The Health Blog

The principal reason for treating high blood pressure is to reduce the frequency with which these complications occur.

Neither the doctor nor the patient would argue about the need to reduce blood pressure once the person has suffered some complication, but the need for treatment in patients who have no symptoms is still a matter for debate.

Most doctors now agree that high levels of pressure (those with a diastolic above 110 mm of Hg) should be treated. Those with a diastolic pressure under 90 or 95 do not require treatment, even if the systolic pressure is raised. The big debate is about those with diastolic pressures between 95 and 110 mm of Hg.

Once we decide to treat blood pressure, we have embarked on a life-time process. The pressure should fall with treatment but always rises again once it is stopped.

Unfortunately, most drugs used in treating this condition have side-effects. These may be merely annoying or of considerable importance, particularly those which interfere with male sexual function, to a young man contemplating 30 or 40 years of treatment.

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Parents with a strong family history of allergic disorders or whose older children have suffered from eczema or asthma due to milk, should seek expert advice if the new infant is to be artifically fed.

It is worth remembering that allergies do not develop from breast milk and this is one of the reasons why breast-feeding is to be encouraged.

Allergens tend to cause the production of a particular type of immunoglobulin in the blood. This is usually termed lg Á.

A new type of blood test called the RAST checks these immunoglobulins and determines to what substances the person is allergic. Unfortunately, the tests are not yet as accurate as we would wish and false results are still too common.

Skin sensitivity tests are widely used to determine allergies to pollens and dust and are accurate. However, it is not altogether a good means of testing for food allergies.

Many other tests are being tried but have not yet become acceptable.

For these reasons, the doctor will need to rely on the history of allergy to certain foods that can be supplied by the patient.

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