High Blood Pressure

PharmTalk with Mike

This article was originally published in the Town & Country magazine for Western Downs and Darling Downs. It is written by Mike Watson, Pharmacist and Owner of Dalby Chemist.

This week I thought I would explain hypertension from a “bloke on the land” perspective. 

I want you to imagine you have a dam or a bore with water, attached are pipes, pump, taps, and a trough. 

You want to get water to the trough, so the first decision is how hard you are going to make the pump work, the second is the size of the pipes and the last how much is coming out of the tap over the trough. All this assuming you have water in the bore and the dam. 

If you make the pump work harder the pressure is up. If you have small pipes the pressure is higher, and if the tap is not letting the water out, again increased pressure.  

While in the short-term having high pressure is not a major issue, over a longer period the strain on the system means an increased risk of something going wrong. 

The pump (or motor) will burn out, the pipes rupture and the trough may not have sufficient water to meet the needs of the animals. 

Our cardiovascular system is a little like the above. The pump is called our heart, pipes are arteries, and the tap is our kidneys. 

High blood pressure increases the risk we will have something go wrong in the form of a stroke or heart attack. 

The medication we take has effects on the heart, arteries, or kidneys, depending on which medication you are taking. 

I hope this puts a little clarity on the issue. 

So, until next time keep well, come in and have a chat, your good health could depend on it.