China is a major hypertensive country, with more than 300 million people currently suffering from hypertension.
High and low blood pressure not only makes people feel dizzy and weak, but also has many adverse effects on health.
To manage blood pressure well, you need to persevere, but people are not machines, there are always “unruly” times, so blood pressure will take advantage of the opportunity to surge.
At this point, of course, lowering blood pressure is the primary goal, but is it necessary to lower it quickly?
01
You should not seek to lower blood pressure quickly
Many patients think: “As long as the speed of lowering blood pressure is fast, the adverse effects of excessive blood pressure will not catch up with them.”
But in fact, as long as the high pressure does not exceed 180 mmHg and the low pressure does not exceed 110 mmHg, it is generally not advisable to lower blood pressure too quickly. In antihypertensive therapy, the body needs to be given the process of adapting to the blood pressure.
If the blood pressure drops too fast, the pressure in the blood vessels will drop significantly and the blood flow will slow down, leading to ischemia and significantly less blood perfusion in the heart, brain, kidneys and other important organs, and the formation of thrombus and embolism in the cerebral vessels easily or insufficient blood supply to the brain due to other reasons, resulting in ischemic cerebrovascular disease.
If the patient himself has cerebral vascular stenosis, low blood pressure will instead increase the risk of ischemic stroke.
For most patients with hypertension, blood pressure should be gradually lowered to target levels over a period of 4 or 12 weeks, depending on the condition. The rate of blood pressure lowering can be slightly faster in younger patients with shorter duration of hypertension and slower in older patients with longer duration of disease, comorbidities and poor tolerance.
The goals of blood pressure lowering for hypertension are
Patients with ordinary hypertension – lowering to a systolic blood pressure <140 mmHg and a diastolic blood pressure <90 mmHg.
Elderly people aged 65-79 years – to <150/90 mmHg, or further to <140/90 mmHg if tolerated.
Aged ≥80 years without comorbid diabetes or chronic kidney disease – to <150 mmHg systolic and <90 mmHg diastolic.
02
Nifedipine is effective in lowering blood pressure?
Nifedipine (commonly known as “heartburn”), containing nifedipine can make the blood pressure drop rapidly within half an hour, so in the eyes of many hypertensive patients, it is even a life-saving drug, but this drug is aimed at patients with hypertensive emergencies.
The treatment of hypertension requires a long period of time to lower the blood pressure smoothly, and taking nifedipine with it will make the blood pressure value fluctuate drastically, which may induce serious consequences such as angina pectoris, or even heart attack or brain infarction.
Therefore, nifedipine is not suitable for routine treatment, and long-acting oral antihypertensive drugs should be taken to gradually lower blood pressure and bring it under the ideal range within a week or two or even two or three weeks.
