Blood Pressure and Protect Your Heart

Know your blood pressure and protect your heart
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
About 35 million American women have high blood pressure; a third don't know it
Forty-three percent of African-American women have hypertension
Weight loss, excercise and cutting salt in diet can help lower blood pressure
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By Nancy Larson


High blood pressure is truly a silent killer. In fact, a heart attack or stroke may be the first sign that you even have a problem. That's why it's so important to get your blood pressure checked every time you go to the doctor -- especially if you're a woman.


High blood pressure can lead to stroke, kidney problems, heart trouble and other conditions.

About 35 million American women have high blood pressure, and a third of them don't know it. In part, experts say, the increase comes just because women are living longer and doctors are paying more attention to the problem. But less-benign factors -- such as the exploding use of anti-inflammatory medicines (which make your body retain salt) and ever-increasing waistlines -- may be at play in what the American Heart Association calls a rise in uncontrolled hypertension in women.

Fortunately, there are many ways to control your blood pressure, even without medication. And just knowing your numbers is half the battle, says Dan Jones, M.D., president of the AHA. But that doesn't mean fighting high blood pressure is a cinch. Here are the stories of three women whose high blood pressure took them by surprise. Think about them the next time that cuff goes around your arm.

Erin O'Connell Peiffer, 45

While Peiffer exper ienced hypertension during all three of her pregnancies, her blood pressure always returned to normal after each birth. Later, as she juggled working and caring for her young children, the thin, nonsmoking telecommunications executive who lives outside of Baltimore, Maryland, considered herself healthy (except for her high cholesterol). Then one day about seven years ago, she couldn't stop coughing during a water aerobics class. A month later, she was shocked to find out that she had congestive heart failure and pulmonary edema, or swelling of the lungs. High blood pressure was behind the problems. Following open-heart surgery to repair a 99 percent blockage in her left main coronary artery, Peiffer was terminated from her job because of her illness and went on disability. She hasn't worked in seven years because of chronic chest pain and other conditions. Learn some tricks to lower your blood pressure

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Looking back, she remembers that in her 20s, her blood pressure was elevated when she was first found to have high cholesterol. "They said it was white-coat hypertension [the idea that just being in a medical office can drive blood pressure up]," Peiffer says. "No one said, 'Hey, you need to exercise,' or anything." So she didn't. Now she's on two blood pressure medications -- an ACE inhibitor that lowers levels of blood vessel-tightening chemicals and a beta-blocker that slows heart rate -- and her pressure's normal. Daily two-mile walks help, too. "Get a baseline number, and keep an eye on it," she says. "Take care of yourself first so you can be there to take care of your children."