How to recognize the symptoms of hypertension and avoid dangerous complications?

Hypertension is one of the most common heart pathologies, which is currently diagnosed in every third inhabitant of our planet over the age of 45.In recent years, the disease has become significantly younger and now quite often among the number of hypertensive patients one can see very young people with high blood pressure.The main danger of the pathological condition lies in its complications.Hypertension can lead to heart attack and stroke, cause the rupture of aneurysms of large vessels, cause the development of severe damage to kidney function and a sharp deterioration in the quality of vision.

A person's blood pressure has an upper, cardiac, or systolic value, as well as diastolic pressure, or its lower renal level.According to WHO standards, the norm for these indicators should not exceed 139/89 mmHg.Art., otherwise it is customary to talk about hypertension.Early diagnosis and early treatment of hypertension is the person's opportunity to prevent the occurrence of pathological changes in many internal organs, which will allow them to maintain their health and enjoy a full life for many years.

Reasons

Unfortunately, modern medical science has not yet managed to completely unravel all the possible causes of hypertension, but most of them are known to doctors.Only an experienced specialist can determine which factor led to the development of the disease, who in the diagnostic process uses not only his knowledge, but also the results of numerous studies that confirm or refute the presence of signs of hypertension in a person.

The main reason for the increase in blood pressure is the violation of the activity of the human sympathetic-adrenal system, that is, the constant irritation of the center responsible for the narrowing of blood vessels in the brain.

This can occur under the influence of many exogenous as well as endogenous factors that contribute to sudden vasospasm.

The symptoms of hypertension can appear in people with the so-called exogenous risk factors for the development of the pathological condition:

• frequent stress and severe nervous tension.
• poor diet;
• sedentary lifestyle;
• long working hours, night shift.
• regular consumption of large quantities of strong alcoholic beverages and smoking;
• drugs;
• intense sports activities.

Among the endogenous factors, age and bad heredity come to the fore, when the disease can be transmitted from parents to the child.The development of hypertension is also promoted by:

1. vascular damage from atherosclerosis.
2. portliness;
3. metabolic diseases, especially diabetes mellitus, hyperthyroidism.
4. kidney disease;
5. increased levels of calcium and sodium in the blood;
6. hormonal changes, which are the most common cause of high blood pressure in women during pregnancy and menopause.

Classification

Currently, there is more than one classification of hypertension.The disease is usually distinguished by the nature of its course, the presence of complications, the causes of development, pressure indicators and much more.

Modern cardiologists distinguish several degrees of hypertension (depending on the indicators of high blood pressure):

• 1st degree – pressure rises to 159-140/99-90 mm Hg.Art.;
• 2nd degree - on the needles of a mechanical tonometer the indicator is diagnosed as 179-160/109-100 mm Hg.Art.;
• Grade 3 – persistent or periodic increase in pressure above 180/110 mm Hg.Art.

According to the generally accepted WHO classification, there are the following stages of the disease:

• Stage 1 – transient increase in pressure without damage to target organs.
• Stage 2 - the presence of signs of damage to internal organs, among which the main target is the heart, blood vessels, eye structures, brain and kidneys.
• Stage 3 - a constant increase in blood pressure in the context of the development of complications, from the manifestations of which a person can die.

Hypertensive disease has its own types of course, such as:

1. benign type or mild variant of hypertension, when the symptoms of the pathology develop very slowly, for decades, and the risk of complications is estimated to be minimal.
2. a malignant disease in which sudden increases in pressure, damage to target organs and frequent hypertensive attacks are recorded (this variant of the disease is difficult to treat with drugs).

Symptoms

In the initial stages of its development, the disease is practically asymptomatic, which complicates its early detection.In such patients, high blood pressure may be discovered incidentally during a medical examination or during a routine clinic appointment.

