₦airaland Forum

The management of hypertension starts with a proper review by a doctor. Usually, after a diagnosis of hypertension, the doctor would want to find out the severity of hypertension, the extent of damage to the organs of the body, identify co-morbid conditions that commonly occur with hypertension and distinguish essential hypertension from secondary hypertension. This is usually done by clinical evaluation and investigations/medical tests. Findings from evaluations and medical tests help to plan appropriate treatment. Of course, antihypertensive drugs are commenced while waiting for investigation/test results to adjust treatment.
The treatment of hypertension is divided into two. The first is lifestyle modification and the second involves the use of drugs.

Lifestyle modification
Lifestyle changes include low salt intake, eating fruits and vegetables, exercise, avoidance of smoking and excessive consumption of alcohol. Lifestyle changes also include maintaining a healthy diet and an appropriate body mass index (BMI). See my article on lifestyle modification.
A combination of these could reduce the blood pressure by as much as 30-40mmHg.
Lifestyle modification is recommended for
1. People with hypertension
2. People that have prehypertension – see my article on diagnosis and classification of hypertension.
3. People that have relatives with hypertension. This involves first-degree relatives like one's father, mother, and siblings. Not your spouse!
4. Women who have a history of hypertension in pregnancy.
5. While waiting for a second reading to confirm a diagnosis of hypertension.
6. I would say for everyone in this environment because the African man has a higher risk of having hypertension compared to other races.


read more on https://medicalinfosblog..com.ng/2016/11/management-of-hypertension.html

CC: lalasticala, dominique front page please.

These are the regimen that has been found to improve the general well being and cumulatively reduces the risk of developing diseases like hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidaemia, stroke, heart attack and heart failure.
Lifestyle modification has also been shown to delay the onset of hypertension and diabetes. People who are hypertensive or diabetic who follow this recommendation are likely going to be on lower doses of drugs compared to those who do not.

• Low salt diet – People who take low levels of salt are less likely to develop hypertension. In fact reducing salt intake can reduce your BP by up to 8 mmHg. Recommended daily intake of sodium is 100mmol which is about 5-6 g of sodium chloride. This is equivalent to a teaspoon of salt per day. A practical approach is by gradually reducing the amount of salt you add to your meals till you get to the recommended quantity. Never add salt to an already cooked meal. Adding a lot of seasonings to meals also increase the total intake of salt.

read more on http://medicalinfosblog..com.ng/2016/11/hypertension-life-style-modification_15.html

CC: lalasticala, dominique front page please.

Here are a few misconceptions about Diabetes Mellitus. I have attempted to correct these notions in this short write up. In this write-up, sugar and glucose are used interchangeably.

1. Sugar intake causes diabetes
Diabetes mellitus is not caused by sugar intake. It occurs because the body cannot produce enough insulin to make use of the sugar present in the blood. Insulin is a key that opens up the cells of the body to take up sugar from the blood. Thus, if insulin is not adequate little sugar will be taken up from the blood. And this will result in high levels of sugar in the blood. Diabetes is like “starving in the midst of plenty”. The sugar is needed and available in the body, but the body cannot make use of the available sugar because of problems with the actions of insulin. So the problem is not with the sugar in the blood but with inadequate insulin.

2. Diabetic patients must not take carbohydrates
This is not true either. Everybody requires carbohydrate and this includes people with diabetes mellitus. Carbohydrate is the main source of energy for the body. The requirement of carbohydrate is 40-60% of daily food intake. And this requirement does not reduce in diabetics. For people who are overweight it is recommended that the total amount of food/calorie intake is reduced and for that underweight, an increase in food/calorie intake is recommended in the right proportion.

read more on https://medicalinfosblog..com.ng/2016/10/five-lies-about-diabetes-mellitus.html

CC: lalasticala, dominique

Thanks for the comment. Honestly, I don't know what it is. I will check if anything has been done on it and revert to you if I get anything useful. Thanks once again.

Thanks for the comment. Honestly I don't know what it is. I will check if anything has been done on it and revert to you.

