While cholesterol helps your body function, too much of it can cause severe health issues including high blood pressure also known as hypertension. The excessive cholesterol can build up and eventually form plaque in the body’s arteries. These blockages in the arteries make it more difficult for oxygen-rich blood to pass through, causing a strain on your heart and increasing your blood pressure. It is recommended that all adults aged 20 and above have their cholesterol checked every four to six years. Leading a well-balanced, healthy lifestyle is the key to healthy levels of cholesterol and blood pressure. To lower your cholesterol, eat a healthy diet and get 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise, three to four times a week. However, following lifestyle modifications, a failure to achieve a healthy cholesterol level, warrants the use of medicines. Medications can help you to control cholesterol levels, but diet and lifestyle changes remain the best ways to reduce the risk of high blood pressure. It’s also very important to take your medication exactly as your doctor has instructed.

High blood pressure, what doctors call hypertension, affects one in three adults. High blood pressure can lead to heart attacks, strokes, and other adverse cardiovascular events. Traditionally treatment has been medication, diet, exercise, and no smoking or alcohol. However, recent studies suggest that there’s a lot you can do to keep your blood pressure within a healthy range, including starting a yoga practice. Yoga, including pranayama, asanas and meditation, when performed mindfully, can reduce stress-induced hypertension, while addressing its underlying causes. It pacifies the nervous system and slows down the heart, while training the muscles and mind to relax deeply. Studies suggest that Yoga may help reduce blood pressure in people who are at risk for developing hypertension. However, people with high blood pressure are warned to be cautious in approaching exercise. This is generally because vigorous exercise puts stress on the cardiovascular system, including raising heart-rate and blood pressure. Before engaging in any sort of exercise program, including yoga of any type or variety, people with any sort of cardiovascular condition including high blood pressure should consult their physician. Also, it is important to remember that yoga may be a complementary therapy. It is not a replacement for treatments and medications that a healthcare professional recommends.

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Stroke can lead to impairment, loss of memory and death. However, the good news is that if you follow doctors’ instructions, you can prevent this deadly ailment.  

According to Delphine Mushimiyimana, a physiotherapist at University of Rwanda’s Polyclinic, Kiyovu, a stroke is a non-communicable disease which emerges when the blood supply to part of the brain is interrupted, insufficient or even reduced, cutting out the brain tissue of oxygen and nutrients. This injures brain cells which die with time. A stroke is a medical emergency. It is important to get the necessary treatment immediately to lessen brain damage and possible impediments.

She also notes there are three types of stroke and one of them is a haemorrhagic stroke, which is when blood from an artery begins bleeding into the brain. This happens when a debilitated blood vessel bursts and bleeds into the surrounding brain. Pressure from the leaked blood damages brain cells — here, the damaged area is unable to function properly.  

Sheila Wibabara, a physiotherapist at PHYSIQUE LTD, Remera, says the other two types of stroke include; ischaemic stroke – this stroke can be caused by a blood clot that forms in the heart and travels to the brain or by atherothrombosis.

She says, transient ischaemic attack (TIA) is another stroke type that is caused by a blood clot that temporarily interrupts blood flow in the brain, and is a major risk factor for future strokes that could cause more serious damage.

Mushimiyimana says, a stroke can occur when someone is stressed, overworked and not rested enough, or has high blood pressure. The high blood pressure can cause the blood vessel to burst. This needs an immediate emergency to handle it.

Wibabara says that the people who are prone to stroke are those who are; overweight, those who rarely or don’t do physical exercises, diabetics and people that have been majorly operated.

If you have a problem with the right side of the brain, Mushimiyimana notes that the paralysis will be presented by the left side of the body. Stroke affects people emotionally, economically and physically, she says.

RISK FACTORS

Mushimiyimana notes that high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, for instance, heart failure, heart defects, heart infection, can lead to stroke.

Wibabara states that stroke risk factors are mainly family history of heart disease. This may include; defective heart valves, and irregular heartbeat. High blood pressure typically 140/90 or higher, tobacco users. Nicotine makes your blood pressure go up. Cigarette smoke causes a fatty build up in your main neck artery. It also thickens your blood and makes it more likely to clot.

She also adds that people with diabetes have high blood pressure and are more likely to be overweight. Both raise the chance of a stroke. Diabetes damages your blood vessels, which makes a stroke more likely. If you have a stroke when your blood sugar levels are high, the injury to your brain is greater.

COMPLICATIONS

Mushimiyimana explains that a stroke patient can become paralysed on one side of their body, or fail to control certain muscles, for example, those on one side of their face or on the arm.

“A stroke might affect control of the muscles in one’s mouth and throat, thus making it hard for you to talk clearly, swallow or eat. You also may have difficulty with language (aphasia), including speaking or understanding speech, reading, or writing,” she states.

She says that some people who experience stroke might have memory loss, trouble thinking, reasoning and understanding some notions, while others may have more struggle controlling their emotions, or may even develop depression or become mentally disturbed.

Mushimiyimana carries on that stroke can come with numbness, or other strange feelings, for example, someone suffering from a stroke might lose feeling in their left or right arm, may develop an uncomfortable burning sensation in that arm.

She further says that these patients might find it hard to control their urine and faeces, and most of them have to depend on people for everything. Some stroke patients even feel irritated, especially if they fail to say what they want and wonder why they are helpless.

TREATMENT

Mushimiyimana says exercise is very important for strengthening and stretching, these exercises are known as proprioception. This is also known as kinaesthesia, which is the sense of self-movement and body position.

