Managing a chronic illness such as hypertension is a time consuming and complex process. You and your informal caregivers are required to make day-to-day decisions about such actions as:
In the long run, all of these can have substantial effects on clinical outcomes. These day-to-day decisions and tasks are referred to as self-management.
What all you can do to self-manage your high blood pressure?
Effective self-management of hypertension consists of:
• Self-monitoring of disease control and symptoms
• Knowing when blood pressure levels or symptoms indicate a problem
• Responding with appropriate actions (adjust medications, initiate a call to a health care provider)
• Making major lifestyle changes (e.g., stop smoking, reduce alcohol consumption, modify diet, lose weight, and increase exercise)
• Adhere to medication regimens (even in the absence of symptoms),
• Identify and respond to the psychosocial contributors to chronic disease management
• Maintain regular contact with the health care provider for monitoring progress
Does self-management actually make difference?
• Studies suggest that self-management of hypertension, where patients measure their own blood pressure in nonclinical settings are superior to traditional office-based hypertension management.
• Self-management results in more frequent BP measurement, which helps your doctor, better assess the degree of your hypertension.
• Research has also shown that self-management support and education can improve medication adherence, self-efficacy, self-rated health, cognitive symptom management, frequency of aerobic exercise, and depression.
How can I self-manage my blood pressure?
• Self-measured blood pressure monitoring: You can assess and record blood pressure across different points, at least twice a day, in time outside of a clinical, community, or the public setting, typically at home. Make sure to discuss with your doctors about your blood pressure goals.
• Recording the blood pressure: Record your blood pressure on a standardized form which can be reviewed in subsequent visits.
• Following the appropriate lifestyle modifications: Make healthy lifestyle changes including a healthy and low-sodium diet, exercise, gain knowledge about your condition by reading.
• Being regular for your medical check-ups: It is important to track your progress with self-management, and also to set future goals to be achieved, which may be related to therapy, lifestyle, etc.
Self-Management is one of the most important aspects of hypertension care. Studies suggest that self-management of hypertension with self-monitoring of blood pressure levels and self-titration of antihypertensive medications results in significantly lower systolic blood pressure compared with usual care. You must collaborate with your healthcare provider to improve your ability and confidence for self-management, to yield even greater improvements in BP control.
The pages slugged ‘Brand Connect’ are equivalent to advertisements and are not written and produced by Forbes India journalists.