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Today, arterial hypertension is the most common disease of the cardiovascular system. This disease is characterized by high blood pressure, which often exceeds 140/90. Constantly elevated blood pressure is observed in all people who often experience vasospasm.
According to many specialists in the field of vascular diseases, arterial hypertension most often occurs as a result of circulatory disorders. Heart failure also belongs to the list of causes that provoke the development of hypertension, which for this category of patients is a harbinger of deadly diseases: stroke, heart attack, etc.
Arterial hypertension has a negative effect on the patient’s vessels, which narrow and become damaged in a short time. If the blood flow is too powerful, the walls of the vessels cannot withstand and burst, as a result of which a hemorrhage occurs in patients. Hemorrhagic infarction occurs directly in the organ in which the vessels that have lost their elasticity and are prone to fragility are located.
What is hypertension?
Hypertension – This is a disease whose main symptom is high blood pressure, the causes of which are considered to be a neuro-functional violation of vascular tone. Most often, this disease occurs in people over 40, but recently hypertension has become noticeably younger and is diagnosed in people of different ages. Hypertension is equally common in both men and women. This disease is one of the main causes of death in people with diseases of the cardiovascular system.
For many decades, scientists from around the world have been studying arterial hypertension. According to research data, the results of which are published in specialized media, hypertension is the main cause of disability on our planet. Statistical data indicate that arterial hypertension is very often the cause of death in patients who seek help from a medical institution too late.
Symptoms of hypertension
The main symptom of hypertensionis a headache, this is due to the narrowing and spasm of the vessels of the brain. Also, frequent symptoms of hypertension are tinnitus, flying “flies” and a veil before the eyes, general weakness, sleep disturbances, dizziness, a feeling of heaviness in the head, and rapid heartbeat. These symptoms are observed at an early stage of hypertension and are neurotic in nature. At a later stage of hypertension, heart failure can occur due to the constant overwork of the heart muscle due to high pressure.
Due to the progression of the disease process, a decrease in visual acuity, damage to the cerebral vessels from high blood pressure is possible, and this can lead to paralysis, decreased sensitivity of the limbs, which occurs due to vasospasm, hemorrhage or thrombosis.
In addition, many hypertensive patients experience the following symptoms:
bleeding from the nose;
vomiting;
sleep loss;
memory impairment;
redness of the skin of the face with any physical effort;
strong pressure on the eyes (it hurts patients to look around, so they prefer to rest and wait for the attack to subside in silence with their eyes closed);
rapid heart rate;
swelling;
fatigue, etc.
Causes of hypertension and risk factors
Cause of hypertension are frequent, prolonged neuropsychic stress, prolonged stressful situations. Often the prerequisite for the occurrence of hypertension is work, during the performance of which a person is in constant emotional stress. People who have suffered a concussion are also more likely to develop hypertension. Hereditary predisposition can also be one of the causes of hypertension: if someone in the family suffered from such a disease, then the likelihood of developing hypertension increases several times.
One of the main causes of hypertension can be hypodynamia. As older people begin to acquire atherosclerosis and age-related vascular changes occur, the development of hypertension can exacerbate the problem, causing atherosclerosis to progress. This is a rather dangerous phenomenon, since with a strong vasospasm, blood access to the brain, heart and kidneys becomes critically small. If plaques are present on the walls of blood vessels, then with a strong vasospasm, blood can completely stop flowing to vital organs and circulate through the arteries. In this case, myocardial infarction or stroke occurs.
In women, the cause of hypertension can be a period of hormonal changes in the body during menopause. Table salt, and to be more precise, the sodium contained in it, as well as smoking, alcohol abuse and excess weight, also contribute to an increase in the load on the cardiovascular system.
The causes of hypertension include the following factors:
overweight due to metabolic disorders, endocrine diseases, a sedentary lifestyle, etc. (even slight deviations from the norm can cause problems with the heart and blood vessels, against which arterial hypertension will develop);
regular emotional stress, finding the patient in stressful situations, depression, experienced tragedies, etc .;
strong nervous tension caused by problems at work, in business;
suffered brain injuries (accidents, falls, bruises, hypothermia);
chronic diseases that have a negative impact on the cardiovascular system (diabetes, gout, rheumatoid arthritis);
hereditary predisposition (according to statistics, children whose parents suffered from arterial hypertension often inherit these problems and at a young age begin to observe the first symptoms of high blood pressure);
viral and infectious diseases, the consequences of which can manifest themselves in the form of hypertension (meningitis, frontal sinusitis, sinusitis, etc.);
age-related changes in blood vessels;
elevated levels of cholesterol in the blood, in which plaques form on the walls of blood vessels that interfere with normal blood circulation (spasms often occur in such vessels that interfere with blood flow to vital organs and can provoke a stroke or heart attack);
the climacteric state in which there are women who have overcome the 40-year milestone (during a significant hormonal restructuring of the body, latent diseases often begin to progress, against which arterial hypertension may develop);
addictions (smoking, alcohol consumption in large quantities, excessive coffee addiction);
daily salt intake in large quantities;
a sharp increase in adrenaline in the blood;
long time spent at the computer;
sedentary lifestyle;
rare walks in the fresh air, etc.
What are hypertensive crises?
A hypertensive crisis is the peak manifestation of hypertension. When blood pressure rises sharply, all of the above symptoms are observed, but nausea, vomiting, sweating, and darkening of the eyes are added to them. Such crises can last from several minutes to several hours. Patients complain of palpitations, they are excited and frightened. In this condition, red spots may appear on the cheeks, sometimes during an attack there may be profuse urination or loose stools. Hypertensive crises occur most often after a strong emotional overstrain in women during menopause, in the afternoon or at night.
There is another type of hypertensive crisis, which has a more severe course, its development is gradual, and it is quite long in time – it can torment a person for four to five hours or even several days. Such a crisis most often occurs in the later stages of the development of hypertension, and, as a rule, this occurs against the background of chronically elevated blood pressure. A severe crisis is very often accompanied by brain symptoms – for example, there may be a speech disorder, a failure in the sensitivity of the limbs. Sometimes such a crisis is accompanied by severe heart pain.
Video: Svetlana Pogoretskaya – head doctor Ph.D. multidisciplinary center for preventive medicine, and cardiologist Olga Burunova talk about hypertension: