High blood pressure or hypertension is one of most frequent disease in the Western countries.In more than 50% of the patients with hypertension they are not aware about the disease. This pathological entity is discovered during the annually medical exam ,or when some complications due to the hypertension brings the patient for medical care.

When the patient knows the family history of hypertension ,being aware about this disease among the other members in the family ,creates a question mark,if it's possible to be inherited by him/her.In this condition the hypertension is detected,evaluated and treated in time,prior to appearance of the signs of complications.

In the medical field,the hypertension is considered an important " silent killer ".

A multidimensional study on the patients,diagnosed with hypertension , found an high number of the patients who didn't recognized signs and symptoms to justify a request for medical exam.When they found the values of blood pressure at the medical exam,the first reaction was a denial.They didn't accept.They didn't recognize having health problems.They didn't feel any symptoms.

This is the power of the silent killer.In many cases the hypertension is associated with other diseases like diabetes,obesity,kidney ailments,endocrine disturbances. In this situation ,the patient being focused on the primary condition ,can neglect the hypertension treatment and prevention of the complications.

In a small contingent diagnosed with hypertension,the patients complained by general symptoms,which can be noted in other diseases.

The most common complaints are related by the circulation of the brain,eyes,internal ear,peripheral circulation,emotional reactions,sleep disturbances.

The majority of the patients are complaining by episodes of headaches (frontal,occipital),like migraine or pressure.This can be associated by dizziness,loss of balance for seconds or minutes duration.If the headaches last longer and is considered unusual ,this can be a serious motivation to ask for medical evaluation.Sometimes this can be episodic,transitory and unable to be correlated by the elevated blood pressure at the time of complaints.

In some cases dizziness and loss of balance ,can be considered as a vertigo syndrome and missing the real cause of hypertension.

Sometimes vision symptoms ( black spots,loss of sight for short period )noted in the acute episode of hypertension ,suggest a neurological disorder like multiple sclerosis ,
especially if are associated by numbness ,loss of strength in the arms or legs.

In small number of the patients the vasomotor symptoms ,like hot flashes,sweating
or redness of the face can suggest endocrine etiology,if is a female in the menopause period and at the time of exam the blood pressure is in normal range.

It is very important to keep in mind that the hypertension at the beginning fluctuates from high numbers to the normal range.Only a medical evaluation for a period of time can help the patient to understand the reality of having hypertension ,which needs the treatment and medical management.

It is dangerous to believe that if you have hypertension you must feel some symptoms and your blood pressure has to be out of order all the time.If you wait to have symptoms and constant high values of blood pressure,in order to convince you about the reality of your hypertension,maybe it will be too late for treatment and prevention of the complications(heart,kidney,bra in,circulation)related to hypertension.

Learn more about this author, Peter Akermann.
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