Detecting The Signs of High Blood Pressure

Have you ever wondered why high blood pressure is known as a silent killer? It's because the signs of high blood pressure or hypertension are usually hard to detect in a person. It is actually a disease that has no warning signs or symptoms on its onset. There will be more visible signs only when it reaches the critical stage.

During the advanced stage, signs and symptoms of high blood pressure include typical headaches, dizziness, epistaxis or nosebleed, and fatigue.

Other symptoms become more prominent when the disease reaches a very advanced stage. These symptoms include breathlessness, ringing in ears, drowsiness or sleepiness, confusion, blurred vision, restlessness, vomiting, seizures, moderate chest pain, reduced libido and blood in the urine. A person with high blood pressure at an advanced stage may also go into coma.

However, some of these symptoms can also be seen in persons with normal blood pressure. This is why the diagnosis of hypertension based on this is not conclusive.

And even if a person does not display these common signs of high blood pressure, it doesn't mean he is already free from it. There are cases when a person may have hypertension but does not show the typical symptoms because the disease has not yet progressed to the advanced stage.

Considered as a lifestyle disease, high blood pressure has primary and secondary causes. There is approximately 95% of hypertension patients that suffer under primary hypertension or essential hypertension.

A person is susceptible to essential hypertension because of the combination of primary factors which leads to it.

These primary factors include smoking, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, cholesterol rich diet, excessively salty diet, alcohol consumption, stress, ethnicity, heredity, and gender. These factors will have different effects for each individual. There are people that tend to have temporary hypertension because of their fear of seeing the doctor.

About 5% of the patients acquire secondary hypertension. This means there is an underlying condition which causes hypertension. These could be health conditions such as renal disease, hormonal and metabolic disorders, pregnancy, congenital heart disease, and adrenal gland tumor.

If a patient with hypertension has tumor of the adrenal gland, he will have symptoms like rapid and unstable heart beats, headache, perspiration, paleness, and anxiety.

It is recommended that people have their blood pressure checked periodically, most especially those who are in their thirties and older. The systolic/diastolic reading that shows higher than 140/90 mm Hg indicates a high blood pressure.

Some have systolic hypertension while others have diastolic hypertension. Others may have both. The signs of hypertension in this condition will vary. High blood pressure is no joke. Know the signs and monitor your health before it's too late. Source: Simplehypertensionguide dot com