Q. My doctor tells me I have high blood pressure. I’m not sure she’s right because I don’t have headaches, dizziness or nosebleeds and I don’t eat pork. What gives?
A. High blood pressure has, for years, been called the “silent killer” because most people with it have no symptoms at all, right up until they have their heart attack or stroke. No symptoms reliably predict the elevation of blood pressure. Headaches, nosebleeds, etc., are some of the myths associated with high blood pressure. They are not at all correlated with it, and, as best I can tell, the implication of pork stems from the days when most pork was salted (with the sodium in the salt contributing to the elevation of blood pressure). The only way to know if blood pressure is up is to measure it with reliable equipment using proper techniques. I assume your doctor has done this; and, because high blood pressure is a very serious condition, and a diagnosis that we don’t make lightly, I suspect she is right
— Dr. John Wood, lipid
disorder specialist, member
Chattanooga-Hamilton
County Medical Society
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