High blood pressure can damage the small blood vessels in your kidneys and stop them from working properly. This can cause a number of symptoms, including: tiredness. swollen ankles, feet or hands (due to water retention)
High blood pressure causes tiredness as a result of elevated pressure on vital organs such as the brain, heart and kidneys. Often though, medication plays a larger role in contributing to fatigue than the actual condition does. Tiredness is often a common side effect of many medications used to lower blood pressure.
Moderate or severe headaches, anxiety, shortness of breath, nosebleeds, palpitations, or feeling of pulsations in the neck are some signs of high blood pressure. Often, these are late signs that high blood pressure has existed for some time, therefore annual checks are recommended for all adults.
Still, you can make lifestyle changes to bring your blood pressure down. Something as simple as keeping yourself hydrated by drinking six to eight glasses of water every day improves blood pressure. Water makes up 73% of the human heart,¹ so no other liquid is better at controlling blood pressure.
The top drinks for lowering blood pressure include water, fruit juices (pomegranate, prune, cranberry, cherry), vegetable juice (tomato, raw beet), tea (black, green), and skim milk.
Symptoms of Severe High Blood Pressure
Fatigue or confusion. Vision problems. Chest pain. A hard time breathing.
High blood pressure usually has no warning signs or symptoms, and many people do not know they have it. Measuring your blood pressure is the only way to know whether you have high blood pressure.
High blood pressure itself does not cause obesity but can impact the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). RAS regulates blood pressure and cardiovascular function and, if overactivated, can affect body mass and blood pressure. People with high blood pressure may experience weight gain by this system being more activated.
In other words, once blood pressure rises above normal, subtle but harmful brain changes can occur rather quickly—perhaps within a year or two. And those changes may be hard to reverse, even if blood pressure is nudged back into the normal range with treatment.
Some people with hypertension may experience mild, chronic headaches, and what is known as brain fog. This is a condition that occurs when the oxygen supply to the brain is poor or blocked, causing a sense of forgetfulness, trouble with learning, memory and comprehension.
High blood pressure symptoms in women can be subtle
Headaches. Fatigue. Shortness of breath. Chest discomfort.
Another eye problem that can occur due to high blood pressure is optic neuropathy or nerve damage. Restricted or blocked blood flow can cause damage to the optic nerve. As a result, bleeding may occur within your eye. You may also experience vision loss.
Some research suggests coffee can lower the risk for high blood pressure, also called hypertension, in people who don't already have it. But drinking too much coffee has been shown to raise blood pressure and lead to anxiety, heart palpitations and trouble sleeping.
Warning signs and symptoms of heart failure include shortness of breath, chronic coughing or wheezing, swelling, fatigue, loss of appetite, and others.
At the beginning, measure your blood pressure at least twice daily. Take it first in the morning before eating or taking any medications. Take it again in the evening. Each time you measure, take two or three readings to make sure your results are the same.
Summary: Whether the drink of choice is a frosty beer or a full-bodied red wine, the effect is the same – higher blood pressure, according to research reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.
“Consuming diets with adequate magnesium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure (hypertension).
Coffee, tea, and energy drinks often contain caffeine, which can cause your blood pressure to rise by 10 mmHg or more (especially in those who also smoke).