arteries
- Arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis. High blood pressure can damage the cells of your arteries' inner lining. That launches a cascade of events that make artery walls thick and stiff, a disease called arteriosclerosis (ahr-teer-e-o-skluh-RO-sis), or hardening of the arteries. Fats from your diet enter your bloodstream, pass through the damaged cells and collect to start atherosclerosis (ath-ur-o-skluh-RO-sis). These changes can affect arteries throughout your body, blocking blood flow to your heart, kidneys, brain, arms and legs. The damage can cause many problems including chest pain (angina), heart attack, heart failure, kidney failure, stroke, peripheral arterial disease and aneurysms.
- Aneurysm. Over time, the constant pressure of blood coursing through a weakened artery can cause a section of its wall to enlarge and form a bulge (aneurysm). An aneurysm (AN-u-rizm) can potentially rupture and cause life-threatening internal bleeding. Aneurysms can form in any artery throughout your body, but they're most common in the aorta, your body's largest artery.
Heart
- Coronary artery disease. Coronary artery disease affects the arteries that supply blood to your heart muscle. Arteries narrowed by coronary artery disease don't allow blood to flow freely through your arteries, which can cause chest pain (angina). The condition also occurs when blood flow through your arteries becomes blocked, usually because of atherosclerosis. When blood can't flow freely to your heart, you can experience chest pain, a heart attack or irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmias). People with high blood pressure who have a heart attack are more likely to die of that heart attack than are people who don't have high blood pressure.
- Enlarged left heart. High blood pressure forces your heart to work harder than necessary in order to pump blood to the rest of your body. This causes the left ventricle to enlarge or stiffen (left ventricular hypertrophy) — just as your biceps get bigger when you lift weights. This enlargement or stiffening limits the ventricle's ability to pump blood to your body. This condition increases your risk of heart attack, heart failure and sudden cardiac death.
- Heart failure. Over time, the strain on your heart caused by high blood pressure can cause your heart muscle to weaken and work less efficiently. Eventually, your overwhelmed heart simply begins to wear out and fail. Damage from heart attacks adds to this problem.
Brain
- Transient ischemic attack (TIA). Sometimes called a ministroke, a transient ischemic (is-KEM-ik) attack is a brief, temporary disruption of blood supply to your brain. It's often caused by atherosclerosis or a blood clot - both of which can arise from high blood pressure. A transient ischemic attack is often a warning that you're at risk of a full-blown stroke.
- Stroke. A stroke occurs when part of your brain is deprived of oxygen and nutrients, causing brain cells to die. Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to stroke by damaging and weakening your brain's blood vessels, causing them to narrow, rupture or leak. High blood pressure can also cause blood clots to form in the arteries leading to your brain, blocking blood flow and potentially causing a stroke. High blood pressure can also cause an aneurysm — a bulge in the blood vessel wall that can burst, causing life-threatening bleeding in the brain.
- Dementia. Dementia is a brain disease resulting in impaired thinking, speaking, reasoning, memory, vision and movement. There are a number of causes of dementia. One cause, vascular dementia, can result from narrowing and blockage of the arteries that supply blood to the brain. It can also result from strokes caused by an interruption of blood flow to the brain. In either case, high blood pressure may be the culprit. High blood pressure that occurs even as early as middle age can increase the risk of dementia in later years.
- Mild cognitive impairment. Mild cognitive impairment is a transition stage between the changes in understanding and memory that come with aging and the more serious problems caused by Alzheimer's disease. Like dementia, it can result from blocked blood flow to the brain when high blood pressure damages arteries. This condition can affect language, attention, critical thinking, reading, writing, reaction time and memory.
Kidneys
· Kidney failure. High blood pressure is one of the most common causes of kidney failure. That's because it can damage both the large arteries leading to your kidneys and the tiny blood vessels (glomeruli) within the kidneys. Damage to either makes it so your kidneys can't effectively filter waste from your blood. As a result, dangerous levels of fluid and waste can accumulate. You might ultimately require dialysis or kidney transplantation.
· Kidney scarring (glomerulosclerosis). Glomerulosclerosis (glo-mer-u-lo-skluh-RO-sis) is a type of kidney damage caused by scarring of the glomeruli (glo-MER-u-li). The glomeruli are tiny clusters of blood vessels within your kidneys that filter fluid and waste from your blood. Glomerulosclerosis can leave your kidneys unable to filter waste effectively, leading to kidney failure.
· Kidney artery aneurysm. An aneurysm is a bulge in the wall of a blood vessel. When it occurs in an artery leading to the kidney, it's known as a kidney (renal) artery aneurysm. One potential cause is atherosclerosis, which weakens and damages the artery wall. Over time, high blood pressure in a weakened artery can cause a section to enlarge and form a bulge - the aneurysm. Aneurysms can rupture and cause life-threatening internal bleeding
Eyes
- 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.
Others
- 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.
it's a sudden rapid development of EXTREMELY high blood pressure.
Can cause:
Changes in mental status, reflexes
Strokes
Coma
Seizures
Angina
Heart attack
Kidney failure
permanent blindness
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