Often, people do not recognise the signs of high blood pressure until they have a stroke or heart attack. High blood pressure is known to be a silent disease that often does not produce obvious symptoms. It is recommended that you regularly check your blood pressure to make sure you spot a dangerous increase early on.
There are, however, a few symptoms that occur in people with very high blood pressure. These include: chest pain, light-headedness, shortness of breath, tiredness and vision troubles.
Hypertension Statistics - UK
Around the world, hypertension leads to more than 8 million premature deaths each year. In the UK, there are about 62,000 people who die prematurely each year from strokes and heart attacks as a result of high blood pressure.
An estimated 7 in 10 people in Britain have increased blood pressure and the condition increasingly affects younger people, too - nearly half of the population under 35.
What these hypertension statistics also show, is that most high blood pressure patients (about a third) are not actually aware that they have the condition. This is primarily due to the fact that most of the time, high blood pressure remains symptomless. Unaware of the condition, patients continue with an unhealthy lifestyle that puts them at risk of stroke, diabetes and other cardiovascular diseases.
For this reason, high blood pressure is sometimes referred to as the “silent killer”.
Medical Signs of Hypertension
The easiest way to find out if you have high blood pressure is to take your blood pressure reading.
Measuring your blood pressure is very simple and painless. It is carried out with a device called sphygmomanometer (the inflatable cuff that your doctor puts around your arm). Within seconds, your doctor can measure your blood pressure.
The results work like this:
- Anything between 120/80 (120 over 80) and 140/90 (140 over 90) is dubbed the pre-hypertension stage – which often leads to hypertension
- Between 140/90 and 160/100, you are in stage 1 hypertension
- Between 160/100 and 180/110, you are in stage 2 hypertension
- Above 180/110, you are in stage 3 hypertension, you need immediate medical care / which is in need of immediate treatment in order to prevent complications.
In addition to the blood pressure measurement, further investigations must be made. Laboratory and urinary diagnostics, ECG, exercise ECG, echocardiography, if necessary, long-term blood pressure measurement and other methods are used. It tries to find out about possible causes of arterial hypertension, to find consequential damages and to determine cardiovascular risks of the patient.
The possibly already resulting organ damage to vessels, eyes, kidneys, heart, etc. are also divided into degrees. No organ damage means "Level 1", minor damage and possibly arteriosclerosis mean "Level 2", severe organ damage with sequelae such as heart attack, heart failure, angina, stroke, renal insufficiency and other diseases mean "Level 3".
The doctor documents the results of the examinations. It is important to know that the blood pressure values in older age are usually different. If sleep apnea (breathing in sleep) or chronic renal insufficiency are present, they also usually lead to high blood pressure.
It has been proven that lowering the high blood pressure significantly reduces the mortality associated with cardiovascular disease. In fact, many people suffer from unrecognized high blood pressure, as it is usually symptomless in the initial phase. It is therefore important to know your blood pressure accurately.
Drug therapy options
For the therapy hypotensive drugs in various combinations in question. Antihypertensive drugs include diuretics, beta blockers , calcium antagonists , ACE inhibitors and AT II receptor antagonists . As a rule, these drugs are combined to achieve the best possible effect. Diuretics deprive the body of water through the kidneys. Beta blockers block beta-adrenoceptors in the body and thereby inhibit the effects of adrenaline and norepinephrine ("stress hormones").
Heart rate and blood pressure can be lowered thereby. Calcium antagonists prevent the penetration of calcium ions into the interior of a muscle cell. It comes to the dilation of the blood vessels. ACE inhibitors inhibit the enzyme ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme ACE, dt: angiotensin-transforming enzyme). Thus, they prevent the conversion of the kidney-formed hormone angiotensin I into the blood pressure-increasing angiotensin II . They also cause more saline and water to be eliminated from the kidneys. AT II receptor antagonists act on the so-called subtype 1 of the angiotensin II receptor. They are often used as a replacement for ACE inhibitors.
A healthy diet and exercise are important
The change in lifestyle is important for arterial hypertension , as it has been proven that in most cases it is possible to lower blood pressure. An exception are persons with underlying diseases or other organic damage, in which a reduction in blood pressure is often absent or can not perform these measures. Important is a regular endurance sport . Walking, swimming, jogging, cross-country skiing and hiking are good sports. As a rule, a minimum of three times thirty minutes per week is considered reasonable .
People with high blood pressure should definitely give up smoking as this is another risk factor for cardiovascular disease due to the resulting narrowing of the arteries. Alcohol consumption should also be reduced to a minimum, or omitted altogether. Also, the weight loss in excess weight helps to lower blood pressure.
Lowering cholesterol by switching diets to more fruits and vegetables and reducing fat and animal protein is beneficial, as high cholesterol levels also lead to arteriosclerosis.
It is advisable to check your own blood pressure regularly and to record it in a blood pressure chart. Thus, when you increase your blood pressure, you quickly become aware of a potential medical problem. Cheap sphygmomanometers are available for the arm or for the wrist.
Other signs of secondary hypertension include:
- No effect from high blood pressure medication (even if it did work before)
- Suddenly high blood pressure
- No history of hypertension in your family
Be it primary hypertension (the most common) or secondary hypertension, it’s very important that you consult a doctor for high blood pressure. This is the only way to understand what type of hypertension you are suffering from and which treatment is best for you.
Early Signs of High Blood Pressure
Patients who experience early signs of hypertension usually complain about dull headaches, short moments of lightheadedness as well as unusually frequent nosebleeds. It is quite rare for blood pressure to cause symptoms in the early stages of the condition.
Signs of Stroke
High blood pressure can lead to dangerous emergencies such as stroke. As soon as you recognise one of these symptoms you must seek medical care immediately. Call 999 (in the UK) if you or any person around you:
- Has issues speaking clearly and understanding someone else
- Cannot use his/her arms (e.g. try raising them)
- Suffers from facial weakness (e.g. drooping eye or mouth, inability to smile)