Symptoms of high blood pressure may not be noticeable even after it has caused extensive organ damage. Even very high blood pressures, fatal and already causing serious kidney damage, sometimes continue for several months before any symptoms may occur. The only way to know if you have high blood pressure is to have it measured with a sphygmomanometer.
Headaches and breathlessness (dyspnea) on slight exertion occur more frequently in people who have sustained blood pressures of around 180/120 mmHg or higher than in people with ‘normal’ blood pressure. Both of these symptoms are common anyway, but they occur more often in people with high blood pressure. Almost everyone gets headaches at some time or another – they can be due to anxiety, tension or minor infections. Such ‘ordinary’ headaches are equally common in people with high blood pressure, but a cautious physician will always check your blood pressure first before dismissing associated headaches as insignificant, as they do occupationally signal sudden loss of control. Some of these headaches can be a warning of early damage to the vascular system in the brain or the retina, which will require urgent blood pressure control to prevent fatal complications. Breathlessness in people with high blood pressure is usually a result of being obese. On the other hand, if blood pressure has risen out of control, or has strangely fallen without any change in medication, then breathlessness may be the symptom of early heart failure.
The risk of bleeding from arteries into the brain (thereby causing stroke) or into the retina (causing visual loss if the bleeding is extensive) is magnified by high blood pressure, most especially in people over fifty years old and is one of the main reasons why high blood pressure calls for appropriate treatment. Nose bleeding and subconjunctival hemorrhages occur more frequently in people with high blood pressure, although both symptoms are very common and need not cause alarm immediately. Subconjunctival hemorrhages sound very deadly, but “hemorrhage” is simply the technical term for bleeding of any extent. Subconjunctival hemorrhages are simply a small amount of bleeding in the white are of the eye. They can appear after coughing, sneezing or straining during defecation and show up as a bright red area on the white of the eye, which then disappears over several weeks or so. They are harmless and have nothing to do with retinal hemorrhages.
Palpitations, tension headaches and hyperventilation are symptoms of anxiety and so are common in people who are anxious or frightened. If they already have these symptoms and are then unfortunately found to have high blood pressure, then the diagnosis may confirm their fears and reinforce the symptoms. Others may get palpitations for the first time after they have been told that they have high blood pressure. They are not caused by high blood pressure itself, but by fear of it and what the diagnosis means. The symptoms usually disappear, although not always immediately, with adequate explanation of what a diagnosis of high blood pressure really means.
Symptoms of high blood pressure are usually varied. Before jumping into any conclusion, consult your physician first to save you from unnecessary worries of high blood pressure.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Blood Pressure
