Symptoms of hypertension

Written by Zhang Yue Mei
Cardiology
Updated on August 31, 2024
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Hypertension is a common and frequently occurring disease clinically. Mild hypertension often has no clinical symptoms and is usually detected during physical examinations when measuring blood pressure reveals an increase. In cases of severe hypertension, individuals with long-term high blood pressure may experience dizziness, a feeling of pressure in the head, and headaches. In serious cases, symptoms can include tinnitus and palpitations, requiring the use of effective antihypertensive medications for management. If patients with hypertension do not use medications to manage their condition, long-term high blood pressure can cause significant harm to the body, leading to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, hypertension-induced heart disease, and stroke. (Please use medications under the guidance of a doctor.)

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Written by Tang Li
Cardiology
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Hypertensive crisis blood pressure values

At any stage of hypertension development and other disease emergencies, severe life-threatening blood pressure increases can occur, requiring emergency treatment. Hypertensive crises include hypertensive emergencies and hypertensive urgencies. Hypertensive emergencies refer to severe blood pressure increases within a short time—hours or days—with diastolic pressure greater than 130 mmHg and/or systolic pressure greater than 180 mmHg, accompanied by severe dysfunction or irreversible damage to critical organs and tissues such as the heart, brain, kidneys, retina, and major arteries. Hypertensive urgencies may present as increased blood pressure but without obvious target organ damage.

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Written by Zhang Yue Mei
Cardiology
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Symptoms of hypertension

Hypertension is a common and frequently occurring disease clinically. Mild hypertension often has no clinical symptoms and is usually detected during physical examinations when measuring blood pressure reveals an increase. In cases of severe hypertension, individuals with long-term high blood pressure may experience dizziness, a feeling of pressure in the head, and headaches. In serious cases, symptoms can include tinnitus and palpitations, requiring the use of effective antihypertensive medications for management. If patients with hypertension do not use medications to manage their condition, long-term high blood pressure can cause significant harm to the body, leading to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, hypertension-induced heart disease, and stroke. (Please use medications under the guidance of a doctor.)

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Written by Li Qiang
Intensive Care Unit
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How to treat hypertensive encephalopathy

The treatment goal for hypertensive encephalopathy is mainly to rapidly reduce blood pressure to a reasonable range. Typically, intravenous antihypertensive drugs are administered to decrease blood pressure by 20%-25% within the first hour, followed by oral antihypertensives or continued intravenous treatment to further reduce it to a more reasonable level. Hypertensive encephalopathy often accompanies cerebral edema, and patients may experience increased intracranial pressure. At this point, it is necessary to administer dehydrating agents such as mannitol to treat the cerebral edema. If the patient experiences seizures, which can cause an increase in blood pressure or difficulty in reducing blood pressure, sedative anticonvulsant drugs must be administered to control the seizures. If the patient shows signs of heart failure, diuretic treatment should be initiated. Additionally, high concentration oxygen therapy under high pressure should be administered, which can be delivered through nasal cannula. If nasal oxygen therapy is ineffective, non-invasive ventilation or even intubation with invasive ventilation may be used to provide high concentration positive pressure oxygen therapy.

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Written by Li Hai Wen
Cardiology
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Is it called hypertension if the diastolic blood pressure is high?

High diastolic pressure, which is an increase in diastolic pressure, is also considered hypertension when the diastolic pressure exceeds 90mmHg. If you have hypertension, it is essential to have a formal medical examination at a hospital, such as blood tests for lipids and glucose to check for diabetes and hyperlipidemia. Blood tests are also done to evaluate liver and kidney functions, to see if there are any kidney diseases causing the increase in blood pressure. Additionally, under the guidance of a doctor, conduct ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to observe the overall situation of blood pressure increase within 24 hours. Based on the results of the blood tests and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, determine whether antihypertensive medication is needed and which type of medication to use.

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Written by Wang Ji Zhong
Internal Medicine
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The difference between hypertensive crisis and hypertensive encephalopathy

Both hypertensive encephalopathy and hypertensive crisis involve a rapid increase in blood pressure, symptoms of headache, restlessness, nausea and vomiting, palpitations, shortness of breath, and blurred vision, with systolic pressure increasing to 200 mmHg and diastolic pressure to 120 mmHg, typically presenting similar clinical blood pressure readings. The main difference between the two is that hypertensive encephalopathy is based on excessively high blood pressure in patients with severe hypertension. Furthermore, hypertensive encephalopathy can lead to clinical signs of cerebral edema and increased intracranial pressure, whereas hypertensive crisis occurs when blood pressure suddenly rises over a short period, causing symptoms due to excessive secretion of catecholamines driven by increased sympathetic nervous excitement.