First it was MRSA – known to the medical world as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus that had outwitted modern medicine by creeping through hospitals and other healthcare settings, claiming the lives of those with compromised immune systems.
Well, now high blood pressure – the underlying cause of strokes, heart attacks, kidney disease and heart failure has apparently learned how to circumvent some powerful medications as well.
An American Heart Association report says “the problem is not that the medications have stopped working. Instead, many blood-pressure patients are sicker to begin with and require more drugs, at greater dosages, to manage their conditions.”
http://hyper.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/51/6/1403
And while drug-resistant high blood pressure isn’t exactly a new phenomenon – it was first noted in the 70s – with the growing prevalence of the condition, more people could be in for trouble when trying to control their hypertension.
“By reviewing studies of patients with at least some hypertension, the panel estimated that 20 to 30 percent could not control their blood pressure with three or more drugs, even when taking them exactly as prescribed. The 20 to 30 percent cohort appears to be growing. A large study in 2006 from Stanford found that the number of blood-pressure patients who were prescribed three or more drugs had increased over 12 years, to 24 percent from 14 percent.”
Definitely alarming. Have you tried one or more medications for your hypertension? Have you tried non-drug solutions to treat high blood pressure? What worked for you?