Symptoms of Hypertension

From WebHealth

[edit] Symptoms of hypertension

Unfortunately there are no early signs or symptoms for hypertension. This is a disease where only prevention can help to avert a disaster such as a stroke, permanent kidney damage, irreversible heart disease or blindness. When symptoms finally occur after years of uncontrolled hypertension, the damage in the target organs is already done. The damage of uncontrolled hypertension is done on the small arteries.

This can only be made visible by looking into the eyes with an ophthalmoscope( examination by a physician). The damage to the small arteries leads to accelerated arteriosclerotic changes of all of the arteries including the aorta.

Because of the high blood pressure and the brittleness of the aorta, a hole in the aorta can develop (aortic dissection) or a pouching out of the wall (aortic aneurysm) with leakage. These are potentially life-threatening situations with a high mortality. The heart, as a result of having to constantly pump against the high blood pressure in the arterial system, develops a thickening of the heart muscle( myocardial hypertrophy), which is visible on ECG studies and visible on echocardiogram studies.

The person may have to urinate more often and when the doctor runs tests, there may be protein and microscopic blood traces in the urine. Again, this is a late sign of hypertension and is a sign of kidney damage, which may not be reversible (hypertensive nephropathy). The key to diagnosing hypertension early is for every person is to go to one of the drug store outlets in a shopping mall once per year or every 6 to 8 months to determine what the blood pressure is. If it is more than 140/90, you may have high blood pressure and should see your physician for further clarification.

Home page

Cardiovascular disease

Hypertension

Common causes of headaches

References:

1. "The sixth report of the Joint National Committee on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure ( JNC IV )" Arch Int Med 1997(157): 2413-2446.

2. JS Trilling et al. Arch Fam Med 2000 Sep/Oct (9): 794-801.

3. DJ Hyman et al. Arch Intern Med 2000 Aug 160(15): 2281-2286.

4. CP Tifft Curr Hypertens Rep 2000 Jun (3): 243-246.

5. The Merck Manual, 7^th edition, by M. H. Beers et al., Whitehouse Station, N.J., 1999. Chapter 199.

6. Noble: Textbook of Primary Care Medicine, 3rd ed.,2001, Mosby Inc.

7. Goroll: Primary Care Medicine, 4th ed., 2000, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

8. Ferri: Ferri's Clinical Advisor: Instant Diagnosis and Treatment, 2004 ed., Copyright © 2004 Mosby, Inc.

9. Rakel: Conn's Current Therapy 2004, 56th ed., Copyright © 2004 Elsevier