Inner man: Hypertension and blood supply

Now it is time to relate the many facets of inner and intercommunication with specific common disease processes. The first and without a doubt the most common is hypertension. This is a disease that is common all over the world and one of the precursors to further cardiovascular destructive changes. This is because of, first, the increasing stress load that hypertension places upon the heart and blood vessels but also that which causes the increasing systolic and diastolic blood pressure are some of the same factors that contribute to other cardiovascular breakdown.

I trust that the time you take to read and understand the relationship of increasing hypertension and the inner and intercommunication of the inner man will not only aid in sharing some of these perplexing relationships with your doctor but will enlighten you to the fact that there may be some things that you could do on your own to help the situation.

Let’s start by explaining high blood pressure and the basic physiological causes. Blood pressure is created by the pump of the heart. The pressure behind the liquid or blood that fills all the thousands of miles of arteries and veins is created by this diaphragmatic pump in our chest we call the heart. It is common for us to monitor a patient’s blood pressure by tightening a cuff that is placed around one of the arms above the elbow. The cuff is tightened to the point of shutting off all of the blood supply to that particular hand with air pressure forced into the cuff. With a stethoscope, one can detect at what pressure blood begins to flow under the cuff when the air pressure is released. That is the systolic pressure. When enough pressure is released to the point where there is no restriction of blood flow to the hand, that is the diastolic blood pressure.

Why high pressure?

There are only two physiological causes for high blood pressure. One is too much blood for the size of the container or vascular tree and the other is too small of a container for the amount of blood. There is one main reason for too much liquid or blood for the size of the container. That is the addition of more water added to the blood. This will increase the blood pressure. Decreasing the size of the container is done in two ways. First, the glandular or autonomic nervous system causing muscles around the heart to contract, making the lumen of the vessel smaller. The other means of making the container smaller is by thickening the inner lining of the artery, making the lumen of the vessel smaller. This always takes place in a pathological way. The addition of excess water to the blood above normal hydration is also pathological.

Now remember that the inner and inter communication is made up of two separate mechanisms, the glandulars involving the pituitary which is the master gland, the thyroid, the adrenals, the gonads, and the pancreas. The internal nervous system called the autonomic nervous system is made up of the sympathetic portion which is basically the activator of cellular function and the parasympathetic which is the suppressor. There is also one powerful overrider of both systems and that is the emotional system. It is powerful enough to bring everything to a halt to the point of death in a few minutes or maintain an ongoing general destruction including gradual increasing high blood pressure in a few short years or more. This can be done directly but in most cases it is done by creating an alteration of the pituitary/adrenal mechanisms. The pituitary/adrenal alterations influence fluid retention and increase fat to protein ratio, the end result being increasing lipids such as cholesterol retention and suppressed protein metabolism.

Stress, hypertension

Another end result would be a serum protein deficiency and obesity with increasing systemic musculoskeletal inflammation and high blood pressure. It is obvious that daily emotional stress can influence hypertension. Women in the menopause often experience hypertension. Diminished estrogen/progesterone balance allowing an estrogen-dominant hyperpituitary state and initial hyperthyroid state is commonly noted. It is common for the thyroid to revert to an exhaustive functional hypothyroid state later. The sympathetic portion of the nervous system becomes activated causing peripheral vascular dilation and hot flashes. Because of the hyperpituitary state, the adrenal glands express the fight or flight mechanism. The adrenals may express increased circulating corticoids along with altered sodium chloride imbalance which can cause increased intravascular fluids or addition of water. Increased norepinephrine and epinephrine from the activated adrenals is capable of vasoconstriction. As we age, if not monitored, the altered pituitary and adrenals have been shown to increase fluid retention through electrolyte imbalance and creating increasing vascular spasm, decreasing the size of the vascular bed. So, if persistent hypertension is noted, you and your doctor must initially do what is necessary to reduce the hypertension to a safe range and then attempt to crack some of the possible causes. Emotional stability is very important. Correcting underlying pituitary, adrenal, gonad and thyroid imbalances is second. Endocrine dysfunction accompanied by high blood pressure tends to verify the fact that extended pituitary drive can be instrumental in causing and maintaining hypertension.

Make it a good day, and we’ll see you in two weeks.

Contact Green Valley Dr. DeWall J. Hildreth at 625-1101 or cnhcgv@yahoo.com. Dr. Hildreth specializes in hormone balancing and musclo-skeletal degeneration. He practices with Continental Natural Health Clinic at 210 W. Continental Road, Suite 130. His column appears biweekly in the Green Valley News.