High Blood Pressure Symptoms - Catch it Early

Do you know how to recognize high blood pressure symptoms? The term for the condition is hypertension. Hypertension can affect people of all ages, shapes, sizes and nationalities. There are, however, both genetic and lifestyle factors that increase the odds of hypertension for some people.

High blood pressure symptoms can vary. One symptom of hypertension is headache. A headache causes pain within the head, above the eyes, at the back of the neck and sometimes above the ears.

Another symptom is dizziness. Dizziness is typically defined as a sense of movement or motion felt within either you, or a sense of those feelings in your surroundings even when you and your surroundings are perfectly still. Blurred vision is also sometimes caused by hypertension. If you are having a hard time seeing detail within pictures or if things seem a bit foggy and smeared, you may have blurred vision. A lesser known fact is that hypertension can also include nausea. Nausea is the sensation that you are going to vomit.

If you have been experiencing any of these, then you may have high blood pressure symptoms. It is always important to contact a physician if you are experiencing anything new, unusual or alarming. Untreated hypertension causes organ damage and can lead to death. You should monitor your systolic and diastolic readings and document every symptom you notice so that when you visit the doctor you do not forget anything you have experienced.

Your physician will want to know if you have a family history of kidney failure, hypertension, heart attack or stroke. He will also ask questions about your lifestyle, particularly in regard to any medications you take, your diet and your social habits. He will check your systolic and diastolic readings with a sphygmomanometer, which is a device that consists of a rubber cuff that is placed around your arm and then inflated with air. This is painless and does not take long. The sphygmomanometer also has a gauge attached that allows the doctor to see your readings.

You can take your systolic and diastolic readings at home with a wrist or arm cuff made precisely for this purpose. You can also monitor your readings with the machine at your local pharmacy. Of course, if you are having high blood pressure symptoms that seem very worrisome or extreme, or if your readings are in a dangerous zone, then you should call 911 or immediately go to the local emergency room to be checked out.

As you can see, a person may sometimes be able to tell if he or she may be having high blood pressure symptoms. More often than not though, there will not be any indication of hypertension. It is always best to keep regular appointments with your doctor and have screenings done to determine if you are in fact hypertensive. If you do have readings that suggest hypertension, there are different options your doctor will discuss with you, possibly including medications and/or lifestyle changes.