High blood pressure is one of the most commonly found cardiovascular problems, and even though it does not always end up in tragic events, it is associated with an important increase in cardiovascular risk. High blood pressure often appears in patients with other underlying diseases, such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and kidney disease. It is also associated with several health problems, such as obesity, overweight, and blood lipid imbalances.
In this article, we are going to cover the most common symptoms associated with high blood pressure, but if you pay close attention while reading, you will realize none of the listed symptoms is required in hypertension. Instead, this disease is diagnosed through a series of blood pressure readings, which often need confirmation before reaching any definite conclusion.
The most common symptoms of hypertension are as follows:
1. Nosebleeds
Many cases of high blood pressure are detected because patients suddenly experience nosebleeds in the middle of the night. They might not feel anything else and would start bleeding all of a sudden without a reasonable explanation. Nosebleed associated with hypertension is clinically called epistaxis. It happens because the pressure of the blood overcomes the resistance of the small blood vessels inside the nose tissue. It is more common in individuals with capillary fragility but does not need an underlying disease to manifest itself.
A nosebleed is common in a cardiovascular event called hypertensive crisis, in which blood pressure rises above the tolerable limit and start causing discomfort and a series of symptoms.
2. Face flushing
Patients with uncontrolled hypertension may have visible symptoms everyone can see, including face flushing. This symptom is especially prevalent in white individuals because they are more susceptible to changes in the coloration of the skin associated with the blood vessels. Face flushing results from a dilation of the blood vessels all over the skin. It is often seen in emotional events such as stress, tension, and surprise, all of which might be associated with a hypertensive crisis.
Patients with hypertension would not experience face flushing all the time because it is not a continuous symptom. Instead, it is seen only when blood pressure levels reach a very high limit. There’s no way to know whether or not you suffer from high blood pressure without performing a correct measurement.
3. Headaches
Patients with hypertension in the emergency room often come in a hurry because they have a severe headache that is not relieved by over-the-counter medications or feels “different” from other times.
Hypertension increases the volume of blood in the brain and causes an alteration to the tension in these blood vessels. When there is a hypertensive crisis, this continuous tension in the brain blood vessels would ultimately cause a headache. It is commonly experienced with a noticeable pulse in your temples, and it can be a serious alarm sign when it appears all of a sudden, when it is severe and crippling, and when it is accompanied with other symptoms such as muscle weakness, body paralysis or loss of sensitivity.
4. Blurred vision
High blood pressure causes a series of visual problems throughout the disease, especially when patients sustain hypertension for a long time with a poor medical control. In the short-term, patients usually describe blurry vision as a part of the alarm signs and symptoms pointing out to a hypertensive crisis.
In this event, the blood vessels cause tension to the nervous structures in the eye, and that’s why we may start perceiving a temporary change in the visual field. On the long-term, hypertension can lead to a progressive vision loss that may end up in total blindness if not properly treated.
5. Lightheadedness
High blood pressure symptoms are quite varied depending on each patient. Some would feel lightheadedness and muscle weakness, sometimes associated with the severity of the headache. They may also feel difficulty to maintain their balance, walk, and even speak properly. Lightheadedness and dizziness in hypertension are not a continuous symptom. They only appear when patients reach a life-threatening reading and need urgent medical assistance to prevent any adverse event.
Sometimes, dizziness and lightheadedness are caused by the continuous tension of the blood in the brain tissue, but other times it is caused by a severe problem such as stroke. Thus, do not take this symptom lightly, especially when accompanied by others on this list.
6. Nausea
This symptom is often associated with headaches, but sometimes patients report nausea as their primary symptom to come to the emergency room. In some cases, nausea is severe and causes vomiting, but it is not always the case. In hypertension, it is essential to look at the relationship between the signs and symptoms because each one of them would not have a clinical meaning by itself.
For example, nausea is often caused by gastrointestinal problems such as food poisoning. But having nausea, a headache and blurred vision should lead us to think there’s something more significant than a digestive problem going on.
7. Anxiety
In most cases, patients with high blood pressure are also anxious and may also feel scared and stressed out. This emotional state can be both the cause and the consequence of hypertension. On the one hand, anxiety, stress, emotional tension, fear, and shocking experiences potentially raise blood pressure by triggering the release of adrenalin to the bloodstream. In hypertensive patients who already live with high blood pressure readings, this violent increase would cause a hypertensive crisis as they reach to dangerous blood pressure levels.
On the other hand, patients could start feeling anxious after experiencing symptoms such as continuous headache, muscle weakness, and difficulty breathing. Fear often makes the problem worse by releasing adrenalin to the bloodstream and adding up to the high blood pressure.
8. Chest pain
Certain symptoms can become a warning sign by themselves or when associated with other symptoms in this list. Chest pain is a dangerous symptom that patients should notice and fix before it’s too late. There are various sources of chest pain, and heart attack is a likely candidate. In high blood pressure, heart attack risk is increased because of a continuous pressure upon the blood vessels and the potential breakage of cholesterol plaques in the arteries.
When this happens, blood volume is compromised to the heart tissue, and chest pain ensues. It is commonly felt like an oppressive type of pain located in the middle of the chest or the left part of the chest. The pain would sometimes migrate to the left shoulder and arm, the neck and jaw, and other areas of the body. If you feel this type of pain, come to the emergency room regardless of your blood pressure readings for a medical exam.
9. Palpitations
This is a common symptom in patients with an alteration in heart rhythm. When the heartbeat becomes irregular, the volume of blood being pumped off the heart becomes altered, and there’s an inconsistency in the blood load in the heart. In other words, the heart would suddenly feel there’s temporary excess blood and would pump harder to overcome the problem. This is perceived as if the heart was going into a wild beating or as if it was about to come out of the chest.
Heart rhythm problems are deeply associated with hypertension because high blood pressure makes the heart work double, and may activate a defective or diseased peacemaker in the heart.
10. Seizures
Not all patients with hypertension would have seizures. What’s more, they are common in a small subgroup of patients. However, we have listed seizures because they are quite important in pregnant women with high blood pressure readings. There’s a lethal condition called pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, which is hypertension during pregnancy and may lead to several complications, including preterm labor and miscarriages. It can be quite dangerous for both the mother and the fetus and needs an urgent assessment, usually requiring hospitalization to keep close track to blood pressure readings. In some cases, young patients with hypertension would also experience seizures without being pregnant. Either way, this is a distressing alarm symptom that may be related to various causes and needs urgent medical attention.
You may have noticed that most of the signs and symptoms described above are experienced during an event called “hypertensive crisis.” Hypertension is asymptomatic by itself and patients may spend most of their lives without a single symptom. The problem is that asymptomatic high blood pressure causes gradual damage to various organs such as the heart, kidneys, and brain. Sustained high blood pressure may lead to irreversible organ failure, and waiting for a hypertensive crisis would put yourself at risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Thus, it is best to measure your blood pressure readings regularly, even if you do not have any symptoms associated with hypertension, and keep track of your blood pressure readings for one week if you have a doubt. Ask your physician and follow his advice if you suspect high blood pressure, especially if you have associated conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and insulin resistance.