A more complex type of hypertension is characterized by a series of signs that significantly worsen a person's quality of life and are the reason for their referral to specialists.The main symptom of the disease is an increase in blood pressure above 140/90 mm Hg.Art.This condition causes headaches to develop, which are the result of a reflex constriction of the blood vessels in the brain.As a rule, people with a tendency to hypertension complain of the appearance of pain in the back of the head and in the temples, which is of a pulsating character, characterized by its severity and sudden development.Such pains and throbbing do not go away after taking pain relievers.

Often, hypertensive patients experience solo dizziness, which can occur after simple work.The symptom is often accompanied by nausea and vomiting, as well as general malaise due to increased intracranial pressure.Narrowing of the vessels of the hearing aid causes tinnitus, when a person feels that his ears are very blocked and practically loses the ability to normally perceive the sounds of his environment.

Violation of coronary blood flow leads to the development of myocardial ischemia.Such patients develop shortness of breath and chest pain, which can be easily corrected with nitrates.At this time, the organ works in an enhanced mode in order to be able to push a lot of blood into the narrow main vessels.Each attack of angina is accompanied by a rapid pulse, strong pulsations and the risk of such a terrible complication of a pathological condition as myocardial infarction.

In the case of hypertension, eye dysfunction is determined by a sharp deterioration of vision and the development of hypertensive vasculopathy of the retinal vessels.The pathological process also involves the fundus of the eye, which swells and compresses the optic nerve.At this time, the person notices "goosebumps" in front of his eyes, dark circles and the like.

Complications of high blood pressure symptoms in women occur more often during menopause, when menopause occurs.During this period, hormonal changes occur in the body of the fair sex, disrupting the production of biologically active substances that control normal blood pressure levels.That is why hypertension is the most common consequence of menopause in women.

Complications

HD is one of the insidious diseases that develop slowly and very often are diagnosed already at the stage of the appearance of the first complications of the pathological process.With a continuous increase in blood pressure, dystrophic and sclerosing changes occur in the target organs, leading to severe functional impairment.First of all, the kidneys, brain, heart, visual analyzer and blood vessels are affected by arterial hypertension.

There are several risk factors that influence the rate of development of hypertension complications and their severity:

• bad habits, especially smoking.
• sedentary lifestyle and increased body mass index.
• increased blood cholesterol and hyperglycemia.
• frequent stress;
• deficiency of potassium and magnesium in the body.
• age-related changes;
• hereditary predisposition.

With hypertensive disease, the heart is forced to work under conditions of increased stress, which is associated with the need to push blood through narrow vessels.Over time, the myocardial wall thickens and a person experiences left ventricular hypertrophy and oxygen starvation of the heart muscle.

On the heart side, there are several types of complications of hypertension:

1. ischemic disease?
2. angina pectoris;
3. atherosclerosis of the coronary vessels.
4. acute form of heart failure in the form of myocardial infarction.
5. chronic heart failure.

A high level of blood pressure causes the appearance of brain disorders in a person, which in practice manifests itself as severe dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, memory loss and much more.There are several options for complex cerebral complications of hypertension:

• encephalopathy with vestibular disorders.
• ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke.
• cognitive impairment of brain activity.

As you know, the kidneys control the amount of water and salt in the body.But when blood pressure rises, they can fully perform their main work.This contributes to a number of complications, including:

1. kidney failure;
2. dysfunction of filtration and fluid secretion.
3. nephrosclerosis.

Such disorders lead to the development of a series of symptoms in hypertensive patients that indicate kidney pathology.A sick person begins to complain of general weakness, malaise, swelling and nausea for no reason.

Ocular damage is manifested by the appearance of retinal hemorrhages, swelling of the optic nerve head and progressive loss of vision.From the side of the peripheral vessels in arterial hypertension, the most dangerous complication is the dissection of their walls, specifically the well-known aortic aneurysm, which forms and is asymptomatic, often causing sudden death.

Diagnostics

Diagnosing hypertension by determining the stage and degree of development of the disease is an important step in prescribing the appropriate treatment for the pathological condition.That is why, when the first signs indicating a hypertensive disease appear, you should immediately contact a medical institution to find out the causes of high blood pressure and methods to correct it.

