Disturbances of the Heart Part 5

High blood pressure due to syphilitic conditions may be greatly improved by the proper treatment, although some one or more blood vessels are likely to have been seriously damaged. Although these patients may live for many years, they are likely to have an apoplexy, cerebral disease or an aneurysm.

While hypertension is not a disease, and while it often should not be combated, still, as it is always the forerunner of more serious trouble, there can be no excuse for not most seriously considering it and generally attempting its reduction. At the moment high tension is discovered, there may be no special symptoms; but troublesome symptoms are always pending, and while the patient need not be unduly alarmed, there is no excuse for not rearranging the individual's life so as to prolong it. This is not to state that every high tension must be lowered, but every hypertension must be studied and a safer systolic pressure caused if it is possible without interfering with the person's efficiency. A high diastolic pressure, one above 105, certainly must receive immediate attention, and a diastolic pressure of 110 must be lowered, if possible. On the other hand, a high systolic pressure without a high diastolic pressure should not be rapidly lowered, else depression will be caused.

SYMPTOMS

In hypertension, as long as the heart, which is probably hypertrophied, remains perfectly competent, there are few symptoms, and the person does not seek advice until he notices one or more of several possible conditions. He may be dizzy, his head may feel full and tight, he may have headaches, or he may have some cardiac pain or distress. Other persons do not seek advice until there is a slight weakening of the heart, showing the strain under which it is laboring. In most of these high tension cases, the patients have rather a slow heart, provided the heart is sufficient. Eyster and Hooker [Footnote: Eyster and Hooker: Am. Jour. Physiol., May, 1908.]

found that the slowing of the heart in high blood pressure is due to action through the vagus nerves either from the inhibitory center in the medulla or reflexly by stimulation of the peripheral nerves of the vessels.

Another symptom for which the patient frequently seeks advice is that he is unable to relax from his business cares, when off duty.

He also finds that he works at a higher tension, and that coffee and tea, alcohol and tobacco stimulate him more than usual. He sleeps restlessly, and dreams at night. He has an increased frequency of urination in the morning, especially after taking coffee, and sometimes gets up once or twice at night to urinate. He is irritable at times; short breathed on exertion, and sometimes has indigestion.

He may have pains or aches in his heart. He may find that he dislikes to lie on his left side.

However much it may upset the patient and render him more nervous to inform him that his blood pressure is too high, it is necessary to give him this information. People now suspect the condition, and they frequently seek their physicians to determine if the blood pressure is too high and, from reading health journals, more or less realize some of the things, at least, that must be done to decrease the pressure. Consequently, the very things that are advised or ordered give the patient the diagnosis, whether he is told directly or not. Hence, we must talk freely with the patient, much as we do in heart defects, and get his cooperation, stating how frequent the condition is, how often it is readily improved, and how little it may interfere with long life.

Wiener and Wolfner [Footnote: Wiener, Meyer, and Wolfner, M. L.: A Reaction of the Pupil, Strongly Suggestive of Arteriosclerosis with Increased Blood Pressure, THE JOURNAL A. M. A., July 17, 1915, p.

214.] state that they have found with blood pressure that the pupils of the eyes are larger than normal, and that they readily contract to the stimulus of light, but immediately return to their previous size.

PROGNOSIS

Janeway [Footnote: Janeway, T. C.: A Clinical Study of Hypertensive Cardiovascular Disease, Arch. Int. Med., December, 1913, p. 755.]

presented statistics of 458 patients with high blood pressure, 67 percent of whom were men. Of these 458 patients 212 had died, and he found that the women with high blood pressure lived longer than men with high blood pressure. They did not seem as likely to have apoplexy or cardiac failure. About 85 percent of high tension cases occur between the ages of 40 and 70.

While he believes that a systolic pressure of over 160 mm. is pathologic, he does not find that any definite prognostic conclusions can be drawn from the height of the pressure. Of course the most important concomitant symptoms of high pressure are cardiac, renal, and cerebral, and the typical headache, as he terms it, is a symptom of serious import. In considering headache in persons over 40, we must eliminate the eye headaches produced by the need of presbyopic gla.s.ses or by the need of stronger lenses, as this need is a frequent cause of headache. Dizziness and vertigo may occur without headache, and drowsiness, though not so frequent a symptom as insomnia, often occurs.

Janeway finds that all kinds of apoplectic attacks may occur from simple transient aphasia to complete hemiplegia, and thirteen of his patients who had died and thirteen of those living at the time of this report showed failure of eyesight as an initial symptom of arterial disease.

