High blood pressure damages the body insensibly until its symptoms are noticed. If left untreated, it can lead to disability, poor quality of life and serious heart attacks. About half of people living with chronic high blood pressure die from complications the heart and paralysis.Treatment and lifestyle changes can help a person manage high blood pressure to reduce life-threatening complications.
Damages that can be caused by uncontrolled high blood pressure include:
Arterial injury
Arteries are normally flexible, rigid and elastic. The inner lining of the arteries is smooth, so that blood can flow freely. High blood pressure tends to harden the arteries and not stop the high blood pressure. The arteries become damaged or thickened, and the artery wall becomes weak, making the person more prone to serious internal bleeding.
Cardiovascular injury
The function of the heart is to pump the blood so that the blood reaches the different parts of the body. Uncontrolled hypertension damages the heart in several ways, including:
- Coronary artery disease. It is a disease that occurs in the artery that supplies blood to the heart. This disease causes the thickness of the vein to decrease, so it leads to anemia in the heart. Symptoms of a heart that is thirsty for blood include chest pain, irregular heartbeat and heart attack.
- Enlargement of the left side of the heart. High blood pressure forces the heart to work twice as hard, so the cardiac output increases. These changes interfere with the heart’s function, and the person is at risk of heart failure
- Heart failure . Over time, high blood pressure causes the heart to strain, resulting in heart failure.
Brain injury
The brain depends on the nutrients it receives from the blood. However, high blood pressure causes many problems in the brain such as:
- Transient ischemic attack. It is a condition that occurs when the flow of blood to the brain is interrupted, usually caused by clots forming inside the arteries and plaques in the arteries.
- This disease occurs when there is a lack of blood in the blood vessels of the brain, it causes the death of the cells that make up the brain. Stroke is one of the complications of high blood pressure.
- Trauma to the brain. Its characteristic feature is poor memory.
Kidney damage
Kidneys filter waste and excess water from the blood. It is a function that depends on the health of blood vessels. High blood pressure can damage the blood vessels that supply blood to the kidneys and the kidneys themselves.
- Kidney failure. It is caused by damage to the arteries that supply blood to the kidneys and to the tiny vessels inside the kidneys. This damage causes the kidneys to not filter the blood well or to lose blood.
- Weak veins. This weakness can cause the vein to burst and therefore cause serious bleeding.
Eye damage
High blood pressure damages the small blood vessels inside the eye, can cause cataracts, and can also damage the optic nerve.
Without erection
Although impotence and impotence become more common in men in their 50s, people with high blood pressure are more likely to develop it erectile dysfunction as the pressure of the blood passing through the veins is high, the arteries become hard, so the blood flow to the penis is reduced.
Emergency conditions that can result from high blood pressure include:
- Memory loss, behaviour changes, and cognitive impairment
- Paralysis
- Severe damage to an artery that supplies blood to the heart.
- Chest pain
- Stop heart.
- Congestion in the lungs
- Sudden renal failure
- Bleeding during pregnancy