The insidious killer…

This is Turkey. The society is divided in two, like a watermelon. For about a week now, Istanbul has been shaken to its core. Rallies attended by anywhere from 100,000 to over 2 million people are being held, yet not a single news image is being shown by pro-government media outlets. The penguins are on the screens. Media outlets on the other side are broadcasting live for hours. Isn't it interesting?

In an atmosphere where the concept of the rule of law has severely deteriorated, it is clear that the water is beginning to boil. And the government continues to add fuel to the fire.

A large segment of society, especially the youth, is reacting strongly to the lawlessness they witness, whether at home in front of their televisions or out on the streets.

The injustices and unlawful practices increasingly directed at Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and his colleagues are significantly raising the blood pressure of individuals and society at large.

What we understand by rising blood pressure is "hypertension." Recently, the release of IBB Deputy Secretary General Mahir Polat due to his hypertension and heart condition has been a major topic of discussion in the margins of the news. First, an angiogram was performed. Stents were inserted. His chronic hypertension did not improve; on the contrary, it continued to rise. Following public pressure and a medical report from the Council of Forensic Medicine, it was decided that he would be under house arrest. In reality, Polat is a hardworking, productive patriot, much like Hasan Ali Yücel. He is innocent. I send my best wishes for his health from here.

Let us talk about hypertension among ourselves; it is the buzzword of these days, hypertension…

Nearly half of the adult population over the age of 18 in our society suffers from hypertension (HT), or high blood pressure. It is an insidious, or silent, disease. If you do not care about your health, if you do not go for health check-ups, one day you may find yourself face-to-face with either a brain hemorrhage or a heart attack. HT is like a sledgehammer constantly hitting a large rock at regular intervals. Over a long period, it silently damages our vital organs. While the sledgehammer does nothing to the rock at first as it rises and falls for days, there comes a moment when that huge rock first cracks and then shatters, turning into dust. HT behaves similarly toward our organs.

You have likely seen or heard many examples in your surroundings. Suddenly, news arrives that someone "had a headache, fainted, became disabled due to a brain hemorrhage, had a stroke, or died." We encounter many such examples. One of the most recent examples is Aytekin Aras, a well-known figure in Fethiye and a former Municipal Council member, who was lost at a young age last week due to a brain hemorrhage caused by HT. May he rest in peace.

So, what is hypertension? HT, also known as high blood pressure, is a serious condition where blood exerts more pressure than it should on the walls of the arteries. It can lead to heart attacks, (brain hemorrhages) strokes, kidney disease, and eye disease.

HT is determined by two numbers. Systolic pressure is the pressure on the vessels during the heart's contraction (think of it like the pressure a booster pump exerts on pipes) as it sends blood to the body. Normal pressure corresponds to 120 mm of mercury. It should not exceed 125 mm Hg. Diastolic pressure indicates the pressure in the vessels during the heart's relaxation phase between the two beats. It should be 80 mmHg.

So, what are the criteria for an HT patient? If your systolic blood pressure is above 125 mm Hg, or if your diastolic pressure is above or below 80 mmHg, you should be considered a hypertension patient. One should not say "it happened because of this or that"; it should be accepted as hypertension.

The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association classify HT into four categories:

- Normal blood pressure: Less than 120/80 mm Hg

- Elevated blood pressure: The top number ranges between 120 and 129 mm Hg, and the bottom number is not above or below 80 mm Hg

- Stage 1 hypertension: (Essential hypertension) The top number is between 130 and 139 mm Hg or the bottom number is between 80 and 89 mm Hg. This is the group where hypertension is most often ignored. It is the group at the beginning of the sledgehammer's action.

- Stage 2 hypertension: The top number is 140 mm Hg or higher, and the bottom number is 90 mm Hg or higher. This is the group where the sledgehammer action is nearing its end. The alarm bells have started ringing.

As I said, it is an insidious disease; one should not say "Oh, it's nothing." My blood pressure was measured at 14 (140 mmHg). One should not say, "I must have been tired or angry, that's why it happened." If you have received such a result, you should consider yourself an HT patient. First, you must go to a doctor. You should investigate the causes. You must reorganize your lifestyle, starting with losing weight and quitting smoking. Without saying "Oh, nothing will happen to me," just like in the sledgehammer example above, one day the insidious killer HT will do what it must to you. It can cause a process that leads to dialysis due to a heart attack, a stroke resulting from a brain hemorrhage, or even kidney disease. Eye damage leading to blindness can occur.

In these days when Turkey's blood pressure is also rising, do not neglect to check your own blood pressure. Do not say "it's nothing," you must do something, you must go to a doctor.

To lower Turkey's blood pressure as well, first join the petition campaign for our presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, and then join the struggle for democracy and the rule of law.

"There is no salvation alone. Either all together, or none of us."

Prof. Dr. Nurettin DEMİR