Complications of Untreated Hypertension

You get hypertension or high blood pressure when the blood flowing through your blood vessels exerts too much pressure on the walls of the vessels. It poses a threat to your health and if it is left untreated, you could end up with a plethora of severe complications.

Health Complications that arise out of High Blood Pressure-

Here is a list of all the things that can go wrong if you do not get treated for hypertension-

• Narrowed arteries: High blood pressure erodes the arteries, and when the fats from food flow through them, they start to accumulate. So, the artery walls thicken and narrow the passage. The arteries also lose their elasticity. All these together restrict the flow of blood to your heart.

• Aneurysm: When blood flows through weakened arteries, over time, an artery wall can swell up and bulge. This is an aneurysm and eventually, it may rupture the artery and that can be fatal.

• Heart failure: When sufficient blood does not reach the heart because of thickened artery walls, the muscles of the heart begin to die. If this continues for long, it can lead to a heart attack.

• Enlarged left ventricle: Because the heart has to work extra hard to pump the limited amount of blood to the rest of the body, the left ventricle becomes stiffened and enlarged.

• Stroke: A stroke happens when the brain cells do not receive enough blood from which they derive oxygen for functioning. As high blood pressure is directly responsible for thickened arteries, it makes it impossible for the heart to pump much blood to the brain. High blood pressure can also form clots in the arteries that can travel all the way to the brain and trigger a stroke.

• Vascular dementia: This particular type of dementia results in memory loss and impairment of cognitive abilities as a direct result of thickened arteries and restricted supply of blood to the brain.

• Kidney failure: High blood pressure damages the two major arteries of the kidneys and the minute blood vessels inside them. And because of this, kidneys cannot efficiently filter out the waste. If this waste starts to build up, it can trigger kidney failure.

High blood pressure can be controlled with medication and a proper diet. Ignoring hypertension could cost you your life.