Hypertension or High Blood Pressure, also called “Fishar-ud-Dam” in Arabic, is a medical condition in which the circulatory system experiences persistently high blood pressure. For some people it may remain within a short range (often called “Haqiqi musalsal” in Urdu) and for others it may vary greatly throughout the day (often called “Ghair haqiqi” in Urdu). Its symptoms are difficult to recognize, especially in early stages. In our experience, non hereditary hypertension is quite often caused by humor imbalances brought about by various factors (please refer to the “Causes” section.
Symptoms
Hypertension generally has no readily recognizable symptoms in early stages and is often called the “Silent Killer”. If this condition remains untreated, chronic cases may ultimately adversely affect multiple systems in the body such as the cardiovascular, renal, auditory, ocular, reproductive, and the nervous system.
Causes
Actual causes of Hypertension are hard to find in non Unani medicine. In Herbal medicine, it is firmly believed that an imbalance of the Blood and Bile humors leads to Hypertension. It is often hereditary (40%-50% of the cases) but other factors such as diet, stress, inactive and unhealthy (smoking, alcohol/narcotic addiction/etc.) lifestyle, may significantly influence its development.
Management and Treatment
My (Hakeem Syed Muhammad Rehan Alam’s) family has been successfully treating all kinds hypertension disorders for more than 88 years. These are some of our family’s signature treatments and our expertise in these fields is well known. We have a proprietary way of approaching diagnosis and treatment. Patient history, pulse analysis, and Qaroora (urine inspection) help the Tabib narrow down the root cause (such as trauma, infection, heredity, and relevant humor imbalances). Whenever necessary, we do make use of modern lab tests in arriving at and confirming diagnosis and in monitoring of treatment progress. Our treatment plan is very simple. Patient is strictly advised to follow certain life style changes both during and after the treatment. Unani drug regimen (that may take anywhere from 12-16 weeks) includes various processed and unprocessed herbs etc.
Note
Our recommended dietary control and lifestyle changes are so potent that quite often they negate the need for any medicinal treatment. We strongly recommend a balanced diet consisting of timely small meals (avoiding certain meats (including organ meat), vegetables, pulses and lentils). We believe that refraining from consuming food items that produce bloating and gas is more important in treating hypertension than the proverbial limiting of salt intake. Other factors such as menstrual intercourse and frequent blood donation may also lead to hypertension complications.
