In contrast to the low blood pressure high blood pressure causes no symptoms at first. This is also the insidious this disease. If you already for some years high blood pressure, the doctor says to hypertension, has noticed symptoms such as dizziness, nosebleeds and headaches. In the course of high blood pressure can also cause symptoms such as shortness of breath, blurred vision, pain in your chest and shortness of breath.
Often, a high blood pressure during a routine examination is established. As these individuals in the first few years usually have no symptoms, high blood pressure to fall only by chance while blood pressure measurement. For a blood pressure measurement, a cuff is placed around the upper arm and put a stethoscope in the elbow. The doctor or medical assistant inflate the cuff and then let the air out slowly. If the first tapping, heard, this marks the upper blood pressure value. The beats we hear until they are gone, and so the lower value is selected. Normal blood pressure is 120/80. If the values are constant over 140/90, it is called hypertension.
Many patients are so excited at the doctor that their blood pressure to skyrocket, even though they usually have normal blood pressure values. In these patients, it is particularly difficult for the doctor to diagnose high blood pressure. Helpful and 24-hour blood pressure measurement. The patient is given here, a blood pressure monitor for 24 consecutive hours, he wears day and night on the body. At regular intervals (usually every 15 minutes) the device measures the blood pressure. The patient goes about his normal daily activities here. In this investigation come out much more meaningful values than when extremely nervous people regularly go to the doctor and then measured the blood pressure can be. The 24-hour measurement, however, carried out in almost all other hypertensive patients to track blood pressure during the day and at night can.
The diagnosis is often a stress test is performed. Under load on the ergometer (a bicycle) is here also measured at regular intervals of blood pressure. This investigation is well suited to distinguish a nervous high blood pressure of a permanent high blood pressure. No later than five minutes cycling at the patient's nervous excitement is gone, because their attention is pedaling.
Of course, a thorough survey of the stakeholders in the diagnosis. The doctor wrote down, whether in the family already heaped high blood pressure occurred. In addition, the doctor also checks whether the patient suffers from obesity, is moved regularly, smokes, drinks etc.
As additional tests carried out by the doctor a blood test, a urine examination and usually an ultrasound to detect organ damage in time. Also, an eye test and an X-ray may be necessary.
