How Uncontrolled Hypertension Can Devastate Your Life
Here’s how you can avoid complications
Uncontrolled hypertension is a medical condition where the blood pressure is significantly above normal, and the readings are consistently high despite treatment. It’s a serious health condition that can lead to life-threatening complications if left untreated.
Uncontrolled hypertension increases your risk of developing other serious conditions such as stroke, heart failure, end-stage renal disease and coronary artery disease. These complications may have devastating effects on your life and can have a negative impact on almost every aspect of your day-to-day activities.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the consequences of uncontrolled hypertension.
Dementia and loss of memory
In addition to blurred vision, the arteries in your brain may also get blocked due to high blood pressure. This can lead to the development of small blood clots in the brain. These can cause memory loss and confusion.
This condition may result in a complete loss of memory, making it difficult for you to remember things you should know, such as family members, friends, or information about your job.
This loss of memory or cognitive impairment can leave you feeling confused, frustrated, and depressed, and it can lead to isolation and difficulties in managing daily life.
Vision loss and blindness
If left uncontrolled, obesity and hypertension can lead to other complications such as diabetic retinopathy. This condition can cause vision loss or even blindness in some cases.
Diabetic retinopathy is caused by damage to the tiny blood vessels that supply nutrients to the retina, the nerve tissue at the back of the eye that transforms light into visual images.
Blood vessels can become blocked and leaky due to increased blood sugar levels, and this can cause small hemorrhages in the retina. These conditions, if left untreated, usually lead to permanent vision loss and blindness.
Cardiovascular disease, collapse and death
Hypertension also increases the risk of developing heart failure, a condition in which the heart can’t pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. This can happen in people of any age, but it is most common in people aged fifty or older.
It is also more common in people with uncontrolled high blood pressure. Heart failure is a serious condition that can significantly decrease your quality of life.
Stroke with Loss of mobility
Besides the above mentioned, uncontrolled hypertension can also lead to hemiparesis [ partial paralysis], TIA [ transient ischemic attack-temporary paralysis], stroke [complete paralysis due to hemorrhage in the brain] and deformities in your legs, which can cause mobility loss due to a condition, known as chronic venous insufficiency or CVI, which is a defect in blood flow.
Strokes are another major complication of uncontrolled hypertension. There are two types of strokes — ischemic and hemorrhagic.
Ischemic strokes occur when blood flow to the brain is blocked and may be due to high blood pressure. They are the most common type of stroke.
Hemorrhagic strokes, which are less common, happen when a blood vessel inside the brain breaks and bleeds. They can cause permanent neurological damage, disability, and even death.
CVI causes pain, swelling and itching in the legs due to the blood stasis and pooling in the veins. Over time, the veins may collapse and become distended, and they can become so narrow that they become blocked. CVI can lead to leg ulcers, infection and sometimes even death].
If you don’t control your blood pressure levels, you increase your risk of developing other serious conditions such as kidney disease, heart disease and diabetic retinopathy. The good news is that uncontrolled hypertension is a treatable condition.
With the right treatment plan and lifestyle changes, you can bring your blood pressure back to normal and reduce your risk of developing devastating complications.
Chronic Kidney disease, end stage kidney disease and dialysis
Over time, high blood pressure can damage the blood vessels in your kidneys, and this can lead to chronic kidney disease.
If left untreated, chronic kidney disease can progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD), which requires long-term dialysis or kidney transplantation. It can also cause death. ESRD is the most common cause of death in people with diabetes.
Although high blood pressure is common, the damage it can do to your body is serious. If you have high blood pressure, you should get treatment as soon as possible to avoid serious complications. Treatment for hypertension may include lifestyle changes, taking medications, and/or having surgery.
Staying in the hospital continuously for weeks at a time
If you have uncontrolled hypertension, it can damage your organs and tissues and cause death. In some cases, it can take just months for complications such as stroke, heart disease, kidney failure or blindness to end your life. It can cause all the conditions mentioned above that may land you in hospital and stay there for a long period of time. This in turn causes loss of man hours and your job or profession may be compromised.
You can reduce your risk of these serious conditions by controlling your blood pressure. Controlling your blood pressure is easier said than done. You need to make drastic lifestyle changes and adhere to a strict treatment plan. This can be challenging, especially if you are struggling with other health conditions.
If you have uncontrolled hypertension, you need to take action now before it’s too late.
Malignant Hypertension
Now, this is something everyone should know. If your BP is still not getting controlled with medicines, lifestyle changes, diet etc., then there is a chance it will be extremely high sometimes. It may reach even up to 200/ 120 Hg that will compromise some important organs like the heart, eyes, brain, and kidneys as mentioned above. This is termed Malignant Hypertension and is always life-threatening. The best way to take care of this is getting admitted in hospital ICCU and letting your cardiologist take care of it.
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Conclusion
High blood pressure can be devastating, and even a mild case can lead to serious health conditions. However, you can reduce your risk of developing hypertension by making healthy lifestyle changes and managing your conditions. If you have uncontrolled hypertension, you need to take action now before it’s too late.
The good news is that hypertension is a treatable condition. With the right treatment plan and lifestyle changes, you can avoid all the devastating complications mentioned in this article.
