Hypertension Case Study
Question #5
Unlike their friend Jemima, the other patients have all experienced a drop in blood pressure (Hypotension) and have an elevated heart rate (125-135 bpm) Hypertension occurs when blood pressure drops below 90 mm Hg systolic or 60 mm Hg diastolic number. Due to the girls all consuming substances that affect their bodies to normally retain water, they have all suffered similar symptoms but to different degrees.
Dehydration causes the volume of blood circulating through the body to decrease in volume and become more viscous. To compensate, the heart beats faster, increasing the heart rate and potentially causing conditions such as tachycardia (increased heart palpitations) to occur. In addition when the body is exposed to high temperatures, …show more content…
These baroreceptors measure how much the vessel walls are stretching. If blood volume is too high, vessels are strained; if volume is too low, vessels stretch minimally, or not at all. When dehydration occurs, the blood volume decreases due to lack of water, so vessel walls do not stretch as much as they normally should. Baroreceptors relay this information to the cardioregulatory and vasomotor centres in the medulla oblongata through a reflex mechanism called the Baroreflex, which acts as a rapid negative feedback loop (taking place in milliseconds), and regulates blood pressure .Through nerves such as glossopharyngeal nerve (IX cranial nerve) and vagus nerve (cranial nerve X), action potentials are sent to these centres increase/decreases parasympathetic stimulation of the heart. . During low blood pressure, a decrease in action potentials occurs and affects the cardioregulatory center of the medulla. Therefore, to raise blood pressure, the body firstly will create an increase in sympathetic nerve response in the SA node, causing it to fire more frequently, increasing the heart rate. Due to the increase in heart rate the muscles in the heart are also prompted to pump with more exertion, increasing the stroke volume, which also increase cardiac output. Increasing the cardiac output and increasing the sympathetic input to the blood vessels through vasoconstriction of the heart will eventually increase the blood pressure and restore it back to a normal
Unlike their friend Jemima, the other patients have all experienced a drop in blood pressure (Hypotension) and have an elevated heart rate (125-135 bpm) Hypertension occurs when blood pressure drops below 90 mm Hg systolic or 60 mm Hg diastolic number. Due to the girls all consuming substances that affect their bodies to normally retain water, they have all suffered similar symptoms but to different degrees.
Dehydration causes the volume of blood circulating through the body to decrease in volume and become more viscous. To compensate, the heart beats faster, increasing the heart rate and potentially causing conditions such as tachycardia (increased heart palpitations) to occur. In addition when the body is exposed to high temperatures, …show more content…
These baroreceptors measure how much the vessel walls are stretching. If blood volume is too high, vessels are strained; if volume is too low, vessels stretch minimally, or not at all. When dehydration occurs, the blood volume decreases due to lack of water, so vessel walls do not stretch as much as they normally should. Baroreceptors relay this information to the cardioregulatory and vasomotor centres in the medulla oblongata through a reflex mechanism called the Baroreflex, which acts as a rapid negative feedback loop (taking place in milliseconds), and regulates blood pressure .Through nerves such as glossopharyngeal nerve (IX cranial nerve) and vagus nerve (cranial nerve X), action potentials are sent to these centres increase/decreases parasympathetic stimulation of the heart. . During low blood pressure, a decrease in action potentials occurs and affects the cardioregulatory center of the medulla. Therefore, to raise blood pressure, the body firstly will create an increase in sympathetic nerve response in the SA node, causing it to fire more frequently, increasing the heart rate. Due to the increase in heart rate the muscles in the heart are also prompted to pump with more exertion, increasing the stroke volume, which also increase cardiac output. Increasing the cardiac output and increasing the sympathetic input to the blood vessels through vasoconstriction of the heart will eventually increase the blood pressure and restore it back to a normal