May 17th marked the World Hypertension Day, a disease that in 2014 affected four out of 10 Costa Ricans and is associated with chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes.
Although some people usually have warning symptoms such as headache, difficulty breathing, dizziness or heart palpitations, the fact is that in many cases the disease progresses silently. Eduardo Ruiz, a doctor at Clínica Bíblica, explained that it is more common to be asymptomatic.
The doctor commented that this is why health professionals insist so much on the need to measure pressure because they often find that seemingly “normal” people have high blood pressure.
High pressure occurs because the blood runs at a certain pressure, the heart pumps it through the arteries and varies during the day, in a normal way. It is not the same if I am walking that when I am sitting, if I am lying down or I have just eaten, the body regulates it according to the needs. But there are certain situations in which the control of how that pressure should be working is not correct, then the blood runs through the arteries with a pressure greater than it should be,”
explained Ruiz.
The heart, the kidneys and the brain are among the most affected organs by hypertension.