Doctors warn that it is forbidden to drink alcoholic beverages with high blood pressure, it threatens a heart attack or stroke. Only a little wine or cognac is allowed.
Many people suffer from hypertension, complain of high blood pressure. If it was once a disease of the elderly, now the young also suffer from it. It is almost impossible to cure it, but if you take medication regularly, you can bring the pressure back to normal. Many patients with this disease worry about the question: "Is it possible to drink alcohol with hypertension? " How will alcohol affect the well-being of a sick person? Let's see what the doctors say about it.
A little hypertension
Hypertension is called the "silent killer" for a reason. Often a person does not even suspect that they are sick until the doctor has their blood pressure measured. For many people, a pressure of 120/80 is considered normal and its increase to 140/90 is a slight deviation from the norm, the pressure of 160/95 is high and requires constant treatment. But it should be remembered that these numbers are not suitable for some people, they may have slightly low or slightly high blood pressure, which does not affect their well-being.
How else can you understand that a person has hypertension? He may have the following symptoms:
- Headache, back of head.
- My head is spinning.
- Heart pains appear.
- He suffers from insomnia.
- Someone has mood swings.
If the patient is in no rush to seek treatment, everything can end very sadly for him. Complications of hypertension - heart failure, stroke, heart attack. Can I drink alcohol with high blood pressure? We will talk about it.
Hypertension and alcohol
Scientists and doctors talk about the relationship between alcohol and high blood pressure. If you constantly drink alcoholic beverages, the risk of hypertension increases 2-4 times. Can I drink alcohol with high blood pressure? To understand this problem, you need to understand how alcoholic beverages affect the human body.
Effects of alcohol on humans
Alcohol enters the bloodstream and spreads throughout the body. It contains ethanol, which causes the blood vessels to dilate. Therefore, at first, a person's blood pressure drops. Blood begins to move very quickly, the load on the heart increases. However, the vessels do not remain dilated for a long time, after some time they narrow, which causes a person's pressure to increase. The answer to the question of whether it is possible to drink alcohol with high blood pressure has been found. A person who suffers from hypertension should not drink alcoholic beverages. Despite the fact that at first alcohol lowers the pressure a bit, then it gets high, which can lead to a stroke or heart attack.
Research by South Korean scientists
Scientists in South Korea have also confirmed this. They were also concerned about whether it was possible to drink alcoholic beverages with high blood pressure or hypertension. Staff at the College of Medicine were able to prove that people who drink alcohol with high blood pressure are at risk of dying prematurely from a heart attack. This study was conducted for almost 21 years. Scientists have observed the lives of 6, 100 people over the age of 50. Among them were those who like to drink alcohol: 15% - drinkers and 3% - heavy drinkers.
Scientists have monitored the condition of drinkers and non-drinkers, with hypertension. If, at a pressure of at least 168/100, a person consumed more than sixty grams of alcohol from drinks, their chances of dying prematurely increased by 4 times. If he drank more, that is, around 120 g of alcohol, then the numbers were more frightening: he was 12 times more likely to die. Already these figures clearly show whether it is possible to drink alcohol with high blood pressure. And it's easy to explain. With hypertension, constant high pressure, the cardiovascular system suffers greatly, alcohol also has a negative effect on it, and together this explosive mixture increases the likelihood of a person dying prematurely.
Alcohol and blood pressure medication
We have established that alcoholic beverages should not be consumed with hypertension. Those who have encountered this disease know that with constant blood pressure you need to take pills. What and in what quantity, the doctor decides. It's no secret that many drugs and alcohol are incompatible, it can either enhance their effect or reduce it. Also, if you take pills and alcohol at the same time, they become poisonous, which can only affect a person's well-being.
Dizziness at best, arrhythmia, cardiac arrest, hallucinations at worst. So if you take alcohol and drugs containing nitroglycerin at the same time, you can die. If you drink alcoholic drinks with high blood pressure, the vessels dilate first. When a person takes a pill, they also dilate the blood vessels. Due to this, the pressure in the aorta will drop sharply, the amount of blood it needs will stop flowing to the heart, and heart failure will develop. A person can be saved if they receive immediate medical attention. Therefore, you cannot drink alcohol and take medicine at the same time, no doctor will tell you.
Exception to rule
You don't have to be an alcoholic to drink alcohol. Sometimes there is a reason to have a drink, such as a birthday or New Year. What alcohol can you drink with high blood pressure, what drinks are allowed and how much? Before the feast, you need to measure the pressure. If it is very high, it is better not to drink alcohol on this day, but to limit yourself to mineral water or soda. Hopefully, you can afford to drink some.
Which drinks should not be consumed and which should be drunk? Better to give up champagne, vodka and beer. Red wine and good cognac are allowed. You can drink up to 200ml of red wine and 50g of cognac. Some people are sure that if they have been drinking and their health has not deteriorated, there is nothing to worry about, they can continue drinking. It is an illusion. The reaction to alcohol may not appear immediately, but after a while a person may become ill the next day. It is up to a person to decide whether or not to drink with hypertension, but if they are not ready to take the advice of doctors, they will have to come to terms with the consequences of addiction.