How Do I Know If I Have High Blood Pressure

How Do I Know If I Have High Blood Pressure

It’s time to talk about a scary, but necessary truth. The generally accepted notion that high blood pressure has symptoms attached to it is a myth. According to the American Heart Association, high blood pressure can be present for extended periods of time, yet symptomatically dormant.

This article will discuss the so-called “symptoms” of hypertension and the truth about how you can monitor your blood pressure.

Chosen Ignorance is not a Solution

If you asked the average person what the symptoms of high blood pressure are, you’d probably hear something like this:

• Severe headaches
• Facial flushing
• Anxiety
• Insomnia
• Shortness of breath
• Sweating
• Nosebleeds

People who are not getting their blood pressure regularly checked because they think hypertension comes with these symptoms, need to learn the facts about this condition sooner rather than later.

For instance:

• People with hypertension actually have fewer headaches than the general population.

• Facial flushing is not a reliable indicator of hypertension because it can happen for various reasons; anything from increased stress to spicy foods.

• Nosebleeds only occur in about 17% of all hypertension cases. The remaining 83% have no symptoms at all until they are in crisis.

Pay particular attention to the word “crisis” in the final statement above. Hypertensive crisis is when some of the symptoms people talk about actually occur, not before.

Don’t enter Crisis Mode, get your Numbers Checked

Let’s revisit the introduction for a moment. You may recall that cardiologists have said high blood pressure is a long-term, progressive problem that lies symptomatically dormant until it is life-threatening.That life-threatening stage is called hypertensive crisis.

It occurs when your heart