Symptoms
Hypertension is sometimes called the "silent killer". For all the disease and destruction it can cause, hypertension is surprisingly quiet and difficult for the lay person to identify. You can have raging hypertension and not know it, as there are often no obvious symptoms that you would experience. When hypertension does produce symptoms they tend to be subtle and non-specific symptoms such as headache, dizziness, or blurred vision. Because of the absence of obvious symptoms associated with hypertension, regular visits to the doctor's office are essential for identifying hypertension.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis of hypertension is made by a doctor with the aid of a blood pressure measurement device such as a blood pressure cuff (sphygmometer) and stethoscope. Due to the dynamic, changeable nature of blood pressure, the doctor may take multiple readings to get an average blood pressure and to spread the readings out over time. Furthermore, he or she may take the readings under controlled circumstances (for instance, always sitting after having relaxed for 1 minute and before meals) so as to get the most accurate and comparable reading possible. It is important for people who have had mastectomies or have shunts to inform health care personnel that they cannot get blood pressures on the affected side.
The diagnosis of hypertension is usually made over several visits. If your blood pressure is high-normal or mildly elevated, a doctor will likely re-check it within a couple of months. If your blood pressure is moderately to severely elevated the doctor may re-evaluate it within a week or so, or may start treatment immediately.
