12 Negative Effects of Uncontrolled Blood Pressure and Ways to Improve Health Outcomes

A person with uncontrolled hypertension is more likely to suffer from heart attacks, heart failure, kidney disease, strokes, and cognitive decline. However, hypertension has low control rates partly because of a lack of awareness; so, increased knowledge could lead to better health outcomes.

Fortunately, various treatments and lifestyle changes can help regulate high blood pressure to prevent the probability of potentially life-threatening complications one may encounter with chronically elevated levels.

We’ll cover 12 common negative side effects of uncontrolled blood pressure and share six savvy ways to improve blood pressure and bring your levels back into balance.

If you’re a high-risk individual or already suffer from high blood pressure, it may be time to take action and consider making significant dietary, exercise, and other lifestyle changes to prevent the following symptoms and side effects of hypertension:

#1. It raises your risk of heart attack and stroke.

Your arteries are damaged by high blood pressure. Plaque deposits, which harden and narrow your arteries, are more likely to develop as a result. And deposits can cause blood clots, and a blood clot can limit blood flow to your heart or brain, resulting in a heart attack or stroke.

#2. It makes you more likely to develop heart failure.

Hardened or narrowed arteries make your heart work harder to circulate blood. In response to an increased workload, your heart can become larger and stop supplying blood to your organs, potentially resulting in heart failure.

#3. You may experience chest pain.

Angina, or chest pain, occurs when the heart does not receive enough blood.

During activities such as walking uphill, climbing stairs, or exercising, people with high blood pressure can experience a feeling of pressure, squeezing, and pain in their chests.

#4. It can cause kidney damage.

Your kidneys are responsible for removing toxins and regulating many complex body functions. And having high blood pressure can damage the arteries surrounding your kidneys, which can hamper their ability to function optimally, or even lead to kidney failure.

Our kidneys and liver deserve double kudos as our body’s master filters, removing excess fluid and waste from the bloodstream—a process that requires healthy blood vessels.

Unfortunately, high blood pressure can injure the blood vessels within and approaching to the kidneys––and having diabetes along with high blood pressure can amplify the injury.

Kidney problems caused by high blood pressure include:

• Kidney scarring (glomerulosclerosis). This form of kidney injury occurs when tiny blood vessels in the kidney are scarred and can no longer properly filter fluid and waste from the blood.

  Consequently and notably, glomerulosclerosis can lead to kidney failure.

• Kidney failure. High blood pressure is one of the leading causes of kidney failure. Damaged blood vessels weaken the kidneys' ability to effectively filter waste from the blood, allowing toxic levels of fluid and waste to accumulate in the body.

  Treatment may consist of dialysis or a kidney transplant.

#5. You are more likely to develop vision problems.

Small blood vessels in the eyes are easily strained or damaged by high blood pressure and optic nerve swelling is also possible.

Bringing your blood pressure down may help you reverse vision problems. However, untreated high blood pressure can result in permanent vision loss.

Furthermore, high blood pressure can injure the tiny, fragile blood vessels that provide blood to the eyes, resulting in:

• Retinopathy is damage to the blood vessels in the retina. A damaged blood vessel in the light-sensitive tissue (retina) at the back of the eye may result in bleeding, blurred vision, or complete vision loss.

  Plus, suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure increases the probability of developing retinopathy.

• Fluid buildup under the retina (choroidopathy). When hypertensive choroidopathy is combined with retinopathy, also referred to as hypertensive chorioretinopathy, fibrinoid necrosis of the choroidal arterioles causes the choriocapillaris to be hypoperfused (best seen by fluorescein angiography), and the retinal pigment to breakdown.

  Choroidopathy can result in vision loss and scarring that impairs vision.

• Nerve damage (optic neuropathy). Blocked blood flow can injure the optic nerve, causing bleeding within the eye or vision loss.

  Also, blood flow to the brain can be limited by narrowed or blocked arteries, causing certain types of dementia (vascular dementia). It has also been recently discovered that strokes can lead to vascular dementia because they interrupt blood flow to the brain.

#6. You could develop sexual dysfunction.

Women with high blood pressure may experience low libido while men may experience erectile dysfunction.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) becomes more common among men as they reach 50. However, men with high blood pressure are even more likely to experience erectile dysfunction.

