What are the symptoms of hypertension?

Typical Symptoms

Many hypertensive patients have other asymptomatic diseases without feeling any discomfort. This is usually called target organ damage, so hypertension is called the "silent killer". Hypertension sometimes has some less specific symptoms, such as headache, paroxysmal dizziness, chest tightness, numbness of the limbs, etc. At this time, patients and doctors should be alert to whether it is a sign of early hypertension.

Typical symptoms of hypertension include headache, fatigue or restlessness, arrhythmia, palpitations, and tinnitus.

If it has reached hypertensive crisis (≥180/120 mmHg), patients may suffer from stroke, blurred vision, loss of consciousness, amnesia, myocardial infarction, renal damage, aortic dissection, angina pectoris, pulmonary edema, and eclampsia.

Different subtypes of hypertension have their special symptoms:

- Gestational hypertension is induced by pregnancy, and the main symptoms are proteinuria and edema. In severe cases, convulsions, coma, and even death may occur.

- Infants and young children with hypertension may be irritable, overexcited, screaming at night, and have slow growth and development, etc.

- Menopausal hypertension can manifest as soreness in the waist and knees, edema in the limbs, etc.

- Hypertension caused by special causes will have its special symptoms, such as cervical hypertension manifested as shoulder and neck pain, numbness, and discomfort in the upper limbs; renal hypertension may cause pain in the waist, back, ribs, and abdomen.

Accompanying Symptoms

When combined with other symptoms, the clinical manifestations of hypertension are more complicated. There are many common complications of hypertension, which will have related symptoms.

- With left ventricular hypertrophy;

- With coronary heart disease/myocardial infarction;

- With heart failure;

- With diabetes;

- With hyperlipidemia;

- With kidney disease;

- With gout or hyperuricemia;

- With asthma/chronic bronchitis/pulmonary edema;

- With peptic ulcer;

- With cerebrovascular disease, including cerebral hemorrhage and transient ischemic attack.

If the blood pressure of hypertensive patients is not controlled for a long time, it may cause a variety of other complications:

- Aortic dissection, often manifested as sudden severe chest pain;

- Abnormal blood vessels in the eyes, gradually blurred vision;

- Decreased memory and comprehension;

- Dementia.

Other possible associated symptoms include fundus hemorrhage, facial flushing, and dizziness.