Essential Hypertension
See also:
Hypertension
What is it?
Essential hypertension is blood pressure that
is consistently higher than normal when no cause
for the high blood pressure can be found. Most
experts believe that essential hypertension is
caused by several undiscovered factors, which may
be why certain treatments lower blood pressure in
some people but not others.
Who gets it?
About 95 percent of people with high blood
pressure have essential hypertension. African
Americans of both sexes and Caucasian males have a
higher rate of essential hypertension. Many
experts think essential hypertension is genetic.
What causes it?
There are no identifiable causes of essential
hypertension, but there are several factors that
can increase blood pressure, such as the amount of
blood pumped by the heart, size and condition of
the arteries, water and salt content of the body,
condition of the kidneys, nervous system or blood
vessels, and hormone levels in the body. Other
factors can include stress, being overweight,
smoking, alcohol use, a diet high in salt,
heredity, gender, age and race.
What are the symptoms?
Often, patients diagnosed with essential
hypertension have no symptoms. Sometimes patients
will experience a mild headache, tiredness,
shortness of breath, confusion, dizziness, visual
changes, nausea and vomiting, anxiety,
perspiration, nose bleeds, pale or red skin and an
angina-like pain in the chest. Rarely, the first
symptom may be a stroke.
How is it diagnosed?
To diagnose essential hypertension, the doctor
will first take the patient’s blood pressure
during a health care visit. If blood pressure is
high for three or more visits, the doctor may
diagnose hypertension. The doctor may perform
other tests for suspected causes such as urine and
blood tests, a chest x-ray and an
electrocardiogram. Essential hypertension may be
diagnosed when no causes for the elevated blood
pressure can be found.
What is the treatment?
The doctor may first recommend several
life-style changes to bring down mild or even
moderately high blood pressure. The patient may
need to loss weight, eat a healthier diet and
exercise to treat essential hypertension. The
doctor may also advise the patient to quit
smoking, limit alcohol consumption and reduce
stress.
If these lifestyle changes do not lower the
patient’s blood pressure, the doctor may prescribe
medicine such as diuretics (sometimes called water
pills) that will reduce blood pressure. Other
medications the doctor may prescribe include
antihypertensives. Sometimes the first drug
prescribed doesn't always work; the doctor may
have to increase the dose, prescribe an additional
drug, or substitute it with another one. In some
cases, however, blood pressure remains
persistently elevated despite drug therapy and
lifestyle changes.
Self-care tips
Essential hypertension is usually controllable
with proper treatment and lifelong monitoring. If
left unchecked, essential hypertension can lead to
heart attack, stroke, heart failure, blood vessel
damage, kidney damage and vision loss. The doctor
may advice patients to maintain a healthy weight,
exercise to improve cardiac fitness, and eat a
healthy diet to prevent essential hypertension to
those individuals at risk.
This information has been designed as a comprehensive and quick reference
guide written by our health care reviewers. The health information written
by our authors is intended to be a supplement to the care provided by your
physician. It is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for
professional medical advice.
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