Hypertension is broadly classified into two types based on the causes.

1. Essential hypertension
This occurs as a result of genetic and environmental interactions. It accounts for more than 95% of hypertension. Most of my discussion here is related to essential hypertension. The factors that increase the risk of having essential hypertension are outlined below.
• Race – A black man is more likely to develop hypertension compared to a white man under the same conditions. The tendency for us to develop hypertension is inherited just like our colour, height and other traits are inherited.
• Age – the older one gets the more likely the risk of having hypertension
• Sex - a male is likely going to have hypertension earlier than a female. However, after menopause the incidence becomes equal.
• Diet – High salt diet intake and excessive alcohol ingestion have been linked to the development of hypertension.
• Smoking
• Lack of exercise.
• Sedentary lifestyles.
• Other medical conditions like high cholesterol levels, diabetes mellitus type 2, obesity and glucose intolerance have been linked to hypertension. Your doctor will investigate you for these conditions when a diagnosis of hypertension is made.
• Previous history of hypertension in pregnancy.
• Other factors that may increase the risk of hypertension is having a family member who has hypertension (Father, mother, siblings not wife or husband!). I usually advise my patients who are newly diagnosed hypertensive patients to tell their siblings to check their blood pressure.

source: http://medicalinfosblog..com.ng/2016/11/hypertension-what-causes-hypertension.html

2. Secondary hypertension
Hypertension occurs in this group of people as a result of an underlying disease condition or use of some drugs known to cause hypertension.
In some cases, if the underlying cause is removed, the blood pressure may become normal.
Causes of secondary hypertension include
Endocrine problems – hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, Cushing’s disease or syndrome
Renal causes – chronic kidney diseases, glomerulonephritis, hypernephroma
Drugs – steroids, cocaine, amphetamines
Most of these conditions will require definitive treatment and your doctor will advise you on how to manage these conditions.

CC: lalasticala people need to read this.

In my practice, I have met a lot of people who would rather take herbal drugs than orthodox medicine because they believe they are more effective, natural, may be cheaper or with less adverse effects.
These reasons may be true to an extent but not entirely true.

Are herbal drugs/concoctions really safe?
Some herbal drugs are safe while others are not. Some of my colleagues have done an analysis on some herbal drugs and found that some of these herbals are not safe. I have also admitted a few patients who came down with adverse reactions as a result of taking herbal drugs. This is similar to reports worldwide.

Do orthodox drugs cause adverse effects? Yes, but because extensive research has been carried out on the drugs, we are aware of adverse effects that are likely to occur. For most herbal drugs these tests have not been fully explored. Am I saying herbal drugs are bad? No, not all. In fact, some anti-malaria drugs are herbal based compounds. The only difference between these herbs and other drugs is that their safety profile has been fully explored. So what I am saying is we need to develop our herbal drugs and recognize possible adverse effects they may cause.

What disease conditions do herbal drugs treat?
Most herbal drugs are marketed as drugs that could be used to treat several unrelated medical conditions. There is no doubt that herbal drugs are effective in treating some conditions. In fact, I have seen people who got better after taking these herbs. But it is worrisome when single drug treats a million unrelated conditions. I once saw a young man who had been seizure free for a long period who was brought to me because his seizures suddenly became more frequent. He improved a little after the dose of his drugs were adjusted but never back to seizure freedom. Then one day, the father told me he knew what the problem was, he stopped the herbal drug which was marketed as a cure for "all diseases including seizures" and the boy became seizure free.
Again we need to develop our herbals and be sure of what they really treat. While these drugs may be effective in handling some conditions, they may aggravate others. This leaves a question on which herbal drug works for what?

Herbal drugs have a role in the treatment of diseases, but we need to explore the potentials of these herbs fully so that we can get the best out of these drugs. In the past, drugs were developed without fully evaluating their safety potentials. But bad experiences in the past has led to rules about drug discovery and development in Western countries. An example was the drug thalidomide which was given to prevent nausea in pregnancy, it was later discovered that women who took these drugs had babies without limbs.
Some other African countries are also actively researching into herbals, Nigeria can take a cue from that and develop our herbal drug industry.

