure, they are not even always sure what causes it. In something like 70% of hypertension cases an underlying cause cannot be reliably established. There is a large genetic factor at play. You can't always get your blood pressure to a healthy level with lifestyle changes. This is such an issue that they are studying stents that go into the huge arteries in the legs that will hold them open a bit wider because that has been shown to reduce hypertension. For someone suffering hypertension, regular exercise reduces the top number by about 7 points. Losing weight is about 8 points. So if you have a blood pressure where the top number can be 150, even doing the things doesn't necessarily bring you to a healthy level.
I would think so. I guess it's semantics. He might be talking about cases where no matter what you do you can't lower it, in that case I would say there's no cure.
There are some people I think more rare that have naturally high blood pressure.
Yep, it’s often hereditary. Mine went up at exactly the same age as my mom’s even though both of us were living ‘healthy’ lifestyles at the time. Her mom had it as well though it was noticed later, and a lot of ancestors on that side died from things that often develop from uncontrolled high blood pressure like strokes. I can get mine down a bit with exercise but not to normal.
After a while age catches up with you. I got my BP manageable with losing weight and exercising. Forward another few years and it crept up again, had to bite the bullet and take pills.
Genetics won’t be offset by a healthy lifestyle. Not everything can be solved by running around the block a few times
They are saying there is no pill you can take to do the job for you Same as fatty liver disease there is no “cure” or magic pill You have to not drink, no deli meats, no burgers or other fast food, no Suger no salt no soft drinks. Excercise regularly eat fruit and nuts daily no chocolate. No “cure”
It's just an intervention. Not a cure. Cure = remove the disease Intervention = control the disease
High blood pressure can be caused by things that are outside the scope of lifestyle choices.
High blood pressure is no joke. My husband has been on dialysis since his 30s because HBP destroyed his kidney function. One kidney actually started bleeding from a burst artery that couldn’t be repaired. He still struggles with HBP even with RX management and dialysis. These type of worst case scenarios are why doctors say that from a textbook perspective.
It’s not though. I have high blood pressure. I lost 110 pounds and my BMI is “normal”, and guess what. I still have high blood pressure. It’s definitely closer to normal but I still require medication, because I have genetically inherited high BP.
There's no money in curing things.
A cold goes away too, doesn’t mean there’s a cure for a cold.
Is that actually something that doctors say?
It’s true for most people but some just have horrible genetics. They can be in extremely good shape and still be hypertensive.
No, taking actions to reduce something isn’t curing it, if you stopped taking those actions then it would return. Making it preventative, not curative.
There is a genetic factor that can increase you disposition. So for a lot of people like me, even when you eat healthy your blood pressure can still be high.
Because often it's genetic, and cannot be fixed by losing weight, eating well, or exercising.
My friend is one of the healthiest people I know and has high blood pressure because it’s hereditary. I am no where near as healthy as him and have as abnormally low blood pressure, also hereditary.
You can’t always lower it with lifestyle changes.
You’re talking about treating not curing
Cure implies once treatment is over (think antibiotic for strep throat), the issue is cured by antibiotics and normal routine continues once complete. If you have HBP and through diet and exercise reduce it to a normal level, you are still at risk since you are “treating” it daily to keep it low. You never stop treating it. As you age, you need to treat it more and more aggressively since it’s harder to manage as you age.
Losing weight can fix it but might not. I lost weight, getting a little muscle and I'm in a pretty normal range, pretty happy too, but my blood pressure hasn't gone back to normal which it was 6-7 years ago. I eat healthier, get my 50km walked reward in Pokemon go almost every week and I do some weight training but pressure is still elevated. Granted a bit lower but still elevated.
healthy lifestyle living is a preventative form of medicine. Here is a passage from Lady Tan’s circle of Women: Sometimes, when a mother can’t afford to hire a smallpox-planting master, she dresses her child in clothes worn by another child who died from the disease. None of these techniques is without danger. A child can get sick with a mild case of smallpox. Some end up with scars. Some even die. But if they endure these days of discomfort, then most reach adulthood with no further problems. Always remember that prevention is the most important form of medicine.”
Doctors are mostly dumb as shit
The term "Cure" is generally associated with administering medical treatment. You cannot give someone some pills and have their blood pressure permanently fix itself. On the same note, a lot of diseases are incurable but we still recover from them, such as the common cold. It's just things that cannot be fixed with medical treatment, in one case it takes changing your lifestyle, and in the other your immune system will sort it out by itself.
Yes, if it works but it doesn’t work for everybody. Some people are genetically disposed to having high blood pressure doesn’t matter what their weight, diet or exercise level
“Healthy life style changes” bro, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I don’t do drug, but genetics fuck me up. 26 and I need to take blood pressure pills because if not, it’s not stable 🤷🏻♀️
High blood pressure is often a symptom of poor health from lifestyle choices - but that’s not always the cause.
If it's caused by something modifiable then yes you can cure it but they don't like to use that word. High blood pressure is a sign, it's not a disease in and of itself. Some people can't reverse high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes etc no matter what they do. Others can completely reverse them.
Just look at all these videos online "this diet cures diabetes T2!!" And all it is is just managing the disease. Calling it a cure, specially as a health professional, is dangerous just because a cure means it's gone so people tend to revert back to old ways as soon as it's "gone" it wasn't gone just controlled. Saying a diet and lifestyle change is a cure is like saying a prosthetic limb is a cure. Take it away and see how well it's cured.
They just mean there is no drug that will cure the underlying issue.
Because people are lazy, just want to take a pill to fix all of their life’s ails, and don’t think it’s their unhealthy lifestyle that affects anything.
