Table of Article Contents
Symptoms of High Blood Pressure – Adults & Children
Many people who have high blood pressure are not even aware that they do. It is because there are cases where there are no visible signs and symptoms. High blood pressure is said to be present if it is persistently at or above 140/90 mmHg.
If there is a problem and you haven’t been made aware of it, it can have been adversely affecting your vital organs, including kidneys and heart. It can also cause eye problems. If it is too high then it will be time to look at ways to lower your blood pressure.
Hypertension
Hypertension is a medical term used for high blood pressure.
Hypertension is rarely accompanied by any symptoms, and its identification is usually through screening, or when seeking healthcare for an unrelated problem. A proportion of people with high blood pressure report headaches (particularly at the back of the head and in the morning), as well as lightheadedness, vertigo, tinnitus (buzzing or hissing in the ears), altered vision or fainting episodes. Source
Signs of High Blood Pressure In Adults
Your body will begin to suffer reactions whenever your blood pressure starts to rise, but only when it gets severe. For the most part, it’s a silent killer – because people aren’t aware of it until they go to their doctor for a check-up and find out it’s elevated then.
By the time you’re aware of it, it’s already started wreaking havoc on your health. One form of high blood pressure (known as malignant hypertension), does show symptoms when an onset of elevated blood pressure occurs. You might experience:
- Dizziness or Lightheaded – This is a common sign where fluctuations either are too high or too low.
- Nosebleed
- Vomiting
- Confusion
- Fatigue – Weakness and being lethargic for no apparent reason is another symptom of high blood pressure.
- Extreme headache
- Swelling in legs
- Vision Problems – Hypertension can damage your retina thereby causing vision impairment and other eye problems.
- Nausea
- Change in eyesight
- Confusion
- Chest Pain – A heavy pounding in the heart can cause resulting chest pains and possible shortness of breath.
Signs of High Blood Pressure in Children
Children who have a sedentary lifestyle can also become at risk of having high blood pressure. When this happens, they will also experience those signs similar to what adults have such as visual problems, dizziness, fatigue and shortness of breath.
Signs of High Blood Pressure In Pregnant Women
- Abdominal Pain – When a pregnant woman consistently experiences pain that is often felt on the upper right side of the abdomen, this could be one indication that she has high blood pressure.
- Vision Problems – Pregnant women may also experience blurred vision or light sensitivity.
- Infrequent Urination – Urination becomes less frequent because the body will tend to retain the fluid as blood pressure continues to rise.
- Sudden Weight Gain – Gaining weight is certainly normal if you are pregnant, however there is a rapid increase ten this could be a sign of high blood pressure.
High blood pressure can prelude the existence of many serious diseases.
If you are serious about reducing high blood pressure you can make necessary changes. These would include observing a healthy diet, sticking to regular physical exercise and a life devoid of cigarette smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages.
Not too big of an ask if you want a healthy heart and long life.
The myth of symptomatic headaches
The best evidence indicates that high blood pressure does not cause headaches except perhaps in the case of hypertensive crisis (systolic/top number higher than 180 OR diastolic/bottom number higher than 110). Source.
References:
- http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HighBloodPressure/PreventionTreatmentofHighBloodPressure/Prevention-Treatment-of-High-Blood-Pressure_UCM_002054_Article.jsp
- http://www.webmd.boots.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/guide/high-bp-symptoms
- http://www.webmd.com/baby/tc/preeclampsia-and-high-blood-pressure-during-pregnancy-symptoms
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