I took an evening stroll down my street, saw a lot of people, some coming from their work places, some buying, some selling, some taking a stroll like myself, others preparing to have the regular evening or "afterwork" fun. Everyone was actively involved in something with no symptom of any medical condition. Weeks later, a medical screening was carried out on the same street and we discovered that over three quarter of the same population had one form of disease or the other, some even have more than one and none of them had an idea about their health status until the screening, they were bombs waiting to explode, I call them walking time bombs.
About a quarter of the population screened were hypertensive, another quarter were diabetics and over half were both diabetic and hypertensive...a terrible combination of conditions that cannot be cured. The good thing about is that, with the advancement in medical research and therapeutics, these conditions can be managed very very very well with little or no complication.
The media awareness on HIV/AIDS has been awesome over the years. The constant media broadcasts on tv and radio, billboards, posters etc has helped reduce the incidence of that terrible and destructive disease, but, I believe a lot of people, both literate and otherwise know quite a mouthful about this deadly disease. We need to emphasize more on the "little things" we take for granted, the conditions people overlook or get herbs for, which lands them in the hospital with serious complications or get them to pay a visit to the pathologists.
A lot of herbal preparation are being sold to the public, with misleading information that those preparations can cure hypertension, diabetes and all other conditions. That is a big lie from the pit of hell, I repeat, a big lie from the deepest part of hell. Diabetes and hypertension are incurable, they cannot be cured by drugs or herbs, they are there for life and if not attended to, can turn out pretty bad.
Hypertension, high blood pressure as a lot of people know it as, is a sustained increase in blood pressure over a period of time. The exact cause of this condition is unknown (primary hypertension) but there are factors that can predispose an individual to it (secondary hypertension) e.g diabetes, smoking, hyperthyroidism, pheochromocytoma (adrenal gland tumour) and so on. Uncontrolled hypertension can cause stroke, myocardial infarction (heart attacks), heart failure, aneurysms of the arteries (e.g. aortic aneurysm), peripheral arterial disease chronic kidney disease and a whole lot of other complications which will invariably lead to death. Hypertension is rarely accompanied by any symptoms, and its identification is usually through screening, or when seeking healthcare for an unrelated problem. A proportion of people with high blood pressure reports headaches (particularly at the back of the head and in the morning), as well as lightheadedness, vertigo, tinnitus (buzzing or hissing in the ears), altered vision or fainting episodes. These people walk around and any little thing can trigger rupture of blood vessels, particularly those fragile ones in the brain.
Let's talk about the sweet enemy, diabetes mellitus. It's a condition in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced. This high blood sugar produces the classical symptoms of frequent urination (polyuria), increased thirst (polydipsia) and increased hunger (polyphagia). Diabetes without proper treatments can cause serious long-term complications like cardiovascular diseases (heart problems), chronic renal failure (kidney failure) and blindness as a result of diabetic retinopathy. Together with vascular disease in the legs, diabetic neuropathy contributes to the risk of diabetes-related foot problems (such as diabetic foot ulcers) that can be difficult to treat and occasionally require amputation. It usually presents with as wounds that do not heal, especially in the leg or foot, furuncles (boil) anywhere in the body, disturbances with sight and so on.
Adequate treatment of diabetes is thus important, as well as blood pressure control and lifestyle factors such as smoking cessation and maintaining a healthy body weight.
These conditions are dangerous siblings which must be kept under watch. Don't joke with your health, don't be deceived by hungry herbalist or people who sell products claiming they cure all these diseases, so go to the nearest health center and get yourself checked. These conditions can be controlled and it won't cause any discomfort or problem(s). Take whatever drug the doctor prescribes religiously, always check your BP as well as your fasting blood sugar level and you'll be perfectly fine. Don't wait till it turns out bad, get yourself checked, you don't have anything to lose and the earlier, the better.
