Heart Disease
High Blood Pressure
Getting control – medication
For some people — 80 percent of people with high blood pressure, in fact — diet and exercise are not enough. Like you, they need medication to work with their diet and exercise plan.
Medications work in different ways to help control high blood pressure. Two important ways are:
- Getting the arteries to relax.
- Keeping the heart itself from pumping too hard.
Your body needs some extra help to balance the workload on your heart and the pressure in your blood vessels. This is why your doctor has prescribed medication for your high blood pressure. By sticking with your medication, you can keep your high blood pressure under control.
Remember, medications do not cure high blood pressure the way an antibiotic cures an ear infection. But for most people, they are a key to helping keep high blood pressure under control.
What "control" means
Wearing glasses will not change anyone's eyes, but as long as a person has them on, he or she can see just fine — and lead a normal life. Controlling hypertension is much the same: as long as you continue treatment, you may be able to keep your blood pressure where it belongs — and keep an active lifestyle.
