What do you tell people? Have you ever sat and talked with someone who you KNOW isn't health conscious about these kind of things and tried to persuade them to check their blood pressure? Is there any symptoms, maybe numbness or anxiety or something that could make somebody aware that, oh man, maybe I should check my blood pressure, etc?

btw - HBP itself doesn't cause any damage, right? It just leads on to cause heart attack and stroke, and THOSE are what can cause damage... right?

Unfortunately there is a reason why high blood pressure is called the "silent killer". There are no openly visible symptoms.

And it is wrong to assume that HBP does not cause any damage. In fact it is the cause of many illnesses. The pressure on the blood vessels causes damage to the heart, kidneys, eyes and many other major organs. This can lead to stroke, heart attack, kidney failure, etc.

So...if you know someone who probably needs to check their blood pressure, ask them if they would like to go blind or need kidney dialysis once a week.

On the plus side, high blood pressure is very treatable.

I had wonderful BP readings all my life until about 3 years ago. my boss upset me to the point of extreme anger. I left work early as i just felt funny. it was a friday and i continued to just feel weird. sunday morning i looked in the mirror and thought "why is your face bright red" i didn't know since i never had HBP. made an appt with PCP on monday and my BP was 167/97. that explained it.He put me on catapres and out of work for 2 weeks. Since then the catapres worked at 1 a day but being under extreme stress for the past 8 months has now put me on two to keep it regulated.

ICC

Geez, 167? I know my jaw dropped when I walked in kmart and checked mine on the machine there and saw it was 158/89. But I was doing a fast paced walk in, sat right down and took it.

The next day when I went back I got a better reading of 128/82, and even then I didn't wait at all before taking it, I just didn't do a powerwalk across the store to the bp machine.

True there are really no "noticable" symptoms for hbp.

I evidentally was walking around with it for what we suspect was about 2 years and didn't know it.

I ended up at the doctors office because I was having some severe symptoms that unbeknownst to me was low thyroid. While there, naturally they took my blood pressure and it was 170/100. Part of that was white coat syndrome but not that much. She put me on low dose bp med. and when I went back 2 weeks later she upped it. I eat plenty of garlic and really watch my sodium intake now.

Having a low thyroid - was affecting the hbp that I already had and was unaware of. Finally, my body sent me a big message. I was lucky.

Now on thyroid med. and bp med - I'm balanced and doing great.

BTW, I also go for regular check ups now - as I wasn't doing before. I'm a believer now.

Now, there's something I don't get. They say when you check your blood pressure to not talk, be calm, clear your mind of thoughts, relax for 3-5 minutes, THEN check it.

But if you're active, that means your blood pressure is higher. Wouldn't your blood pressure being higher during those times be a little more dangerous? Like, granted exercising is healthy, but if that increases your blood pressure while you're working out, isn't that potentially not a good thing?

A symptom of HBP for me was having frequent headaches along with being deferred from giving blood.

As for checking BP, I do it first thing in the morning and before I go to bed. To get a better reading at the doctor's office, have it checked before the visit is over assuming you have been there at least 15 minutes.

Exercise will elevate your BP but it will help lower it when the body is at rest.

Ah, I see. So if you're in shape, your blood pressure, both at rest and during exercising, is still more "under control" even if it does raise a bit more when exercising?

LOL I had to take the bp cuff I bought back to store and get my money back. Just having it in house was tooooooooooo clinical for me. I'm a coward who gets white coat syndrome.

I used the return money to refill my xanax lol.

Among the other things already mentioned that HBP can cause..., my undetected HBP caused me to develop an enlarged heart. Please urge your friend/relative to diagnose/treat their HBP...

But if you get your HBP under control, isn't it possible for your heart to retract back to regular size over time? And what in the world made you realize you had an enlarged heart? Did you somehow feel it, like you were constrained or something? Is it possible to 'fix' that?

Loveinthev8,

Have you tried reading up on high blood pressure and heart conditions on WebMD? You seem to have lots of questions and concerns. Rather than be troubled with these concerns, it might help you a lot to learn more about high blood pressure and heart conditions. These general sites help me a lot.

These sites really help you learn what is myth and what is fact and will help you convince your friend on why getting their blood pressure under control is important.

Actually, I went to the ER one day (not knowing I had high BP or anything), but with symptoms of a heart attack. I had pain in my chest for several hours (left side), then my left arm and hand felt numb and tingly, had pain in left arm and I felt extremely dizzy. At the ER, they did an EKG which was normal and told me to followup with my dr for the high BP. My dr referred to a cardiologist for the unexplained chest pain (since several EKGs came back normal). The cardiologist did an ultrasound of my heart, which diagnosed the enlarged heart. One of my chambers is slightly enlarged, which the cardiologist told me can never be reversed. By getting my BP under control, I can stop further damage. I don't know how long I had the undiagnosed HBP, but a friend of mine at work had HBP for many years and didn't know it, and her heart is not only enlarged but she also has leaky valves. Now she's got her BP under control and seems to be doing fine. I also did the stress test (treadmill) and the results from that were normal also. The cardiologist finally told me that he couldn't explain the chest pain, and being that it was on the left side (and not directly in the center of my chest), he thought the pain was unrelated to my heart and thought I had a pinched nerve and suggested I go to a chiropractor. I did go, did have a pinched nerve and was treated for that, then the pain went away. But I still have the enlarged heart and need to treat my HBP to prevent further damage. If I hadn't gone into the ER that day, I would never have found out........although I did have one other symptom, which occurred for several days before I went in, (which was planning to go see regular dr about...) I had swollen ankles/feet, which I later found out, is a symptom of an enlarged heart.

The most evident signs of High Blood Pressure are:

Black floating spots crossing one or both eyes.
Nose bleed
Pounding heartbeat pulses often felt in one's temples.

Unfortunately, I experienced all three before I found that my BP was 224/122

But I'm alright nowwwwwwwww!!!!!

Ittone...yikes that is extremely high BP! Most likely your symptoms were because your BP was extremely dangerously high. Yes, if someone's BP were to get that out of control you'd see all sorts of very scary symptoms.

Unfortunately for most people with high BP there are no symptoms. That's why it's important to regularly check BP (home monitor).

Glad you have it now under control. Your BP was a fast killer. What most of us have is a long-term killer.