Hypertension can also cause damage to the retina and the kidney. Treatment comes in two forms, lifestyle changes and prescription medication. Alcohol and salt should be restricted. There should also be no smoking and saturated fat should be decreased to lower the risk of complicating heart attack or stroke. If these changes in lifestyle do not reduce diastolic pressure below 90 or the systolic below 160, then certain medicines should be added.
Medicine only helps if a person takes it.
Blood pressure medicine has to be taken for the rest of the patient's life. For this reason, make sure your blood pressure is truly consistently elevated using a series of blood pressure measurements. Since there are no immediate symptoms when the medicine is discontinued, it may be tempting to stop it and quit going for checkups. It may even keep you alive. There are a number of medications that can be used, if one doesn't work or there are side effects, there are others available.