What Are the Symptoms of High Blood Pressure?

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is often called "The Silent Killer" because symptoms are heard to detect and often go unnoticed. Yet high blood pressure can be devastating to your health--and even deadly.

Prolonged high blood pressure can cause catastrophic organ damage, including heart attack, heart failure, eye damage and vision loss, stoke, aneurism and artery deterioration.

Identifying a High Blood Pressure Symptom 

While it's easy to overlook some of the generally "quiet" clues that you may have high blood pressure, there are some signs that can alert you to a problem:

• an occasional feeling of nausea,
• dizziness,
• headache and
• blurred vision.

Unfortunately, these symptoms are common to many other health problems, so the best way to determine if you have high blood pressure, or hypertension, is to have a regular blood pressure reading. This can often be done for free at your local supermnarket or drug store. There are also a number of inexpensive home blood pressure monitors now available.

If you find out your blood pressure is higher than normal, it's important to get to your doctor as soon as possible to set a course of treatment for lowering it. Lifestyle changes, like getting more exercise and eating a healthier diet, can have a significant, positive impact. There are also many prescription medications now available that can help you manage your hypertension.