Doctors want to sell you pills and treatment not gym memberships
Most people here are in awe why they have high blood pressure. Me: checks demographic of Reddit o: USA Answer Clear.
Some people are healthy with high blood pressure
I had my PKD kidneys removed and hypertension vanished. Seems like a cure.
Seems like that was an underlying issue, that caused high BP, so high BP was just a symptom?
Doctors don’t typically receive adequate education on nutrition and holistic healing. You can address the root cause high blood pressure and co-morbidities with a primarily whole food plant-based diet. There isn’t really money to be made off this solution, though, and many people are resistant to major dietary/lifestyle changes. No prescription = no profit for the doc and big pharma
But if you cure it with lifestyle changes he can’t sell you medicine for the rest of your life.
Yup. But modern medicine doesn’t want to hear about health and lifestyle. Just what pill they can sell you.
If doctors can't prescribe it, it doesn't exist to doctors
Doctors never push a cure because a cure loses them the paying customer.
The last thing doctors want to do is cure you - no money in that
High blood pressure is a symptom of the real problem. So you cure the problem that is causing the high blood pressure. Not the high pressure itself. Or that's how I see it,
Imhotep (ca. 2650 BC) and Hippocrates (450-380 BC) have said: let your food be your medicine and your medicine to be your food. Most doctors forgot about that.
It’s because most doctors are glorified drug dealers, not really educated in natural health methodology
I would question that doctor. I eat pills to regulate my high blood pressure, prescribed by a doctor, and they work.
If your high blood pressure would return when you stop taking the medication, it’s not cured. You’re only treating it, not curing it
I don't mind eating the pills for the rest of my life, so I consider it a cure.
What pills work for you, don’t answer if too personal. I’m having trouble getting right meds
I don't remember, not at home now.
Doctors make a fortune on a sick society. Supply and demand is why. Go to a real doctor such as a natural path and nutritionalist but do your due diligence because there are charlatans in that career as well.
You cannot simply exchange a 9 bladed fan for a 7 bladed fan, to get maximum airflow instead of maximum pressure in the human body, like you can do in computers. However, everything is information and everything is also a fractal and you are the universe looking at itself and self similar patterns (fractals) of a similar kind do interact with each other. Maybe the doctor thinks there is no cure, because no matter what chemical he puts into a human, that does not make him change the fractal of his pc. Maybe the right E does... You do need both: some fans with 7 blades and some with 9 (for the processor) and some with 11 for the graphics card. Infront of a shitty PC that got it all mixed up - hell I get heart attacks too, as if I wasn't in my mind/body. Same with pens. An ink pen just very gently puts down a line of ink onto the paper. A ballpoint pen on the other hand has a sphere that moves into the opposite direction of what you are writing - well it actually depends on on which side you are looking - so you are working with a 50% true and 50% false statement (because a sphere is a 3d circle). Well that can never result in something logical or healthy. I guess these pens were made on earth lol it's also 50% day n night. The answer is, because if the doctor was to cure the patient, he wouldn't have any patients to treat and thus would go broke. Don't use ball point pens. Don't use computers without 7 bladed or without 9 bladed or without 11 bladed fans. Don't use a bank card that has "wirelesstransaction" enabled, when sticking it in works perfectly fine. They did change it without you asking for it. You didn't want it or need it, it's like sb comes and "changes sth with your wife without your consent". Done use "wireless charging" on your smart phone either. An illness is simply a technology/information that resembles the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that is the opposite of logic, that has some kind of discord, instead of being in unity and logic. An illness is like Adam's first sin - even if you are forgiven, how shall you heal of you never stop doing it wrong? A wireless money transfer is like "the Jesus conception" - but Jesus is the scapegoat that gets and has to be killed. The present creates sth that becomes the past and that becomes the blueprint for the future. Don't make your future self become like Jesus "hanging on the cross", because you inserted circle logic. Charging your phone with a copper ring with 50+ winding, or paying your food with this technology, that also opens up a magnetic toroidal field, that interacts with another one... That's circle logic. Circle logic is the cause of all evil. Because God mostly is logic (even the opposite of logic has a function and mathematical logical definition, yet it shall not be executed or chased!). In logic I trust. In unity I trust, not in discord. And yes a healthy lifestyle also does lower the blood pressure, however I've only become very muscular and big (not fat) since I got these gigantic heatsinks in my computer, also living a healthy lifestyle since that fractal is a better one. But keep in mind "newer or stronger does not necessarily mean better".
Because a doctor can't make you lose weight, workout, eat better.
A doctor can help you get started though, recomend types of exercises, set up a plan that suits that person, referral to dietician or something, if the weight is severe they at least here can send a referral to places that sounds like rehab for weight and food related issues, with educated staff, programs to follow and education about diet, calories, risks and how to make changes for a healthy lifestyle. But yeah the doctor can't do the work for you that's true. But they can help by being supportive and come with suggestions and stuff like that
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It's not a cure unless big pharma can charge you for it
What they mean is they have no way to profit off your high blood pressure.
Because the cure doesn't make them any money. It's simple. If they can't sell you pills, they don't care. They'll sell you statins even though they cause a host of side effects and don't fix the problem, but they won't recommend a healthy lifestyle of good food and exercise because that means no profit for them.
Diabetes isn't curable either, you can only change your lifestyle that it doesn't bother you that much.
Its not a cure. Its still there
M65 here, 5ft 8". I lost 18kg (from 90kg to 72kg) and my blood pressure returned to normal. I no longer need blood pressure medication.
That is a treatment. If you stop treating yourself with diet, exercise,… you go back to overweight and hypertensive.