Hypertension Warning Signs
The scary truth is that most people experience no hypertension warning signs at all.
Blood pressure statistics show that one in three US women has hypertension. This is a whopping 13 million women who are at elevated risk of heart attack, stroke, cardiac arrest and other heart events that lead to death or disability.
The sad part of this, though, is that one in four of these women is not even aware that she has high blood pressure. If you do your math, eight women out of every hundred have no idea that they are in danger.
Hypertension warning signs are practically non-existent. When most people feel them, their blood pressure is so high, that their lives are in danger.
However, some people do feel warning signs and symptoms of hypertension. Besides nausea and headache, frequently referred to by the representatives of the medical profession, people feel other symptoms of high blood pressure.
Women describe hypertension warning signs
Here are some descriptions by high blood pressure sufferers:
When my BP is up I have symptoms. I know they call it the “silent killer” but I know when it’s up. I get a terrible headache and frequent urination.
… I checked my blood pressure at Wal-Mart (I had been very nauseous for several days and had a constant, almost debilitating migraine) and it was 171/113! I knew I was a walking time bomb, and despite my own self-harming behaviors, I really DON’T want to die young!
I definitely felt WAY out of sorts, almost like an out of control hotness and just unwell. Some people do feel headaches when it’s really high too. There is a reason they call it the silent killer, because most people don’t know. But you are pretty astute to be able to sense when you are not quite right.
And the case where the situation went way out of control:
On May 21 I woke up to find I’d had a second stroke. When the paramedics took my B/P it was 170/95 on both sides. I was transferred from my local hospital to the hospital where my surgeon was and my surgery was put ahead to the next day.
As you can see from the testimonies of these women, they felt unwell, they had headaches and other subtle signs that something was not right. Always, always check your blood pressure if you feel these kinds of signs. Even better, go for your annual check up, and your doctor will measure your blood pressure and make sure you know where you stand.
If you happen to be an African American woman, you have even more reasons to be concerned.
Death statistics are hard to ignore:
In 2006 the death rates per 100,000 population from high blood pressure were 15.6 for white males, 51.1 for black males, 14.3 for white females and 37.7 for black females
As you can see, for some reason African American women and men alike die of hypertension three times more often that white men and women.
Controlling Hypertension
Your first step in controlling hypertension is simple: become aware that you need to control it. Measure your blood pressure using publicly available blood pressure monitors, ask your doctor, and find out whether you need to control your hypertension.
Your second step is to reduce your blood pressure, whether naturally or with the help of drugs.
Your next step is experimenting with natural ways to reduce blood pressure in order to find out which one is the most effective for you.
Most people who don’t want to take drugs, choose to control their hypertension with the following methods:
- Exercise
- Weight Loss
- Stress reduction (yoga, breathing, meditation)
- DASH diet for hypertension
- Low Sodium diet
- High Potassium-Magnesium diet
- Low fat plant-based diet.
As everyone is different, these methods have different impacts on the individual blood pressure levels.
Don’t wait to experience hypertension warning signs… Check your blood pressure regularly.