How Do You Know When Your High Blood Pressure Is An Emergency Situation?

According to the Centers for Disease Control, there are about 75 million people in the United States who have high blood pressure. To make this number even more alarming, only about half of those people have their blood pressure under control or are being properly treated. Even though high blood pressure is a common cardiovascular problem, it is also one of the more dangerous.

Living with this condition, especially if it is not controlled, can put you at risk of heart attack or a stroke, so it is important to know the signs that your blood pressure is far too high. Take a look at some of the ways you can tell if your high blood pressure is an emergency situation. 

You feel suddenly very weak and tired. 

When your blood pressure gets to a dangerous level, one of the most common things you will feel is overly tired or really weak. The reason you feel this way is your heart is working really hard to pump blood through smaller vessels throughout your body. If you are feeling okay and suddenly feel more fatigued than ever and possibly a little weak, it is best to head to a cardiology health clinic and have your blood pressure checked. 

You have a severe headache. 

When your blood pressure gets really high, it can put undue stress on the brain. Therefore, a severe headache is a common symptom of really high blood pressure. If you experience headaches often, you may feel like you are getting a sudden migraine that does not let up by taking over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen or acetaminophen. This is a symptom that is commonly disregarded before people have a heart attack or stroke because their blood pressure is so high, so it really is a symptom you should always pay attention to. 

You feel like you feel your heartbeat to an excessive degree. 

When the blood pressure rises in the body and the heart starts working harder, you will feel your heart pounding harder than usual. However, you likely will feel this pounding in more places than just in your chest. You may feel like your head is pounding along with your throbbing heart, you may hear your heartbeat in your ears, and you may even feel the pounding in your face and chest. This is an especially dangerous symptom because it is evidence that your heart is working way too hard to keep blood and oxygen pumped through your system. 

Contact a clinic, like Temecula Valley Cardiology, for more help.