People urged to check blood pressure

A TRIP to a shopping mall resulted in 26-year-old Mpho Moloi from Bethlehem in the Free State discovering that she suffers from dangerously high blood pressure.

A medical expert says what happened to her should serve as a warning to others and encourage people to have their blood pressure checked.

Moloi had no idea she had the condition.

“I went to the local shopping mall and saw a mobile blood pressure screening unit offering free checks and I thought: ‘Why not?’ and so I went in,” she said.

“My blood pressure readings were too high.”

A nursing sister told her that she didn’t need to worry immediately, but she needed to see a doctor to be thoroughly checked and tested.

“I went to see my doctor the following day, and he confirmed my readings. He prescribed my first medication, which was an ACE inhibitor. The dose was slowly increased over a few weeks, but it lowered my blood pressure only a bit. “The medication was followed by the addition of a calcium channel blocker which also lowered the levels, but still not enough,” Moloi said.

Although she wasn’t overweight, she was advised to change her diet. She was told to cut out chocolates and crisps, which resulted in her losing weight.

“My family and friends struggled to support me because they find it difficult to realise or appreciate the potential seriousness of having high blood pressure. But they try to help and use less salt when cooking for me, and make sure there’s a fruit on the side.”

Moloi said the biggest change has been to take pills every day. “Even now, I struggle to remember to take them because I’ve always been someone who never took pills,” she said.

Medical practitioner Dr Strike Mabasa said high blood pressure was a dangerous condition people needed to pay attention to. Left untreated, it could be fatal.

He advised people to have their blood pressure checked regularly and to take the medication that had been prescribed. – Health-e News.