Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to disability, a poor quality of life, or even a deadly heart attack or stroke. Treatment and lifestyle changes can help control high blood pressure to reduce the risk of life-threatening complications.
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.
Your blood pressure is considered high (stage 1) if it reads 130/80. Stage 2 high blood pressure is 140/90 or higher. If you get a blood pressure reading of 180/110 or higher more than once, seek medical treatment right away. A reading this high is considered “hypertensive crisis.”
Once you have primary hypertension, you usually have it for life. Without treatment, primary hypertension can lead to serious complications down the road like heart and kidney disease. There is no cure yet for primary hypertension.
Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to stroke, heart attack, heart failure and other heart conditions; cause damage to your kidneys, memory and vision; and contribute to erectile dysfunction.
Possible causes of resistant hypertension
The accumulation of artery-clogging plaque in blood vessels that nourish the kidneys, a condition called renal artery stenosis. Sleep problems, such as the breath-holding type of snoring known as obstructive sleep apnea.
Call 911 or emergency medical services if your blood pressure is 180/120 mm Hg or greater and you have chest pain, shortness of breath, or symptoms of stroke. Stroke symptoms include numbness or tingling, trouble speaking, or changes in vision.
Blood pressure is mostly a silent disease
Unfortunately, high blood pressure can happen without feeling any abnormal symptoms. Moderate or severe headaches, anxiety, shortness of breath, nosebleeds, palpitations, or feeling of pulsations in the neck are some signs of high blood pressure.
Known causes of high blood pressure
kidney disease. diabetes. long-term kidney infections. obstructive sleep apnoea – where the walls of the throat relax and narrow during sleep, interrupting normal breathing.
While it's theoretically possible that you can live a long life with high blood pressure, the odds are not in your favor. It makes more sense to heed your hypertension risks and learn how treatment can improve your hypertension prognosis and life expectancy.