What Is Low Blood Pressure? The medical term used for indicating low blood pressure is Hypotension which means the blood pressure is less than 90/60 without any symptoms.

The reading of blood pressure is in form of 2 numbers. The first is systolic pressure measure which states the pressure retained in arteries while heart fills the arteries with blood. The 2nd number is used to measure the diastolic pressure which is the arteries pressure while the heart is under rest between successive beats. The normal blood pressure of a personal is under range of 120/80. For people like athletes, the low blood pressure indicates that they are healthy and the cardiovascular health (blood vessels and heart) is very good. But the reduced blood pressure can cause further problems particularly in people who are elder, which can cause the insufficient flow of blood in brain, heart and other important organs.

The chronic low pressure without any symptoms is not serious. When the blood pressure drops abruptly, then serious health problems can happen since brain gets deprived of the required supply of blood. This can cause lightheadedness and dizziness. The sudden blood pressure drop can happen with people who rise from a sitting posting to stand. This type of low pressure in blood is called as postural hypotension or orthostatic hypotension.

This type of hypotension is thought as the failure of the nervous system which is a portion of the central nervous system which is takes care of the vital involuntary actions like heartbeat and other reflex actions. Usually when we stand up, the blood goes down to lower appendages. If not corrected, this can lead to fall of blood pressure. But the body usually balances this by sending some alert messages to our heart, for beating faster and also to the blood vessels for constricting themselves. This causes the blood pressure drop. If this happens very slowly, it can lead to postural hypotension.

The risk of high pressure and low pressure usually rises with age because of the standard modifications that take place in our body during aging. Also, blood flow to the brain reduced with age, which is due to the buildup of plaque in the blood vessels. Around ten to twenty percent of people above the age of sixty have are said to have postural hypotension.

Reasons behind Postural Hypotension

The cause of postural hypotension is not clear always. It could be linked with below reasons,

• Pregnancy in women
• Problems related to hormone like Thyroid, overactive thyroid, low sugar in blood, diabetes.
• Excessive medications
• Over dosage of the pressure medicines.
• Heart arrhythmias (unnatural cardiac rhythms)
• Heart failure
• Dilation or widening, of the blood vessels
• Heat stroke or Heat exhaustion
• Diseases related to liver

Reasons for Sudden Blood Pressure Drop

Sudden reduction of blood pressure can be dangerous. The reasons which can lead to hypotension include,

• Blood loss through bleeding
• Low temperature or High temperature of our Body
• Diseases related to heart muscles leading to heart failure
• Sepsis, a grave disease related to blood
• Severe dehydration caused due to fever, vomiting or diarrhea.
• Alcohol reaction
• Anaphylaxis, a dangerous allergic reaction

The Heart patients taking the drug plavix can also take the PPI drug (proton pump inhibitor) for acid reduction safely as per the suggestion of 2 earlier researches. The new discovery seems to be contradictory with certain recent researches which shows negative results in heart patients taking plavix along with PPI particularly who take Prilosec drug.

In a very recent research, which was done in March, the patients of heart attack who were taking Plavix along with PPI were more prone to 2nd heart attack when compared to other patients who were taking Plavix without taking PPI. Plavix along with another drug Effient got its FDA approval in june and was suggested for patient with heart attack in combination with aspirin for avoiding blood clots which can cause stroke or 2nd attacks.

The Prisolic, Prevacid, Protnoix and Nexium etc. are PPIs which are offered to decrease risks of intestinal or stomach bleedings, caused by anti-clotting drugs.

PPIs all right along With Plavix

The new study did not show any increase in risk along with stroke, cardiovascular death or stroke among patients who took both Plavix and PPIs. They did not find any cardiovascular problems associated with people who used these drugs. There is a contradiction between current discoveries and previous analyzes.

One more point is that PPIs are often suggested to severe heart patients. The studies were patronized by Eli Lilly & Co, the manufacturers were Effient and compared with Plavix drug. The 2 trials involved more than thirteen thousand six hundred patients who suffered a heart attack previously and had unstable angina which were treated with the 2 drugs.

Patients who took the analysis were young and were less probable to suffer from kidney failure or diabetes while earlier trials involved many patients who showed bad results with usage of PPI. This explains why the patients using PPI show poor health when compared with many other patients involved in the research. 1/3 of the patients who participated in trial also took PPI, but it was not found linked with high risk of 2nd heart attack, fatal cardio vascular problem or stroke with any of the 2 anti-clotting medicines.

PPIs are not suitable for All

The research reports are scheduled to get published in an approaching publication of The Lancet journal. The present results offer some support to the practitioners that PPIs and Effient could be combined and used safely by patients who have been suggested to use them both. But PPIs must not be offered to all individuals who take Effient or Plavix.

In an editorial column that was issued along with research, it was written that usage of PPI might be particularly of high risk to a minor group of heart patients who are predisposed genetically to have low response to such anti-clotting medicines. Patients who take Effient or Plavix along with PPI should be looked after by their physicians carefully for any consequences.

Breast cancer is one of the most widespread and lethal disease that is causing umpteen deaths of women around the world. Medicines have been discovered and off late the discovery of certain drugs and other innovative and effective surgeries increase the longevity of the person inflicted with breast cancer.

Why Surgery?

There are many unfortunate women whose breast cancer has been treated very late. The disease spreads and multiplies itself in the body. Patients survive for a year and a half after the malignant tumor has been eliminated from the breast as per the report of the researchers.

One of the primary diagnoses for breast cancer is surgery that effectively eliminates the affected area or the entire breast itself. It is unfortunate if the cancer has spread itself in the body then only surgery is the saving grace as it relieves the patient from acute pain and other painful symptoms. This has been stated clearly by Jetske Ruiterkamp, MD, a surgical resident at Jeroen Bosch Hospital in Den Bosch, Netherlands.

Chances Of Survival – Facts And Figures

Researchers have done detailed studies to find out the chances of survival after the surgery. They have concluded after scrutinizing 728 medical records of women suffering from breast cancer whose cancer was discovered at a matured stage. In order to eliminate the cancer forty percent of the women underwent a surgery to remove the tumor.

The result was the mean continued existence was approximately 31 months. Women that did not undergo surgery survived for only 14 months. If you examine the results you will see that 4.5% of the women that underwent the surgery were living five years post the surgery but 13.1% women did not as they did not get the tumor operated.

Ruiterkamp says that the team of researchers had considered all the factors like age of the women, months of treatment, spread of the disease and so on. The conclusion was that the hazard of death was reduced by 40%. This conclusion was announced in the combined meeting of the European Cancer Organization and the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO).

Women Diagnosed At Matured Stages

The study concludes that 10% of the women that had breast cancer were diagnosed at a later stage after the deadly disease was spread in the various parts of the body according to Ruiterkamp. If the conclusions are confirmed this could lead to innovative and ground breaking results.

Advantages of Surgery

ESMO President Jose Baselga, MD, chairman of the medicinal oncology service at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain, clearly states that numerous studies are throwing light on the fact that surgery is one of the best means to increase the life-span of the breast cancer patients as it attacks the roots of the disease. It would reduce the multiplying of the cancerous cells in the body as well. The immune system of the patient may be energized by surgery which may result in destroying the cancer cells.