The Signs and Symptoms of Hypertension

Signs of a disease are usually what a doctor looks for to exclude or diagnose diseases when examining you. Symptoms are what a patient complains of when going to see a doctor. The problem with primary or essential hypertension is that you can have it for years without realizing it.

Its symptoms are vague ranging between headaches mainly focused at the back of your head to nose bleeds. These symptoms besides being vague are also not exclusive to hypertension. No wonder hypertension has been given the macabre honor of being called “The silent killer”.

Although it usually doesn’t cause any symptoms, hypertension may over time produce symptoms due to organ damage. These symptoms may include:

Vision changes due to affection of the retina which is known as retinopathy. This is due to affection of the blood vessels supplying the retina. Sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes may occur.
Nephropathy or impairment of the renal functions due to affection of the blood vessels of the kidney. The kidney is one of the most important organs involved in hypertension. It may be damaged due to primary or essential hypertension or its damage maybe the cause of hypertension which would then be known as secondary hypertension or renal hypertension.
Cerebrovascular ischaemia or a stroke, due to either impaired blood supply to the brain either as a result of occlusion of the blood vessels supplying it or due to hemorrhage from these blood vessels. Impairment of the blood supply may occur because long years of hypertension will eventually damage the walls of said blood vessels, making them a susceptible area for occlusion by blood clots. A brain stroke maybe represented in the form of deviation of the mouth to one side, tingling or numbness in one of the limbs or hemiplegia which is the paralysis of one side of the body.
Chest pain or angina pectoris which occurs due to impaired oxygen supply to the enlarged cardiac muscle. This occurs in cases of severe stress or exercise in an individual suffering from a longstanding case of hypertension. In order for the heart to maintain its ability to pump blood to all areas of the body against the increased blood pressure which represents an increased form of resistance against the heart (think of a weight lifter adding more and more weights and the effect that would have on his arm muscles after years). After a long time, it becomes difficult for the coronary blood vessels supplying the heart’s muscle fibers to supply oxygen to meet their continually increasing demands.

Since hypertensive symptoms are so confusing unless in severe and advanced cases, hypertension is better detected by looking for its signs. Its main and most important sign of course, would be elevated diastolic and or systolic blood pressure above the range of blood pressure considered normal. This range is considered less than 130 mmHg for systolic blood pressure and less than 85 mmHg for diastolic blood pressure.

Family history is also an important guide that helps in detecting cases of hypertension because essential or primary hypertension has been proven to run in families.

Interpersonal factors that make an individual more susceptible to the development of hypertension should be also taken into consideration such as having a stressful lifestyle, having diabetes mellitus, smoking, consuming alcohol and being overweight

Diagnostic tests for complications of commonly affected organs such the kidney and the eyes should be run for patients with longstanding severe cases of hypertension.

In cases of secondary hypertension which is more common in very young ages, it’s important to run tests to detect the possible underlying cause whether it’s caused by the kidney, by a glandular disease (an endocrinal cause) or by the administration of certain drugs such as corticosteroids and oral contraceptive measures (birth control pills).