Janeway deplores the too frequent diagnosis of neurasthenia in these patients. This diagnosis probably accounts for the frequency with which neurasthenics have been said to have high blood pressure.

Patients with high blood pressure may show all kinds of symptoms simulating neurasthenia, but hypertension is a much better diagnosis than neurasthenia for such patients, and will lead to more rational treatment.

Ninety-seven of these patients had hemorrhages somewhere, most frequently epistaxes, sometimes hemoptysis. Janeway did not find that purpuric spots on the skin occurred early in the disease in any of his patients.

Gastro-intestinal disturbances were not much in evidence unless the kidneys were insufficient. Intermittent claudication in the legs occasionally occurred. While angina pectoris and edema of the lungs were not infrequent causes of death in men, it was a rare cause of death in women. Dyspnea is a frequent symptom, and one for which many patients seek medical advice.

A constant systolic blood pressure of over 200 shows a probability that the patient will ultimately die either of uremia or of apoplexy. Janeway found that those patients who are to die from cardiac weakness show cardiac symptoms early in their disease. He found that rapid continuous loss of weight pointed to an early fatal termination.

Of the 212 patients who had died, seventy-one had shown cardiac insufficiency at the time of the first examination; twenty-one showed alb.u.min or casts at that time. Of course it should be repeatedly emphasized that chronic interst.i.tial nephritis may be in evidence with either alb.u.min or casts alone, or without either being present.

Janeway sums up his conclusions by stating that "from the time of the development of symptoms indicative of cardiovascular or renal disease, four years will witness the death of half the men and five years of half the women. By the tenth year half the remainder will have died, leaving one fourth both of the men and the women who have lived beyond ten years." The causes of death he would place in the following order: gradual cardiac failure; uremia; apoplexy; some complicating acute infection; angina pectoris; accidental causes; acute edema of the lungs and cachexia. An early occurrence of myocardial weakness shows a 50 percent probability that death will be caused by cardiac insufficiency. Heart pains comprise another important indicator of future cardiac death, perhaps not an angina.

Nocturnal polyuria would indicate a uremic death in about 50 percent of the patients, and typical headache or cerebral symptoms show the probability of uremic death in more than 50 percent, and death from apoplexy in a large number of the other 50 percent As just stated, rapid loss of weight is a bad symptom.

Janeway [Footnote: Janeway, T. C.: A Study of the Causes of Death in One Hundred Patients with High Blood Pressure, THE JOURNAL A. M. A., Dec. 14, 1912, p. 2106.] has previously reported seven patients with hypertension who had diabetes. Diabetes generally, on the other hand, causes a low blood pressure. Patients with this trouble and with hypertension, and without nephritis, probably have an increased secretion from the suprarenals.

We may sum up the prognosis in hypertension as follows: Hypertension alone is not of unfavorable omen; if it is not readily reduced by ordinary means, it is more serious. If a.s.sociated with kidney, heart or liver defect, it is most serious. If there are such serious conditions as edema, ascites, lung congestion, cyanosis and great dyspnea, the prognosis is dire.

Obesity being a cause of high blood pressure, it should be treated more or less energetically, even if the individual does not continue to add weight.

Stone [Footnote: Stone, W. J.: The Differentiation of Cerebral and Cardiac Types of Hyperarterial Tension in Vascular Disease, Arch.

Int. Med., November, 1915, p. 775.] believes that the higher the diastolic pressure the greater danger there is of cerebral death, while a patient with a very high systolic, but a diastolic pressure of 100 or lower, is in more danger of cardiac death. He urges a greater consideration of the pressure pulse in determining the load of the heart and the great danger from a sustained diastolic pressure of over 105 as sooner or later bound to cause myocardial symptoms. This load of the heart is also shown by an increased pulse rate and increased respiratory efforts. In cardiac failure, as the systolic pressure falls the diastolic is likely to be increased, and the pressure pulse thus diminishing, allows insufficient blood to go to the medullary centers, and death soon occurs. Therefore, in acute illnesses a sustained pressure pulse gives a better prognosis than a diminishing pressure pulse. The strenuous measures that should he used to lower a high diastolic pressure are contraindicated when the diastolic pressure is already low, even if the systolic pressure 1s high. If a high systolic pressure begins to fall more or less rapidly the heart shows fatigue, and should be stimulated by digitalis or strophanthin.

