Symptoms of Hypertension: Frequent Headaches can be Risky!

Be careful of frequent headaches as you may be at risk of hypertension. Hypertension doesn't only happen to the elderly; it can be at any age, and it is considered a silent danger for the body that may cause critical illnesses, such as heart attack, cardiac arrhythmia and coronary artery disease.

Most of hypertension patients may have pain in the back of the neck, tightness in the neck and dizziness. Some people may have a throbbing headache like a migraine which is difficult to detect in the initial stage. 

Today, many of you might be wondering what causes hypertension, what the symptoms is, how to treat the patient and whether they can be cured. Let's find out!

●    What is hypertension?
●    What causes hypertension?
●    How many types of hypertension are there?
●    Symptoms and risk factors of hypertension
●    How to prevent and reduce the risk of hypertension

What is hypertension?

Frequent headaches can be a symptom of hypertension. The hypertension has no clear symptoms; the patients may only have fatigue. Therefore, it is considered a silent danger to us, especially to the heart, which may cause critical illnesses, especially heart diseases, such as heart attack, cardiac arrhythmia and coronary artery disease. 

Therefore, the sooner you know, the higher your chances of survival. At this point, many people are probably wondering what hypertension is and what its causes are. Does hypertension only occur in the elderly? Let's find out.

Hypertension is a condition caused by blood pressure being higher than normal, higher than or equal to 140/90 for a long time in a row. The "optimal" blood pressure for people aged 18 years and over is 120-129 mmHg for the upper body and 80-84 mmHg for the lower body. Hypertension often shows no symptoms, but it has negative impacts on the blood vessels and heart, causing severe life-threatening complications or disability, such as heart disease, stroke, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, aortic aneurysm and kidney failure. If you are aware that you have hypertension from the early stages, it will help control blood pressure levels and reduce serious complications.

In addition, if you have very high blood pressure, it can also cause blood vessels to break. For brain, when the blood supply is not enough, it can cause paresis, paralysis and brain bleed. For heart, if it works hard, it can cause the heart to enlarge or fail. Other results from hypertension include kidney disease, kidney deterioration, eye problems that the patients start to see poorly or not clearly, as well as impacts on other organs. Hence, we can see that hypertension has serious effects on the entire body.

What causes hypertension?

At present, the exact cause is unknown, but 95% of the patients is eating very salty foods, increasing age, thyroid disease, use of certain hormones and other causes.

In most cases, the patients have no symptoms at all. This is considered a frightening disease and has become a silent danger that kills the patients without even realizing it. Therefore, it is important to measure the pressure: the only way to tell if we have this condition or not. If such condition is found, we can change our behavior before it is too late. Hypertension does not just happen in the elderly, but it can happen at any age.

How many types of hypertension are there

Hypertension should be well taken care of to prevent complications which are harmful to our health in the future, such as heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure. Hypertension can be divided into 2 types:

Primary or essential hypertension

●    This type was found in approximately 95% of all hypertensive patients. It is mostly found in people aged 60 years and over and is more common in females than males. Although currently the exact cause is still unknown, the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure found that there are various risk factors related and causing high blood pressure, including shared genes, obesity, high blood fat, salty foods, not exercising, drinking alcohol, smoking, stress, aging and family history of cardiovascular disease.

Secondary hypertension

●    It is rarely found, approximately 5-10%, mostly caused by pathology of organs in the body, resulting in high blood pressure. Most are caused by pathology in the kidneys, adrenal glands, diseases or disorders of the nervous system, hormonal disorders, diseases of the endocrine glands, preeclampsia, head injury, using drugs and being exposed to chemicals and other causes. 

Symptoms and risk factors of hypertension

Now, you know what hypertension is and its types. Let's try to check your symptoms because most people with hypertension may not have any symptoms at all but might have the following risk symptoms:

●    Headache and dizziness.

●    Nosebleed

●    Being exhausted while working or very exhausted that they cannot lie down, indicating the left ventricular failure

●    Other symptoms that may occur include chest pain associated with myocardial ischemia from coronary artery disease or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy from having high blood pressure for a long time

Risk factors that cause hypertension can be divided into 2 types:

Uncontrollable risk factors

●    Family history: If your grandfather, father, or mother have hypertension, the chances of you having hypertension are high. So, for anyone who has a family history of hypertension, you should to check your blood pressure regularly.

●    Age and gender: Before menopause, men tend to have hypertension more than women. After menopause, women have hypertension than men. In the elderly, hypertension was found both male and female equally. Most often, hypertension is found between the ages of 35-50 years.

●    Ethnicity: Hypertension is found more frequently in blacks than whites.
H4 Controllable risk factors

●    Weight: Obese people have hypertension more than slim people.

●    Salt: Salty foods tends to cause hypertension.

●    Lack of exercise

●    Stress

●    Smoking and drinking alcohol

●    High blood fat

●    Diabetes

How to prevent and reduce the risk of hypertension

Let’s talk about treatments and prevention of hypertension. Even hypertension is a dangerous disease, but it can be controlled in the long term if treated quickly before it gets worse.

Initially, most are treated with blood pressure-lowering drugs to maintain blood pressure to be under the standard criteria. In addition to taking the medicine, the patients should change their behavior to help the treatment more effective. If you don't change your behavior, then the blood pressure keeps rising, causing complications that can lead to various diseases, including heart failure, cardiac arrhythmia, swollen legs, chronic kidney disease, swollen legs, paleness, dry skin, and stroke. The symptoms we can see are crooked mouth, weakness or numbness on one side of the body, dementia or abnormalities in the retina.

Therefore, the patients should change their behaviors as follows while taking the medicine:

●    Check your blood pressure at least once a year.

●    Eat foods from all 5 food groups, especially unsweet vegetables and fruits.

●    Control your body weight within the normal range.

●    Exercise regularly.

●    Get enough rest.

●    No stress.

●    Reduce salty foods.

For those who are still healthy but are worried that they may be at risk of hypertension, you should follow the following suggestions:

●    Control your weight within the normal range. If you are overweight, you need to lose some weight.

●    Exercise regularly.

●    Choose foods low in salt.

●    Refrain from drinking alcohol.

●    No smoking is an effective way to prevent heart disease and stroke.

●    Do not be easily stressed.

●    Consume a quality diet by reducing salty foods and oily foods. Consume more fruits and vegetables instead.

●    If you regularly take a medicine, you should consult your doctor about the medicines you are using as some medicines cause hypertension.

It can be seen that hypertension is caused by only small symptoms. If you don't notice your symptoms, these small symptoms may cause critical illnesses in the future. Therefore, you should always take care of yourself and avoid the risk factors that cause the disease, including boosting your confidence with lump sum health insurance to take care of medical expenses for both common diseases and critical illnesses with a chosen amount ranging from 200,000 Baht to 100,000,000 Baht, covering heart disease, cancer, common diseases and modern treatment technology. The entry age is until the age of 90 years* with long-term coverage period until the age of 99 years.*

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Resources: Data retrieved on 30/08/2023.

 🔖Ramathibodi Hospital
🔖Sikarin Hospital
🔖Bangkok Hospital
🔖Phyathai Hospital
🔖Department of Disease Control
🔖Rama Channel
🔖Surat Thani Hospital