Having high blood pressure causes limited blood flow to the penis, which results in it being unable to receive oxygen to aid in achieving and maintaining an erection during moments of intimacy.

As we mentioned, high blood pressure may also lead to sexual dysfunction in women. Blood flow to the vagina can be reduced, resulting in decreased sexual desire or arousal, dry vaginal tissue, or difficulty achieving orgasm.

#7. It raises your risk for peripheral artery disease (PAD).

Plaque is more prone to form in the arterial walls of those with high blood pressure. Plaque is a waxy substance consisting of cholesterol and other elements.

The waxy material can build up in your artery walls, narrowing arteries as plaque accumulates.

The narrowing of the arteries in your legs, arms, stomach, or head causes pain, cramping, and fatigue. A person with PAD is also more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke.

#8. You have a higher risk of hypertensive crisis.

Hypertensive crisis occurs when your blood pressure rises rapidly above 180/120. High blood pressure can damage your organs and cause potentially life-threatening complications.

Hypertensive crises are characterized by the following symptoms:

• You may have blurred vision or other vision problems
• Dizziness
• Lightheadedness
• Severe headaches
• Nosebleed
• Shortness of breath
• Chest discomfort or pain
• Feeling anxious or uneasy
• Blindness
• Chest pain
• Complications in pregnancy (preeclampsia or eclampsia)
• Heart attack
• Memory loss, personality changes, difficulty concentrating, irritability or progressive loss of consciousness
• Significant damage to the body's main artery (aortic dissection)
• Stroke
• Sudden hindrance of the heart's pumping ability, potentially resulting in pulmonary edema, which causes shortness of breath.
• Sudden loss of kidney function

#9. Increased risk of disability.

It is possible for high blood pressure to cause many complications. It can take years for high blood pressure (hypertension) to cause serious damage to the body and before debilitating symptoms appear.

The consequences of uncontrolled high blood pressure can include disability, poor quality of life, or even death––along with a reduced capacity to execute and maintain gainful employment.

#10. Poor quality of life.

Again, high blood pressure (hypertension) can silently wreak havoc in the body for years before symptoms surface. Moreover, uncontrolled high blood pressure over time can cause several devastating medical events like heart attack or stroke, contributing to a poor quality of life, or may even prove fatal.

Furthermore, living with chronic high blood pressure can deteriorate quality of life by causing degenerative cognitive damage that can limit one’s day-to-day activities.

#11. Damage to the brain.

The brain depends on a nourishing blood supply to work properly, and when high blood pressure restricts proper oxygen and blood flow, it may affect the brain in the following ways:

• Transient ischemic attack (TIA). Sometimes called a ministroke, a TIA is a brief, temporary disruption of blood supply to the brain. Hardened arteries or blood clots caused by high blood pressure can cause TIA. TIA is often a warning sign of a full-blown stroke.

• Stroke. A stroke occurs when part of the brain doesn't get enough oxygen and nutrients, causing brain cells to die.

  Blood vessels damaged by high blood pressure can narrow, rupture or leak. High blood pressure can also cause blood clots to form in the arteries leading to the brain, impeding blood flow and potentially causing a stroke.

• Dementia. Narrowed or blocked arteries can limit blood flow to the brain, leading to a certain type of dementia known as vascular dementia. Plus, a stroke that interrupts blood flow to the brain can also cause vascular dementia.

• Mild cognitive impairment. This condition is a transition stage between the changes in understanding and memory that generally come with aging and the more-serious problems caused by dementia. Studies suggest that high blood pressure can lead to mild cognitive impairment.

#12. Increased risk of aneurysm.

A subarachnoid hemorrhage is most often caused by high blood pressure. In the event of heavy lifting or straining, pressure may rise in the brain and a ruptured aneurysm may result.

Furthermore, It is possible to rupture an aneurysm following a strong emotional reaction, such as being upset or angry.

Blood flowing through a weakened artery can cause a section of its wall to enlarge and form an aneurysm over time. A ruptured aneurysm can cause life-threatening bleeding inside the body.

Despite their ability to form in any artery, aneurysms most commonly develop in the body's largest artery, called the aorta.

There is increasing evidence that hypertension is a major risk factor for the development, enlargement, and rupture of cerebral aneurysms. And high blood pressure could cause hemodynamic stress and inflammation, leading to arterial wall damage and dilation, causing cerebral aneurysm growth and rupture.