In conclusion, herbal drugs need to be fully investigated in terms of adverse effects, proper dosing and usage, effects of long term use, drug interactions and contraindications. I would not recommend the use of herbals since there are a lot of unanswered questions about the use of these drugs.

Source: https://medicalinfosblog..com.ng/2016/10/my-thoughts-on-use-of-herbal-drugs_18.html

Cc: lalasticala, dominique

Although stress does not directly cause hypertension, we know that prolonged exposure to stressful situations may cause unhealthy habits like smoking, bad diet, excessive alcohol consumption and lack of exercise which are risk factors for hypertension.
I am emphasizing on this because I have met people who refused to take antihypertensive because they attributed their hypertension to stress. Stress may cause a transient elevation of blood pressure but not a sustained elevation (hypertension) over a period of time.

2. Hypertension can be reduced by using sedatives
Sedatives are used to induce sleep and they also have calming effects but they are not going to treat hypertension and normalize blood pressure.

3. Hypertension is a death sentence
No! Hypertension is not a death sentence. In fact, being diagnosed with hypertension and taking drugs reduces the risk of untimely death from complications of hypertension. Knowing you have hypertension will help you to start treatment early which will prolong your life.

I decided to highlight these points in order to clear some misconceptions on hypertension. These were obtained from interactions with patients in clinics and questions I was asked at some health seminars. I believe this will help to better understand hypertension and help people to be more compliant to their drugs and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

1. Hypertension is caused by stress Hypertension is not caused by stress or “thinking too much”. Although stressful events can increase the blood pressure for a brief period of time, they do not cause sustained elevation of the blood pressure. Hypertension is diagnosed when there is a sustained elevation of blood pressure above that expected for age (See my write up on hypertension).
Hypertension may be broadly divided into primary or secondary hypertension. Primary hypertension occurs as a result of interaction between genetic (inheritance) and environmental factors (diet, lack of exercise, smoking etc.) causes. Secondary causes of hypertension include kidney disease and drugs.

Source: http://medicalinfosblog..com.ng/2016/10/five-lies-about-hypertension.html

Hypertension is broadly classified into two types based on the causes.

1. Essential hypertension
This occurs as a result of genetic and environmental interactions. It accounts for more than 95% of hypertension. Most of my discussion here is related to essential hypertension. The factors that increase the risk of having essential hypertension are outlined below.
• Race – A black man is more likely to develop hypertension compared to a white man under the same conditions. The tendency for us to develop hypertension is inherited just like our colour, height and other traits are inherited.
• Age – the older one gets the more likely the risk of having hypertension
• Sex - a male is likely going to have hypertension earlier than a female. However, after menopause the incidence becomes equal.
• Diet – High salt diet intake and excessive alcohol ingestion have been linked to the development of hypertension.
• Smoking
• Lack of exercise.
• Sedentary lifestyles.

read more on https://medicalinfosblog..com.ng/2016/11/hypertension-what-causes-hypertension.html#more

This post is a scam from Fayose's media staff. What was he inspecting. There was nothing in the pictures showing any defect roads. This is a pure media stunt by Fayose.

Bigmillz:
This woman really beats my imagination. What de hell is she doing as a minister of finance? The economy has become a mess under her and CBN president watch

Mrs Adeosun is better finance manager than Okonjo Iweala.

She came in at a time Nigeria was broke, in debt and dip in oil price.

Have you imagined what could have happened to Nigeria's economy if Okonjo Iweala had remained as the finance and coordinating minister of the economy? A finance minister that was borrowing to pay salaries when we have surplus!

Mrs Adeosun has recorded success in blocking revenue leakages by auditing all govt agencies. Now Nigeria will be getting revenue from govt agencies unlike in the past when it was only NNPC remitting left over revenue.

I am sure by the time the budget is signed we will begin to feel the impact of all her effort in turning the economy around..

God bless Nigeria.

steppin:
Rehearsed answers...

