ncreased sensitivity. Again, this causes an increase in blood pressure. A high resting heart rate also indicates increase sympathetic nerve activity, thus a predictor of hypertension. A deficiency of a vasodilator substance may cause hypertension. The renal medulla contains vasodilators, including neutral lipid and prostaglandins. If these vasodilators are absent because of renal problems such as renal parenchymal disease, blood pressure rises. Dysfunction of nitric oxide, another vasodilator, also increases blood pressure.GKMs visit to the office was for a follow-up on her hypertension. The symptoms that were reported when GKM visited the office were stress, dizziness, and slight edema. The stress was due to her husband having a myocardial infarction prior to her visit. She also had gained about 13 pounds since January 2000 and was already classified as obese. Her diet consisted of non-nutritional foods and her physical activity was nonexistent. The stress, weight gain, and obesity initiated her increase in blood pressure. Her lab results indicated that her triglyceride level was 740 in November 2000, compared to 206 in January 2000. Her high-density lipoproteins had decreased from 44 to 40, and the low-density lipoproteins were invalidated due to excessive triglyceride levels. Her cholesterol increased from 190 to 235. Her blood pressure also escalated to 170/94 mm/Hg from 150/92 mm/Hg. Further, her drug levels were out of range, such as her blood urea nitrogen/creatinine ratio, which was 36H instead between 6-25 as normal. The significance of these lab results is that the excessive triglyceride levels, cholesterol, and BUN/creatinine ratio augment the hypertension she was suffering from. Due to her diet not being nutritionally dense and inactivity, the lab results were so high, especially her cholesterol because she was consuming excessive saturated fats. She is also surgically post-menopausal after her surgery and...
