Good News About High Blood Pressure: How to Take Control of Hypertension---and Your Life

Here is the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and helpful book of its kind ever published for the fifty million Americans who suffer from high blood pressure, or hypertension. An internationally acclaimed authority, Dr. Thomas Pickering is Professor of Medicine at the Hypertension Center at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in New York. He is a leading researcher and educator, and the author of over 350 scientific articles and three clinical textbooks. Reflecting all the latest cutting-edge research, Good News about High Blood Pressure explains new technological breakthroughs such as ambulatory monitoring, the best mainstream treatments for high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and the pros and cons of alternative treatments such as vitamins, herbs, and meditation.

Dr. Pickering reminds us that people suffering from hypertension do not necessarily exhibit any visible signs of stress or strain. In fact, in the vast majority of cases, hypertension produces no symptoms whatsoever, which is what makes it so deadly. This "invisible disease," which plagues its victims for life, can lead to heart disease and strokes -- the nation's leading causes of death and disability. The bad news is that just 65% of hypertension sufferers are aware of their condition, and only 49% are undergoing treatment. But the good news is that there are many new treatment options available that enable these people to keep their illness in check and live long and fruitful lives.

With over twenty-five years' experience in answering patients' questions about their condition, Dr. Pickering shows hypertension patients how to take charge of their situation by learning to monitor their own blood pressure and by making appropriate changes in their lifestyle. In order to control high blood pressure, he emphasizes, one must deal with the other risk factors for heart disease, such as smoking, excess weight, and high cholesterol. Accessible and informative, the book discusses recently released studies about the possible impact on high blood pressure of red wine, homocysteine, the obesity hormone leptin, and folic acid.

With its reassuring tone, comprehensive scope, and new research, Good News about High Blood Pressure encourages readers to take charge of their condition, rendering all other patient guides obsolete. It is about as close as a book can come to being an expert medical specialist on call to answer your questions twenty-four hours a day.