Tap taps and Hypertension

More often than we would like we see patients who need to be sent to the hospital for immediate care. This usually means we pay for a tap tap to take them there (not a problem at all and with more fundraising I am hoping we can have some money put away to send those who truly need care to the hospital) and then have them come back with any lab results so we can treat appropriately. Since we have a little to no hypertension meds on hand (we are always accepting donations!) we usually advise them to purchase this at the pharmacy. Sadly, there is a large proportion of the population who cannot afford the medications and with the rates of hypertension we are seeing here it is apparent there needs to be more free care. It is not uncommon for us to see a BP of 200/90 (120/80 is about normal) and some can even go as high as 250/120. If this occurred in the US the patient would be admitted to the ER immediately as the risk of stroke and or heart attack are immanent if the pressure remains elevated. We do what we can regarding pushing for patients to seek care at the hospital, the use of medications (it’s funny that everyone thinks Naturopathic physicians are completely opposed to the use of pharmaceutical drugs, personally I am opposed to the use of inappropriate and incorrect use of pharmaceuticals but I have the utmost respect for the advances we have made in treatment options for patients who really need the care. But I digress…) and discuss dietary modifications that can have long lasting effects on their health. We also have some amazing supplements that we use daily with great results, things like magnesium and high dose arginine are essential to the treatment of hypertension in patients who warrant that particular kind of care.

With all the treatment options there are often patients who come to see us who are in need of a higher level of care than we can provide. Today I had a woman with new onset headache and a BP of 220/106. Given the symptoms she needed to go in and have her hypertension taken care of stat. Again, if we had the medications to use we could alleviate all the other unnecessary steps (finding money for a tap tap, making sure she would go seek the care, having her come back with her medications so we can follow up etc) and just prescribe her an appropriate med without worrying if she is going to stroke out on the way to the hospital. I wish I could say this was uncommon but I have referred many people to the hospital for care since I have been here and I am sure it is not something that will cease anytime soon. Hopefully with our nutrition classes more and more people will begin to adopt some of the fundamental ideas surrounding health which will lead to great overall health but also lowering BP tremendously!