The set of diagnostic measures for suspected hypertension includes a number of laboratory and instrumental studies, such as:

• laboratory blood test to determine the level of potassium and magnesium, creatinine, bad cholesterol, glucose, etc.
• biochemical study of urine with determination of the amount of protein.
• electrocardiogram (ECG);
• ultrasound examination of the heart.
• Doppler flowmetry;
• fundus examination.

The diagnostic process for hypertension, which allows us to determine the degree of damage, consists of two stages:

1. the first stage is the determination of the clinical manifestations of the disease from the words of the hypertensive patient and obtaining the results of additional studies.
2. the second stage is a special study that allows you to determine the exact extent of the disease and the presence of its complications in the patient using magnetic resonance therapy (MRI) or X-ray examination.

Daily monitoring of blood pressure allows you to have an accurate picture of the course of the disease.Thanks to this, you can determine the range of pressure fluctuations during the day and determine its average, which will characterize the degree of hypertension.The main disadvantage of such research is its high cost.

Treatment

Exacerbations of hypertension should be treated in a cardiac hospital, where it is possible to continuously monitor blood pressure levels.In addition, if necessary, the doctor can modify the patient's treatment plan and prescribe more effective drugs in each specific clinical case.

Treatment of the disease begins with the appointment of a special diet, which strictly limits table salt, fatty and fried foods, as well as by-products, smoked meats and flour products.Nutrition for hypertensive patients is aimed at improving the general condition, preventing the development of edema, normalizing weight and the like.

According to the new European recommendations, the treatment of hypertension must be comprehensive and necessarily include a series of drugs, the action of which is aimed at reducing blood pressure and eliminating the risks of turning the disease into a malignant version of its course or developing complications of the pathological condition.Among the most commonly used groups of drugs for hypertension are:

• alpha-blockers;
• ganglion blockers;
• ACE inhibitors?
• beta blockers;
• calcium channel blockers.
• diuretics.

The doctor pays special attention to the prescription of diuretics.The fact is that not every diuretic is safe for the body of a hypertensive patient due to its properties to flush out potassium.That is why taking such drugs should be combined with the use of potassium supplements under the control of the biochemical composition of the blood.In addition, diuretics not only lower blood pressure, but also eliminate tissue swelling by removing excess sodium.

Self-medication of hypertension is strictly prohibited.

It is also not recommended to use traditional antihypertensive drugs without the approval of such use by your doctor.Prohibited actions, as the main contraindication, can cause an urgent hypertensive crisis and the need to immediately place the patient in a specialized hospital to determine the causes of complications and take further tactics to eliminate them.

Prevention

To prevent hypertension, it is necessary to undergo a set of measures aimed at early detection and elimination of the risks of developing a pathological condition, as well as stabilizing already high blood pressure.In order to avoid the appearance of the first signs of the disease, a person must normalize his lifestyle, give up bad habits and salt consumption, increase his physical activity and also lose excess weight.Particular attention should be paid to the health of potential patients whose risk of developing hypertension is hereditary.This category of people should always have a pressure measuring device with them, with which they can monitor their condition.

Blood pressure problems can be prevented by:

1. lead an active lifestyle (physical therapy, gymnastics, massage, walks in the fresh air, skiing, swimming in the pool) and regularly train in the gym.
2. give up junk food, smoking and drinking alcohol.
3. reduce salt intake to 3-4 g per day.
4. forbid yourself to eat foods rich in animal fats, preservatives and cholesterol.
5. Maintain a clear daily routine and practice getting enough sleep.
6. prevent the appearance of excessive fat deposits, which cause obesity.
7. prevention of stressful situations.
8. regularly undergo preventive examinations with a cardiologist and receive the necessary tests.
9. When the first signs of increased blood pressure appear, seek medical help immediately.

People who have inherited a tendency to hypertension should take care of their health, exercise and have regular check-ups.A ready diagnosis of hypertension includes clinical observation of patients and, if necessary, referral to a committee to determine disability.