Why You Should Never Let High Blood Pressure Go Untreated

You may be surprised when your doctor gives you a diagnosis of high blood pressure (HBP), also known as hypertension. You thought you were healthy and didn’t experience any symptoms at all. But now that you know you have it, treating your HBP helps you reduce the risk of serious consequences, including early death.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only about half of the 75 million women and men with HBP have it under control. Camelia Salanta, MD, Neelum Gupta, MD, and our team at Associated Physicians Group PLC in the Detroit Metro area want you to be one of them. We recommend everything from lifestyle changes to medications to get your blood pressure down to healthy levels.

What are the risks of ignoring your HBP instead of treating it? Untreated hypertension silently damages just about every organ in your body.

Your arteries and your heart

If you have HBP, your blood consistently pushes against the walls of your arteries with greater force than is healthy. This force damages the cells that line the inside of your arterial walls. The damaged walls then collect fat from your diet, making the arteries stiff and narrow. 

Weak blood vessels are prone to developing aneurysms, a kind of bulge that can rupture and cause internal bleeding that may lead to death. The damaged vessels also cut off blood flow to important organs, including your heart. Your HBP may lead to an enlarged left heart, heart attack, or heart failure.

Your brain

If your brain doesn’t get enough blood because your arteries are narrow or weak, then it doesn’t get the oxygen and nutrients it needs to function and thrive. If you have HBP, you’re at risk for:

• Stroke: Caused by blood clots or lack of oxygen and nutrients
• Transient ischemic attack (TIA): A mini “stroke” that could signal that you’re at risk for a full-blown stroke
• Mild cognitive impairment: Decrease in cognitive function, memory, and understanding
• Dementia: Both narrowed blood vessels and stroke can lead to dementia, which permanently reduces your ability to speak, think, reason, remember, see, and move

Your kidneys

When you have HBP, both the blood vessels that lead to and leave the kidneys can be damaged and impaired. Without healthy blood flow, your kidneys can’t do their job of filtering wastes and toxins from your blood.

Untreated HBP can lead to:

• Kidney failure: If your kidneys can’t work, you may need dialysis or a kidney transplant
• Kidney scarring: A scarred kidney can’t filter wastes and may eventually fail
• Renal artery aneurysm: An aneurysm in your renal (kidney) artery can cause life-threatening internal bleeding

Your eyes

As with all of your organs, your eyes are supplied with nutrients and oxygen through blood vessels. If you have HBP, even the small vessels in your eyes can become damaged, resulting in:

• Retinopathy: Bleeding in the eye, blurred vision, and even complete vision loss
• Choroidopathy: Fluid buildup under the retina that leads to distorted or impaired vision
• Optic neuropathy: Blocked blood flow to the optic nerve can cause bleeding in your eye or vision loss

Other systems

Both men and women may experience sexual dysfunction if they have HBP because the sexual organs don’t get the blood supply they need to experience arousal. Other consequences of HBP include osteoporosis and obstructive sleep apnea that impairs your ability to get restorative sleep.

Don’t take the risk by avoiding treatment for your HBP. Call our office in Berkley, Michigan, or use the online scheduler to set up a well visit today.