High Blood Pressure - Symptoms 

High blood pressure usually causes no symptoms and high blood pressure often is labeled "the silent killer."  People who  have high blood pressure typically don't know it until their blood pressure is measured. 

Sometimes people with markedly elevated blood pressure may develop: 

• headache,  
• dizziness,  
• blurred vision, 
• nausea  and vomiting,  and
• chest pain  and shortness  of breath. 

• Heart attack
• Heart failure
• Stroke  or transient ischemic attack (TIA) 
• Kidney failure 
• Eye damage with progressive vision loss 
• Peripheral arterial disease causing leg pain with walking (claudication) 
• Outpouchings  of the aorta, called aneurysms 

About 1% of people with high  blood pressure do not seek medical care until the high blood pressure is very severe, a condition known as malignant hypertension. 

In malignant hypertension,  the diastolic blood pressure (the lower number) often exceeds 140 mm Hg. 
Malignant hypertension may be associated with headache, lightheadedness, nausea, vomiting,  and stroke like symptoms 

Malignant hypertension requires emergency intervention  and lowering of  blood pressure to prevent brain hemorrhage  or stroke. 

It  is of utmost importance  to realize that  high blood pressure  can be unrecognized for years, causing  no symptoms but causing progressive damage to the heart, other organs,  and blood vessels.