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Just How Substantial A Problem Is Secondary High Blood Pressure?

By: Don Saunders High blood pressure is the most diagnosed condition in the US today and it is now estimated that it affects some 72 million US citizens, which includes one out of every three adults. However, while we talk about hypertension, were you aware that there are actually two forms of high blood pressure?

Most suffer from what is known as essential or primary high blood pressure which generally has few, or no, symptoms and more often than not develops slowly over several years. A smaller, but nevertheless very significant, number of people suffer from secondary high blood pressure which arises out of an underlying medical condition and may sometimes arise with a very rapid onset.

The medical conditions which may give rise to secondary high blood pressure are many and varied but here are a few of the more common causes:

Thyroid Problems. Excessive or insufficient hormone production by the thyroid gland, experienced in conditions such as hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, can, directly or indirectly, lead to an increase in blood pressure.

Sleep Apnea. The continual interruption to your breathing resulting from sleep apnea results in oxygen deprivation which causes damage to the lining of the blood vessels and affects the elasticity necessary in those vessels to control blood pressure.

Kidney Problems. Your kidneys are composed of literally millions of minute blood vessels and structures which are designed to filter waste products out of your blood. When this process of filtering is interrupted, such as in the case of polycystic kidney disease or hydronephrosis, one consequence is secondary high blood pressure.

Dietary Supplements. A number of commonly available dietary supplements, such as St John's wort and ginseng, can produce high blood pressure.

Obesity. Rising weight is often accompanied by an increase in heart rate, as the heart is put under pressure to pump an increasing volume of blood around your body, and a consequently raised pressure on the walls of the arteries.

This list is not of course exhaustive and could also have included such things as prescription and over-the-counter drugs, Cushing's disease, diabetes, preeclampsia and more.

High blood pressure, whether secondary or primary, is a serious medical condition which can result in the development of other life-threatening conditions such as heart disease, cardiovascular disease and kidney failure.

Article Source: http://www.lifeweightloss.com

TheBloodPressureCenter.com provides information on a variety of topics including the cause of high blood pressure, the importance of blood pressure monitoring and finding the best Omron blood pressure monitor

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