==== ==== For free videos and the latest information about hypertension, please visit our site http://blogs4u.biz/hypertension/ ==== ====
There are many causes for high blood pressure. The most common causes are obesity, lack of exercise, and smoking, but there are others. For example, the use of illicit drugs (cocaine), some prescription drugs, and even oral contraceptives can be secondary causes of high blood pressure. As many as 70 million Americans suffer from primary high blood pressure. High blood pressure, or hypertension, is indicated when blood pressure readings are above 139 systolic and 89 diastolic. Of the 70 million Americans with high blood pressure, about 1% of patients with essential hypertension develop malignant hypertension. Malignant hypertension is a complication of high blood pressure that is characterized by greatly elevated blood pressure readings and by organ damage in the eyes, brain, lung and/or kidneys. The complications of malignant hypertension differ from complications of hypertension in that it is accompanied by swelling of the optic disc of the eye. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures are usually greater than 240 and 120, respectively. Those who develop malignant hypertension are usually above the age of 40, and it occurs more frequently in men rather than women. Blacks are at higher risk of developing hypertensive emergencies than the general population. Symptoms of malignant hypertension are headache, vomiting, nausea, chest pain, breathlessness, paralysis, and blurred vision. Usually the heart and the brain, spinal cord, and spinal nerves are involved in malignant hypertension. The goal of treatment is to reduce blood pressure within 24 hours, which can usually be achieved as an outpatient. In the beginning patients who are being treated for malignant hypertension are told to fast until they are stable. Once they are stable, all patients with malignant hypertension are instructed to eat a low-salt diet, and to focus on weight reduction. Activity is usually limited to bed rest until the patient is stable. It is absolutely necessary to control malignant hypertension because it can lead to life-threatening conditions like heart failure, infarction, kidney failure, blindness, and even death.
Milos Pesic is an expert in the field of Hypertension [http://myhypertension.info] an High Blood Pressure [http://myhypertension.info] and has helped thousands of high blood pressure sufferers lower their score in weeks. For more articles and resources on hypertensions symptoms, cures and natural medications visit his site at:
=>[http://myhypertension.info]
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Milos_Pesic
==== ==== For free videos and the latest information about hypertension, please visit our site http://blogs4u.biz/hypertension/ ==== ====