Hypertension Blog

If your patient has hypertensive retinopathy, a physician may prescribe an antihypertensive drug to regulate his diastolic blood pressure-typically, a beta-blocker or diuretic. If other drugs or disorders contraindicate these antihypertensive drugs. the physician will prescribe another one, such as an ACE inhibitor. Controlling the patient’s blood pressure may reduce or eliminate the signs and symptoms of retinopathy. However, if he has experienced optic nerve ischemia, he may have a permanent loss of vision.

Complementary Therapies

Stress reduction and management help reduce blood pressure. Therefore, you should urge your patient to identify the stressors in his life and help him develop and implement methods to cope with them.

Relaxation techniques-exercises that reduce stress by decreasing sympathetic nervous system activity-can reduce blood pressure. In combination with drug therapy, these techniques have even been effectively used for patients with severe hypertension. Relaxation techniques include yoga, meditation, physical relaxation, and physical exercise.

Psychotherapy has also been used successfully as a method of lowering blood pressure. It helps patients deal with anxiety and constructively handle hostile and aggressive impulses. Counseling can also help increase patient compliance with the prescribed drug regimen.

Another therapy, biofeedback, uses specialized equipment to give the patient feedback about his bodily processes. The patient learns to achieve relaxation by self-regulating the autonomic nervous system. Biofeedback can decrease blood pressure; however, the long-term effects of biofeed­back and its success in controlling hypertension aren’t known.