LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Many people living with hypertension don’t realize they have it until they end up in the emergency room with something more serious.
One Las Vegas woman is hoping her story will inspire others to take their medication seriously.
Every day, doctors in Las Vegas see what high blood pressure can quietly do to the body.
The American Heart Association along with Sunrise Health are making sure people know the signs and risk factors that can lead to a heart attack or stroke.
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“Having high blood pressure, there’s no real symptoms that go with it. You don’t know that you have it until you go to a doctor and find out,” said Dr. Krystal Turgiss, an emergency doctor at Mountainview Hospital.
Turgiss said hypertension can silently increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Latino communities are especially affected.
“One in three of Latino and Latina individuals in Clark County get a diagnosis of blood pressure or hypertension. And those are only the people that are checking in with their doctors and finding out. So that means that number is probably a little lower than reality,” Turgiss said.
Warning signs didn’t feel like a heart attack
Turgiss said factors like genetics, diet and exercise can affect hypertension. For Diane Friedman, the warning signs didn’t feel like a heart attack at first.
“And then I thought it was a panic attack and food poisoning because I started vomiting. I couldn’t catch my breath,” said Friedman, a heart attack survivor and owner of Enusia Bracelets.
Days earlier, she had already been dealing with hypertension.
“And I went to the doctor and they’re like, you have high blood pressure. My numbers were like through the roof, like 160 over 90,” Friedman said.
Now, she’s turning that experience into something that can help others.
“Mentally, it was very challenging to leave the house, to eat anything, to go anywhere. Because I was afraid it could happen again. Do I have my medication with me? Because now I have to carry nitroglycerin for the type of heart attack that I had. So, through that process, I created a bracelet to carry my nitroglycerin and anxiety meds,” Friedman said.
Friedman created Enusia bracelets that store medication inside, helping heart patients carry it with them everywhere they go.
“I just hope people can feel secure and be prepared. And not have something that screams medical alert. It’s just incognito. And it’s there when you need it. It’s the peace of mind that’s priceless,” Friedman said.
Friedman said her goal is to grow her medical bracelet brand and help others dealing with hypertension and anxiety to not be paralyzed out of fear of forgetting to take their medication.
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