Considering that a third of all American adults have hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, it’s something that everyone should be aware of. The earlier it is caught, the easier it will be to manage to keep it from causing other diseases. The difficulty is when it comes to hypertension symptoms and signs.
Hypertension can be broken down into essential or secondary categories. In the case of essential hypertension, there is no obvious cause for it. In the case of secondary hypertension, there is an underlying medical issue, such as chronic kidney disease, that is resulting in high blood pressure. Most cases of hypertension fall into the essential category.
More often than not, high blood pressure is undiagnosed for years, as there may be no hypertension symptoms and signs at all. In those cases, the only way to find it is by measuring blood pressure. For this reason, it is referred to as a silent disease, only being discovered when it results in medical problem.
Among the hypertension symptoms and signs that are sometimes reported include headaches, blurred vision, dizziness, nose bleeds, ringing in the ears, or palpitations. Other signs may be difficulty sleeping because of a feeling of heat, muscle cramps, frequent urination and excessive sweating. Of course, any of these symptoms can be due to other causes, adding to the difficulty of diagnosis without testing.
Although high blood pressure itself is not considered to be an illness, it can damage organs over time. Hypertension increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure and more. Therefore, it is important that it is treated if it is determined to be chronic.
Because there are often no hypertension symptoms and signs until it is far advanced and results in damage to one or more organ systems, it’s important to have your blood pressure checked regularly. If your pressure is found to be elevated, a medical practitioner may suggest further checked two more times, with at least a week between each check, to discover whether or not it is an issue.
