Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of hypertension is that it has no symptoms through its early and middle stages. It’s only when high blood pressure becomes an immediate and serious health threat in its advanced stage that you start to notice signs.
The only way to know your blood pressure is high is through regular medical testing and, when hypertension becomes an issue, taking steps to bring it under control.
If you live in the Mountain View, California, area, cardiologist César R. Molina, M.D., FACC should be your first call for care and treatment of hypertension. And if you’re one of the millions of Americans affected, here’s what you need to know about this silent and potentially deadly disease.
A good way to understand how high blood pressure affects your body is to compare it with your car’s tires. When inflated to the recommended level of air pressure, your tires work well and have a predictable life span, barring any unusual conditions that cause damage.
When your tires are chronically overinflated, you won’t notice any difference in day-to-day driving. However, over time, your tires start to wear prematurely and, eventually, this wear causes problems like poor traction and an increased risk of blow-outs.
Similarly, the increased force of blood against your artery walls is unlikely to present problems when the condition starts. However, after years of consistently high blood pressure, the risk of complications like heart attack and stroke increases dramatically.
Hypertension doesn’t cause pain in the early years. You won’t feel sick and you can’t detect high blood pressure through feeling the strength of your pulse. The only way to know if you have hypertension is through testing.
About 116 million Americans have hypertension, almost half of the country’s adult population. Many have no idea their health is at risk, yet there’s an easy, quick, painless, and simple test that reveals the presence of high blood pressure.
Blood pressure cuff testing measures the force of pressure against your artery walls both when your heart pumps and when it’s at rest. This is the reason for the two numbers in your blood pressure reading.
The top, or systolic, number represents the maximum pressure within your arteries, while the bottom, or diastolic, number represents the pressure between your heartbeats. Normal blood pressure is expressed as 120/80 (120 over 80).
In the United States, you’re deemed to have hypertension when your blood pressure reading exceeds a systolic value of 120, even when your diastolic number is still 80 or less. This is considered elevated blood pressure.
Stage 1 hypertension has systolic values between 130-139 or diastolic numbers between 80-89. With stage 2 hypertension, these boundaries are over 140 systolic or over 90 diastolic.
The most reliable way to know your blood pressure values is through regular testing with qualified medical personnel. You can also track hypertension with blood pressure meters designed for home use, as long as these produce readings consistent with your medical results.
When you have hypertension, or if you need a blood pressure assessment, contact us today by calling our office or using our online tool to arrange a personal consultation as soon as possible. Controlling hypertension is too important to ignore, so plan your visit now.
