Q. What should I do to reduce my high blood pressure?

Hi,

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I can understand your concern. High BP (blood pressure) can be due to various reasons and sometimes can affect organs such as heart, kidney, etc. as well. To rule out if there are any secondary causes to your hypertension (high BP), I suggest you, to get a few additional tests and start taking medications to lower your BP levels. I recommend getting the following laboratory tests done to analyse your general health. Do urinalysis (urine tests), fasting blood sugar levels, HbA1c (glycated hemoglobin, which measures the average glucose levels of the past two to three months), Hematocrit (measures the red blood cells in your blood), serum sodium, potassium, creatinine, and calcium, and lipid profile. Also, to rule out the cause of high BP in your case, I suggest getting the following tests such as Estimated or measured GFR (glomerular filtration rate) to check for chronic kidney disease, CT (computed tomography) and angiography to check if there is coarctation of the aorta (narrowing of aorta, the large blood vessel of the heart), DST (dexamethasone suppression test) to check for cushing syndrome (a condition that occurs due to high cortisol (a steroid hormone) exposure for a longer period of time), Urinary metanephrine and normetanephrine tests to check for conditions like pheochromocytoma (a type of tumor that occurs in the adrenal glands), Doppler ultrasound, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) to check for renovascular hypertension (hypertension caused due to narrowing of the arteries carrying blood to the kidney), Aldosterone test to check for primary aldosteronism, TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) level, and PTH (parathyroid hormone test) to check for thyroid or parathyroid diseases, ECG (echocardiography), Abdominal sonography, Fundus examination (a routine eye examination recommended in patients with hypertension) and 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (method to measure BP continuously) before and after the treatment should be considered. I suggest you to start taking tablet Exforge HCT (Amlodipine, Valsartan, Hydrochlorothiazide) 5 mg/ 160 mg/ 25 mg and alter your diet to a low salt and low fat diet, avoid habits such as smoking if any, minimize the intake of alcohol and caffeinated beverages, exercise for atleast half an hour five days a week to avoid stress and tension, and get enough sleep. Revert with your investigation reports and monitered BP levels of two weeks. I hope this helps.