Can I eat Gastrodia elata if I have high blood pressure?

Hypertension is a relatively common disease and also a disease with a relatively high incidence rate among middle-aged and elderly people. Hypertension can cause various problems in the human body, so before hypertension worsens, patients must regulate their bodies in a certain way to lower their blood pressure as soon as possible. So, can people with high blood pressure eat Gastrodia elata? The following is some relevant knowledge for you.

1. Can people with high blood pressure eat Gastrodia elata?

You can eat Gastrodia elata if you have high blood pressure.

Gastrodia elata is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine used to treat cerebrovascular diseases. Hypertensive patients may sometimes experience symptoms such as dizziness. Taking Gastrodia elata will not affect the treatment of hypertension. Gastrodia elata can increase cerebral blood flow, reduce cerebral vascular resistance, and prevent and treat migraines, numbness of the limbs, hemiplegia, etc.

It is recommended that patients with hypertension should develop good living habits in normal times, eat a light diet with low fat and low salt, eat more fresh vegetables and fruits, abstain from smoking and drinking, eat less or no high-fat, high-sugar and high-salt foods, exercise more, and use some blood-activating drugs for conditioning as appropriate.

2. Clinical manifestations of hypertension

Symptoms of high blood pressure vary from person to person. There may be no symptoms or mild symptoms in the early stages. Common symptoms include dizziness, headache, stiff neck, fatigue, palpitations, etc. Blood pressure only rises after fatigue, mental stress, or emotional fluctuations, and returns to normal after rest. As the disease progresses, blood pressure continues to rise significantly, and various symptoms gradually appear. This is called slow-onset hypertension. Common clinical symptoms of slowly progressive hypertension include headache, dizziness, inattention, memory loss, limb numbness, increased nocturia, palpitations, chest tightness, fatigue, etc. The symptoms of hypertension are related to blood pressure levels. Most symptoms can be aggravated after stress or fatigue. Blood pressure can rise rapidly after early morning activities, resulting in morning hypertension, which causes cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events to occur more frequently in the early morning.

When blood pressure suddenly rises to a certain level, symptoms such as severe headache, vomiting, palpitations, dizziness, etc. may even occur. In severe cases, unconsciousness and convulsions may occur. This is a form of rapid hypertension and critical hypertension, which can cause serious damage and lesions to the heart, brain, kidneys and other organs in a short period of time, such as stroke, myocardial infarction, renal failure, etc. There is no consistent relationship between symptoms and the level of elevated blood pressure.

The clinical manifestations of secondary hypertension are mainly related to the symptoms and signs of the primary disease, and hypertension is only one of its symptoms. The increased blood pressure in patients with secondary hypertension may have its own characteristics. For example, hypertension caused by aortic stenosis may be limited to the upper limbs; the increased blood pressure caused by pheochromocytoma is paroxysmal.

3. Prevention of Hypertension

Hypertension is a preventable and controllable disease. People with blood pressure in the upper normal range of 130-139/85-89 mmHg, who are overweight/obese, who have a long-term high-salt diet, and who drink excessively should be given key interventions, have regular health checks, and actively control risk factors.

For patients with hypertension, regular follow-up and blood pressure measurement should be carried out, with particular attention paid to the management of blood pressure in the morning. Hypertension should be actively treated (drug therapy and lifestyle intervention at the same time) to slow down target organ damage, prevent the occurrence of cardiovascular, cerebrorenal and renal complications, and reduce disability and mortality rates.