High blood pressure (hypertension)

Mayo Clinic Health Manager

Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.

Get Started

Free

E-Newsletter

Subscribe to receive the latest updates on health topics. About our newsletters

  • Housecall
  • Alzheimer's caregiving
  • Living with cancer

continued:

High blood pressure dangers: Hypertension's effects on your body

Damage to your eyes

Tiny, delicate blood vessels supply blood to your eyes. Like other vessels, they, too, can be damaged by high blood pressure:

  • Eye blood vessel damage (retinopathy). High blood pressure can damage the vessels supplying blood to your retina. Damaged enough, the blood vessels can leak or become blocked, resulting in retinopathy. This condition can lead to bleeding in the eye, microaneurysms, swelling of the optic nerve, blurred vision and complete loss of vision. If you also have both diabetes and high blood pressure, you're at an even greater risk.
  • Fluid buildup under the retina (choroidopathy). In this condition, fluid builds up under your retina because of a leaky blood vessel in the choroid, a layer of blood vessels located under the retina. Choroidopathy (kor-oid-OP-uh-thee) can result in distorted vision or in some cases scarring that impairs vision.
  • Nerve damage (optic neuropathy). This is a condition in which blocked blood flow damages the optic nerve. It can lead to the death of nerve cells in your eyes, which may cause bleeding within your eye or vision loss.

High blood pressure emergencies

High blood pressure is typically a chronic condition that gradually causes damage over the years. In some cases, though, blood pressure rises so quickly and severely that it becomes a medical emergency requiring immediate treatment, often with hospitalization.

In these situations, high blood pressure can cause:

  • Problems with your brain, marked by memory loss, personality changes, trouble concentrating, irritability or progressive loss of consciousness (encephalopathy)
  • Stroke
  • Severe damage to your heart's main artery (aortic dissection)
  • Seizures in pregnant women (preeclampsia or eclampsia)
  • Unstable chest pain (angina)
  • Heart attack
  • Sudden impaired pumping of the heart leading to fluid backup in the lungs resulting in shortness of breath (pulmonary edema)
  • Sudden loss of kidney function (acute renal failure)

In most cases, these emergencies arise because high blood pressure hasn't been adequately controlled.

Other possible dangers of high blood pressure

Evidence is mounting that high blood pressure can also affect other areas of the body, leading to such problems as:

  • Sexual dysfunction. Although the inability to have and maintain an erection (erectile dysfunction) becomes increasingly common in men as they reach age 50, it's even more likely to occur if they have high blood pressure, too. Evidence linking high blood pressure to sexual dysfunction in women isn't conclusive.
  • Bone loss. High blood pressure can increase the amount of calcium that's in your urine. That excessive elimination of calcium may lead to loss of bone density (osteoporosis), which in turn can lead to broken bones. The risk is especially increased in older women.
  • Trouble sleeping. Obstructive sleep apnea — a condition where your throat muscles relax causing you to snore loudly — occurs in more than half of those with high blood pressure. It's now thought that high blood pressure itself may help trigger sleep apnea. Also, sleep deprivation resulting from sleep apnea can raise your blood pressure.

Prevention makes a difference

High blood pressure's complications are serious. But if your blood pressure is well controlled, you're more likely to keep the most severe problems at bay.

Adopting healthy lifestyle changes can help you manage your disease. For example, reducing your sodium (salt) intake and losing even a little weight can have a dramatic impact on your high blood pressure.

You may also need to take high blood pressure medications to control your blood pressure. Many of these medications have the added benefit of helping prevent specific complications, such as heart or kidney disease.

Working closely with your health care team, you can get a handle on your blood pressure and live a healthier life.

Previous page
(2 of 2)
References
  1. Chobanian AV, et al. Seventh report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. Hypertension. 2003;42:1202.
  2. Sheps SG, ed. Mayo Clinic 5 Steps to Controlling High Blood Pressure. Rochester, Minn.: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; 2008.
  3. High blood pressure complications illustration. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3057206. Accessed Dec. 15, 2008.
  4. Rosendorff C, et al. Treatment of hypertension in the prevention and management of ischemic heart disease: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association Council for High Blood Pressure Research and the Councils on Clinical Cardiology and Epidemiology and Prevention. Circulation. 2007;115:2761
  5. Kaplan NM. Cardiovascular risks of hypertension. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Dec. 17, 2008.

HI00062

Jan. 24, 2009

© 1998-2009 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER). All rights reserved. A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. "Mayo," "Mayo Clinic," "MayoClinic.com," "EmbodyHealth," "Reliable tools for healthier lives," "Enhance your life," and the triple-shield Mayo Clinic logo are trademarks of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.

Print Share Reprints

Text Size: smaller largerlarger