Rowan [Footnote: Rowan, J. J.: The Practical Application of Blood Pressure Findings, THE JOURNAL A. M. A., March 18, 1916, p. 873.]

finds that a diastolic reading of 100 mm. or more usually means that there is a narrowing of the lumen of the vessels, owing to stimulation of the vasoconstrictors, although it may mean the existence of a true arterial fibrosis. While a real atheroma generally causes a reduction in diastolic blood pressure, or at least but slight increase, he has found in syphilitic cases with arteriosclerosis a high diastolic pressure. If the blood pressure cannot be reduced by ordinary measures, arteriosclerosis is probably present. Several blood pressure examinations must be made, while the patient is being treated, to establish the diagnosis.

Rowan finds the reading of the pulse pressure to be of great importance, as this will indicate, sometimes before any other symptom is present, that the patient is either improving or doing badly, and it also aids in indicating the proper medicinal treatment.

In arteriosclerosis the systolic pressure may be high while the diastolic is low; hence there is a large pressure pulse. If the heart becomes weak the systolic pressure will drop, and any improvement caused, especially in aortic regurgitation, is by an increase of the systolic pressure.

Rowan finds, as has long been recognized, that a conclusion as to whether or not cerebral hemorrhage will occur cannot be made from the condition of the radial arteries, as patients with soft radials may suffer from cerebral hemorrhage, while those "with hard, sclerosed, pipestem-like arteries may live to a great age and die of anything rather than apoplexy."

Swan, [Footnote: Swan: Interstate Med. Jour., March, 1915, p. 186.]

has studied the blood pressure in fifty cases of disturbed thyroid, and finds that functional myocardial tests show that the myocardium is nearly always disturbed in these patients.

Before taking up the subject of treatment of high blood pressure, it may be suggested that a high diastolic pressure with a falling systolic pressure may require vasodilators on the one hand or cardiac tonics on the other, and sometimes the decision can be made only by proper tests. In other words, if the diastolic pressure is lowered the heart will be relieved. On the other hand, if the diastolic is being raised by an increased venous pressure from a failing heart, digitalis, strychnin and caffein may be of benefit in lowering the diastolic as well as raising the systolic. However, if there is a high systolic and a low diastolic pressure, vasodilators are often contraindicated.

TREATMENT

In this rapid high tension age the physician should be as energetic in teaching prevention of arterial hypertension as he is in preventing contagion. As infectious diseases are reduced in frequency, more patients live to die of diseases later in life, and (as previously stated) diseases with hypertension are on the increase. It is therefore the duty of the physician to urge youths and adults to abstain from all kinds of excesses so common in this age. We live at such speed, even the children, that this caution is almost daily needed. We must caution against severe athletic compet.i.tion, against personal "stunts," against recreation excesses, even golfing, automobiling and dancing, against excess in the use of tobacco, in eating, in late dinners, in coffee, tea and alcohol. We must take better care of patients during their convalescence from some serious illness lest they have circulatory debility by becoming strenuous too soon after their recovery. The pregnant woman must be more carefully watched, not only for her own sake, but also for the sake of her child. Intestinal indigestion, while not the cause of all disturbances that occur in man after 40, is still an important element in his deterioration and degeneration, and it should be prevented if possible.

The tendency for hypertension and arteriosclerosis to occur early in life in patients who have suffered some serious acute infection, whether blood poisoning, typhoid fever, or other, shows that in all probability in these acute illnesses the internal secretions are so disturbed that the suprarenal activity is greater than normal, while the thyroid activity may be less than normal, and hypertension is the consequence. Therefore, these infected patients who recover should probably have a longer convalescence in order for the more delicate structures of the body, such as the internal secreting glands, to have a better chance to recover and become normal.

The enumeration of these causes and the causes that have been mentioned before not only suggest, but also direct the treatment of hypertension after it has occurred. The most important of all treatment for hypertension is rest. That means for an individual, well except for his hypertension, a vacation, that is, a rest from physical and mental labor. For a patient who is in serious trouble from hypertension, bed rest is the most important element in the management. As has been previously shown, good sleep lowers the blood pressure, and Brooks and Carroll [Footnote: Brooks, Harlow, and Carroll, J. H.; A Clinical Study of the Effects of Sleep and Rest on Blood Pressure, Arch. Int. Med., August, 1912, p. 97.]

showed that the greatest drop in blood pressure occurs in the first part of the night's sleep. In other words, a patient who lies awake long loses the best part of his night's rest as far as his circulation is concerned. This is one more reason for abstinence from tea and coffee in the evening by those patients who are at all disturbed by the caffein. On the other hand, patients who are not seriously ill should not remain for days in bed, as the blood pressure does not tend to continue to fall, although the heart may become weakened by such bed rest. This is especially true if the patient is nervous and irritable and objects to such confinement.