She also notes that physiotherapy works effectively if it is done consecutively.

PREVENTION

Mushimiyimana adds, to prevent stroke, you must exercise at least 30 minutes every day, you can do aerobics, swim, walk, and run. However, it is important to know your health status to know the kind of exercise suitable for your weight.  

To avert stroke, Wibabara explains that people need to be sensitised about it, frequent check-ups with your doctor, especially when you are diabetic or have heart disease.

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With three medicines for high blood pressure and another one to lower cholesterol – what if you could just take one pill? A new all-in-one medication may let you do just that.

The “polypill,” worked just as well to prevent and treat elevated blood pressure and high cholesterol, according to a new study.

The experimental pill could be a game changer for lower-income patients.

“We have made a lot of progress in preventing and treating cardiovascular disease but that progress hasn’t reached everybody,” said Dr. Daniel Muñoz, an assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in an interview with ABC News. Munoz was involved in the study testing the pill conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Franklin Primary Health Center.

If the benefits seen in this study continue, the researchers predict that the polypill would lead to a nearly 25% reduction in the number of new cardiovascular events in the lower-income population — which is particularly at risk.

Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death in the United States, especially in minorities and those with low socio-economic status. Two major contributors to cardiovascular disease are high blood pressure and high cholesterol. 75 million American adults have high blood pressure and nearly 29 million American adults have elevated cholesterol according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In an interview with ABC News, Dr. James De Lemos, a professor of medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern, said “We have evidence that these polypills create meaningful patient outcomes.”

He described polypills as low-cost medications containing “low dosages of medications that have very good side effect profiles and don’t require lab monitoring.” De Lemos was not involved in the study.

The study polypill was formulated to include four low-dose medications that are already standard treatments for high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The pill includes generic formulations of Lipitor, Norvasc, Cozaar and HydroDiuril. The combination pill — four medicines in one — was manufactured at the low cost of $26 per month, per person. What’s more, patients would only have to take one pill instead of four, making it easier to stay on track with taking the medicine.

People in the trial were treated with either the polypill or with traditional medications. After the trial was over, systolic blood pressure (the top number) decreased by nine points in the polypill group, whereas it only went down two points in the standard treatment group. LDL cholesterol level (“bad cholesterol”) decreased by 15 mg/dL in the polypill group, while the comparison group went down by just 4 mg/dL.

Only 1% of patients had side effects: muscle pain, light-headedness or low blood pressure.

Another recent study in Iran showed that a different polypill led to prevention of major cardiovascular events.

“Fundamentally, we need to better understand what works and doesn’t work in these settings so that we can improve outcomes for our fellow citizens who may be the most vulnerable. … In this era of precision medicine and individualized therapies and care, an approach like the polypill could be labeled as a one-size-fits-all approach,” Muñoz explained.

“We think that a population-based approach like the polypill can be used together with individualized therapy. It doesn’t have to be either or,” he added.

The pills aren’t available yet. Further work is needed to get approval for polypills and for optimizing treatment for underserved Americans.

De Lemos imagines that both of the recent studies on polypills “should give momentum to develop these products and get them used.”

“That would be our hope,” he added.

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(Reuters Health) – People with high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol before age 40 are more likely to have a heart attack later in life than other adults, a new analysis suggests.

The analysis pooled data from six studies involving a total of 36,030 people. Starting when participants were 53 years old on average, researchers tracked them to see who had heart attacks, strokes, or heart failure.

By the time half of the people had been tracked for at least 17 years, participants who had high levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol before age 40 – that is, higher than about 129 milligrams per deciliter of blood – were 64% more likely to have had events like heart attacks compared to people with low LDL levels in early adulthood.

The upper limit of normal blood pressure is 120/80. Younger adults who had high systolic blood pressure – the “top number” – were 37% more likely to develop heart failure later in life. And young adults who had elevated diastolic blood pressure – the “bottom number” – were 21% more likely to develop heart failure later on.

“Many young adults feel OK, or they’re willing to think–I’m OK now, I will make healthful choices later when I’m older,” said Dr. Andrew Moran, senior author of the study and a researcher at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.

“This study shows that healthy choices matter even in young adults,” Moran said by email. “This means not smoking, eating a healthful diet, and exercising regularly.”

And for some high risk young adults, starting medication to manage risk factors at a younger age – something that currently isn’t done as a matter of course – may be worthwhile, Moran added.

Very few people in the study had high blood pressure or high cholesterol during young adulthood, researchers report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

During follow-up, 4,570 participants had events like heart attacks, 5,119 had heart failure events, and 2,862 had strokes.

The study can’t explain whether or how high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol in early adulthood might directly cause heart attacks, strokes or heart failure later in life.

One limitation of the analysis is that because the smaller studies used in the analysis didn’t have blood pressure and cholesterol measurements across the lifespan, in some cases researchers had to estimate how many younger adults had these risk factors based on the data they had for participants at older ages.

“Heart failure and heart attacks are the result of years of exposure to risk factors like high blood pressure and cholesterol,” said Dr. Samuel Gidding, coauthor of an editorial accompanying the study and medical director of the FH (Familial Hypercholesterolemia) Foundation in Pasadena, California.

“Both cause the buildup of fat in the coronary arteries beginning in childhood; this leads to heart attack later in life,” Gidding said by email. “High blood pressure puts extra strain on the heart and adapting to that stress leads to heart failure.”

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