Hypertension Symptoms

The most troubling fact of hypertension is that over 80% of people with high blood pressure exhibit no hypertension symptoms.  This is why it is sometimes referred to as the silent killer.  Often, people with hypertension are simply diagnosed during routine check ups by a healthcare professional. 

Normal blood pressure fluctuates throughout the day in response to many factors such as posture, stress, or food or water intake.    For hypertension symptoms to manifest, blood pressure must be elevated over a long period of time to do enough damage that is noticeable.  Even when this does occur, the onset of symptoms is so gradual that the patient is often oblivious to them.  

Hypertension Symptoms

When hypertension symptoms become noticeable, the disease has progressed to a point where damage may be irreversible.  These patients may exhibit hypertension symptoms such as headaches from increased intracranial pressure or blurry vision due to increased pressure and micro-bleeds in and around the eye.  In the event of untreated secondary hypertension, the resulting symptoms are also very severe and usually irreversible such as excessive growth (hypertrophy) of the cardiac muscle and kidney failure following noticeable protein in the urine.

There are no specific hypertension symptoms to warn patients they have this chronic illness.  Furthermore, the onset of hypertension symptoms can be so gradual that they aren’t noticeable.  The only reliable test available to detect hypertension is a regular measurement of blood pressure.  By the time that hypertension symptoms are discernible, the disease has usually progressed to a point where permanent damage has occurred.  The only reliable detection of hypertension is regular check ups before there are noticeable hypertension symptoms.