A systolic pressure much over 200 probably never goes down to normal, and if such a high systolic pressure goes down to below 170, we should consider the treatment successful.

Every active treatment of hypertension should begin with a thorough cleaning out of the intestinal ca.n.a.l by purgation, best with mercury in some form. Then the diet should be modified to meet the individual case and the person's activity. If the blood pressure is dangerously high, he should receive but little nourishment, best in the form of cereals and skimmed milk.

On the other hand, if he has edema or dropsy, or if the heart showed signs of weakness, large amounts of liquids should certainly not be given, and in such cases it is better that he receive small quant.i.ties of milk if that agrees, rather than large quant.i.ties of skimmed milk. The amount of water should also be fitted to the circulatory ability and the condition of the kidneys.

When more or less active treatment does not soon lower the hypertension, and especially a high diastolic pressure, the prognosis is bad. In a patient who is in more or less immediate danger from his hypertension, the food and liquid taken, the care of the bowels, and the measures used to cause secretions from the skin must all be governed by the condition of his other organs. There is no excuse for excessive, strenuous measures when the heart is failing or when the kidneys are becoming progressively insufficient.

Strenuosity in treatment is as objectionable in these cases as is neglect of treatment in earlier stages of the trouble.

Bie [Footnote: Bie: Ugesk. f. Laeger, March 4, 1915.] believes there is no direct connection between the blood pressure and the anatomic condition in the kidneys, although abnormal conditions in the two are almost invariably found parallel.

A patient with simple hypertension and otherwise well, which means that his diastolic pressure is at least no higher than 110, should have his diet, tobacco, coffee and tea regulated; should have recreation periods one or more times a week, and vacations not too infrequently; should take some brisk purgative once or twice a week, and may receive one or other of the physical treatments for the reduction of blood pressure, whether Turkish baths or electric light baths. If he does not sleep well, there is no hypnotic drug so valuable in his case as chloral. This should not be long given, but it will produce the purest kind of sleep and lowers the blood pressure.

If any other drug is needed, nitroglycerin is the best. If arteriosclerosis is present, sodium iodid in small doses, 3 grains two or three times a day, is valuable. Larger doses of sodium iodid are not needed, unless it is advisable to give such doses for a short period. The value of iodid in these cases is best obtained by small doses long continued. If the patient is obese, shall doses of thyroid extract long continued are of value, such as 2 or 3 grains once a day. If the thyroid extract causes the heart to become more rapid, it should be discontinued.

Whether the diet should be meat protein free, or whether meat may be allowed once a day, depends entirely on the individual and on his physical activities. It is frequently a mistake to take all meat out of his diet.

When there is obesity, the bulk of the food should be greatly diminished, and anything that tends to stimulate the patient's appet.i.te should be withheld. This means all condiments, and at times even salt. Sugar should be greatly reduced, and starches greatly reduced, but he must have some. In other words, he should not be cut down to a diabetic diet. No more liquid should be taken with the meals than is essential to swallow the food. Water should be taken between meals. There is no question that almost every one today should have a very light breakfast, except perhaps those who labor hard physically and are exposed for hours, daily, to the inclemencies of the weather. Such patients probably need more food.

It is also well, in hypertension cases, to have one day a week in which a very minimum amount of food is taken, whether that be milk, or skimmed milk, or a small amount of carbohydrate, without protein food.

If the foregoing management does not reduce hypertension, the kidneys are generally beginning to become involved in the sclerotic degeneration, whether the urine shows such a condition or not. On the other hand, there are exceptions to this rule.

As indican in the urine gives evidence of putrefactive changes in the intestines and the probability of the absorption of toxins from the intestines, although we have no real proof that these toxins are the direct cause of hypertension, our patient is undoubtedly physically better, and will have less arterial tension when this intestinal condition is removed. Therefore, our treatment of the individual is not a success as long as such fermentation and putrefaction persist. If such putrefaction cannot be removed by diet and laxatives and mental rest and the prevention of physical strenuosity, radical changes in diet are advisable, although it may not be necessary to continue such a diet more than a few days at a time. A rigid milk diet for a few days may change the flora of the intestine completely; then a vegetable diet may be given, with return to a mixed diet; or the various lactic acid bacilli may be given, or one of the various fermented milks may be the diet, the object being to change the flora in the intestine and thus modify the ferments. So-called bowel antiseptics, such as salol, for a short time may be of advantage. Colon washings may be of great advantage. Liquid petroleum may be advantageous.