You should have watched the video before commenting. The person that posted the transcript only wanted to rubbish the minister of finance. He or she wanted us to believe that Mrs Adeosun does not know what she is doing. Initially I was disappointed with her when i read the post but was impressed after watching the video.

Mrs Adeosun is intelligent, truthful and on top of her game. Instead of condemning her, we should praise her for all her effort in blocking all the leakages in government.

I have thought how much the FG will saving once they start issuing debit cards to the govt agencies?

With this minister at the helm of affairs in the finance ministry, Nigeria will surely get out of this mess and become better and prosperous.

I enjoin everyone on this platform to watch the video before making their comment.

God bless Nigeria.

The Federal Government has amended the charges of false asset declaration preferred against the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, before the Code of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja.
With the amendment, Saraki will be facing two fresh charges in addition to the 13 counts originally preferred against him, which comprised false asset declaration and maintaining of an offshore account while serving as Governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011.
The additional charges include an allegation that Saraki continued to receive salary and emoluments as Governor of Kwara State after the expiration of his tenure and at the same time, from the Federal Government as a senator between June 2011 and October 2013.


The offence is said to be contrary to section 6(a) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act. CAP. C15, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and read more at.......http://nigeriaconstitution..com.ng/2016/04/saraki-to-be-charged-for-receiving.html

Kindly assist me in checking this car. toyota camry 2007 with VIN 4T1BE46K67U720718

I have no doubt that Oba Akiolu is working for Ambode indirectly. Most people living in Lagos Island are PDP supporters. Please check out the number of votes GEJ got on the Lagos island in the last election. They believe that Tinubu and Ambode are not indigene of Lagos.

For some of us who were just 12/13 years if age then some of us still view GMB/IDIAGBON's 20 months stint in power with positive nostalgia. The obnoxious documentary didn't recall naira exchanged at 87 kobo-$1 then. They didn't tell us brain drain was discouraged through the famous 'Andrew' saying in one breath he's 'checking out' & in a follow up advert after enlightening him about staying in Nigeria to 'SALVAGE IT (Nigeria) TOGETHER! They didn't tell us that GMB changed the currency design and pegged what anyone could change into the new currency to not more than N20k, thereby turning all extra stolen cash stash by corrupt govt officials into toilet paper! They won't tell you that's when poor pupils like me began sitting on benches & desks instead of the bare floor! Recall the famous crushing of the chair by the late Mamman Vatsa when he visited a public school & saw how poor/flimsy the quality of the furniture was? And how he immediately ordered the contactor to resupply more quality furniture or risk jail term? I can go on and on about real achievements of that brief time when we went around with heads held high as Nigerians. I pray Nigerian electorates would bury our petty, narrow, ethnocentric, & religious mentality by voting ability & capacity-GMB!

Truly said. Is Fayose the kind of youth we need to vote for? food for thought.

...but I will rather vote an incorruptible old man who is sane and responds to issues in his right senses than a young drunk 1diot who does not know what to say and when to say it.

The office of the President has never been reduced to such disgusting level since I was born.

...and again where are the youths we want in governance?!
Fayose?
Dimeji Bankole?
Salisu Buhari?
Stella Oduah?
Chris & Andy Uba?
Femi Fani Kayode?

If age is just the reason to choose candidates, you may as well vote for any of the above.[/quote]

I think we need to check out his biography before making any comment him.

http://kokomansion.com/check-out-the-biography-of-buharis-running-mate-prof-yemi-osinbajo/

I believe it is one of the finest thing to have happened to Nigeria.

The fact that the oil prices are falling is a good omen for Nigeria. This means federal government is paying less subsidy now. The price of crude oil is directly proportional to the price of refined products(petrol, kerosene, diesel etc).
Nigerians should begin to ask FG questions why we are still buying fuel at #97 per litre when the crude oil is about $61 per barrel.
This is not the time for us to be agitated about removal of fuel subsidy because the price of crude oil is falling and will continue to fall and this will translate into cheaper fuel. I expect us to be buying fuel at less than #60 per litre.