Hypertension is a health condition that may signify a number of underlying issues, making it essential for doctors to keep track. The state is also referred to as high blood pressure. The high pressure that blood exerts on the individual’s arteries may cause other severe health conditions. The condition occurs when an individual has narrow blood vessels that contend with high volumes of blood pumped by the heart (Bilen & Wenger, 2020). An individual is likely to have high blood pressure if a high volume of blood is pumped into their narrow arteries.
An older adult often possesses risk factors that must be addressed to ensure lower blood pressure. These risks regularly stem from improper salt intake, high cholesterol, and being exposed to air pollutants or smoking (Saxena et al., 2018). The objective of a treatment plan is to ensure that the patient’s blood pressure is lowered so that critical organs are not damaged through continuous exposure to risk factors. Studies show that high blood pressure can damage the brain, heart, and kidneys (Saxena et al., 2018). Another goal of the treatment plan is to reduce hypertension and mitigate the risk of strokes, cardiac arrest, and heart failure.
Medications that can be used to manage and treat hypertension. For example, diuretics can eliminate water and sodium from the individual’s body, lowering one’s blood pressure (Zhou et al., 2019). Diuretics are the first line of medications used in the treatment of hypertension. ACE inhibitors are used to relax the blood vessel by stopping natural chemicals that form in the arteries and making them narrow (Zhou et al., 2019). Alpha-blockers, such as labetalol and carvedilol, are also used to treat high blood pressure (Zhou et al., 2019). Alpha-blockers work by stopping the nerve signals that go to the blood vessels, thus slowing down the rate of an individual’s heartbeat and reducing the volume of blood pumped by the heart.
All presented cases cause patients to struggle to breathe and share similarities in their adverse impacts. Infant respiratory distress syndrome is a condition where breathing mechanisms are compromised because of a lack of surfactant (Jeon, 2019). Surfactant is found in the inner coatings of the alveoli, and it affects how the lungs of a newborn start breathing once the baby is born. If there is no surfactant, the alveoli swell and thicken, further complicating breathing. This may eventually contribute to the lungs collapsing when the baby exhales (Jeon, 2019). This dramatically reduces the amount of oxygen-enriched blood that reaches the brain.
Emphysema is a lung disease that also compromises breathing mechanisms. The condition occurs when the lungs lose their elasticity and may become overinflated (Janssen et al., 2019). When the lungs are affected by this disease, the alveolar walls become damaged, which further prevents the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide (Janssen et al., 2019). As the disease progresses, the walls of the air sacs begin to rupture and weaken. The condition leads to damage to the enzymatic tissue impeding airflow in the trachea and bronchi.
The third disease shares the tendency to disrupt a regular rate of breathing. Pulmonary fibrosis is a disease affecting the lungs that happen when the tissues in the lungs become scarred and damaged (Lederer & Martinez, 2018). Fibrosis is scarring that comes from inflammations. It then leads to restrictions in the lungs, which inhibit breathing mechanisms as it increases lung stiffness. It makes each breath more difficult as an extra effort is needed to make the lungs elastic enough to inhale and exhale (Lederer & Martinez, 2018). As the disease progresses, mechanisms of breathing are compromised, and the individual experiences regular shortness of breath.
References
Bilen, O., & Wenger, N. K. (2020). Hypertension management in older adults. F1000Research, 9. Web.
Janssen, R., Piscaer, I., Franssen, F. M., & Wouters, E. F. (2019). Emphysema: looking beyond alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine, 13(4), 381-397. Web.
Jeon, G. W. (2019). Surfactant preparations for preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome: past, present, and future. Korean Journal of Pediatrics, 62(5), 155. Web.
Lederer, D. J., & Martinez, F. J. (2018). Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. New England Journal of Medicine, 378(19), 1811-1823. Web.
Saxena, T., Ali, A. O., & Saxena, M. (2018). Pathophysiology of essential hypertension: an update. Expert Review of Cardiovascular Therapy, 16(12), 879-887. Web.
Zhou, B., Danaei, G., Stevens, G. A., Bixby, H., Taddei, C., Carrillo-Larco, R. M.,… & Ezzati, M. (2019). Long-term and recent trends in hypertension awareness, treatment, and control in 12 high-income countries: an analysis of 123 nationally representative surveys. The Lancet, 394(10199), 639-651. Web.