Ibukun’s husband said he heard her scream once at midnight and afterwards she could not speak anymore and one part of her body was getting cold.
All efforts to resuscitate his wife failed. He took her to the hospital. After preliminary investigation, the doctor said Ibukun’s blood pressure was 250/150. This led to her having a stroke. As a result, the right side of Ibukun’s brain was affected. She could only move the left side of her body.
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Gradually, Ibukun got out of the coma and opened her eyes. But then she could not talk nor walk, or even seat. After one month at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH), in Gwagwalada Area Council, she was discharged as doctors say recovery after a stroke was slow.
It has been five years since Ibukun had that attack. She gradually began to walk and talk, but is yet to use her right hand.
A physician, Dr. Kuti Demilade Kehinde, said high blood pressure is a medical condition in which the blood pressure of an individual is above 96 percentile expected of the person’s age and weight.
“When the person’s blood pressure is above 120 millimeters of mercury and the diastolic blood pressure is above 80 millimeters of mercury it shows the person has high blood pressure,” she said.
She said the causes of high blood pressure are divided into two; primary and secondary.
She said primary high blood pressure is also known as essential high blood pressure. “This kind of high blood pressure is due to some things like family, history, genetics, etc,” she said.
The physician, while noting that the secondary aspect has so many causes, said “some renal conditions like chronic kidney diseases cause secondary high blood pressure. Medical conditions generally can cause secondary high blood pressure. Even obesity, if someone has too much accumulation of body fat, he or she can have secondary high blood pressure.”
Dr. Kehinde said a high blood pressure patient may complain of dizziness, headache, awareness of heartbeat, and being unable to sleep (insomnia).
She said the patient may have some complications like stroke in which there is a weakness of one half of the body, adding that convulsion may occur.
According to the medical expert, high blood pressure can be diagnosed on the basis of history and examination.
By history, she said, it occurs when one complains of all the symptoms, adding that the person may not have any symptoms.
For examination, she said when one is examined and his or her blood pressure is measured and it is more than 80 millimeters of mercury, it shows the person’s blood pressure is high.
Dr. Kehinde said exercising regularly, avoiding being overweight, reducing salt intake, taking plenty of water, eating a lot of fruits and controlling sugar level to keep blood pressure normal are among the preventive measures of high blood pressure.
She said the treatment can be categorized into non-pharmacological interventions and pharmacological interventions.
While non-pharmacological interventions include lifestyle modifications like dietary modifications, exercise, avoiding stress, and minimizing alcohol consumption, she said pharmacological measures are used in situations where non-pharmacological measures cannot control the blood pressure.
She said pharmacological measures involve placing the person on medication and anti-hypertensive drugs to reduce the blood pressure
The physician said high blood pressure is quite common and one can be totally unaware that one has it as there may not be symptoms.
She advised the public to always carry out routine medical checkups so that it can be detected early and controlled.
