I am 22 years old. Both my father and grandfather are hypertension patients. They are on lifelong medication, salt and diet restrictions. I am worried that I too may have to follow this cramped lifestyle sooner or later. I have no problems so far, except that I am a little ove

Question (Posted on : 02 Oct 2008 )

I am 22 years old. Both my father and grandfather are hypertension patients. They are on lifelong medication, salt and diet restrictions. I am worried that I too may have to follow this cramped lifestyle sooner or later. I have no problems so far, except that I am a little overweight and I love pizzas. An occasional beer is also there. Is hypertension inevitable in my life. Can I somehow avoid it ? My BP when I checked a few days ago was 130/70 mm of Hg.

Doctor's Response (Posted on : 02 Oct 2008 )

Your concern is genuine. Your chance of getting hypertension are high for two reasons. 1) you have a family history of hypertension 2 ) you have what is called pre-hypertension. Normal blood pressure is upto 120/80 mm of Hg. But to be called a hypertensive, the blood pressure should be 140/90 mm of Hg – either of the two values can be high. The intervening blood pressure is called prehypertension because persons within this range have a higher chance of becoming hypertensive over the succeeding years. To confirm if you have prehypertension, you will have to recheck your blood pressure with your doctor a few times. Regarding your question of diet and salt restriction, it is applicable if you are prehypertension to postpone the onset of your hypertension.

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