High blood pressure (hypertension) leads over time to damage to the arteries that can cause either a blood clot blocking an artery or bleeding from an artery. Depending which has occurred and where in the body it is it can lead to:-

• heart attack; heart attack symptoms include severe central chest pain perhaps with pain radiating down the left arm and collapse
• stroke; stroke symptoms include weakness or paralysis of one side of the body and perhaps paralysis or weakness of the opposite side of the face.
• gangrene; gangrene symptoms are caused by blockage of the blood supply to a part of the body usually a limb, which becomes cold, pale and very painful. This is a medical emergency.
  
• or kidney failure; kidney failure symptoms are more vague but should include an episode of passing smallamounts of urien with some swelling of legs followed by the production of excessive amounts of urine and thirst. This is very variable

Normally high blood pressure (hypertension) is found incidentally and causes no symptoms until the situation has become very serious. It is included here because many complementary medicines are helpful and may lead to a sufficient reduction in blood pressure to allow the sufferer to reduce or stop their prescribed medications.

High Blood Pressure Treatments

Modern Western Medicine

There are five main groups of drugs and these are being constantly updated. Principally used are diuretics such as hydrochlorothiazide; beta-blockers such as atenolol (tenormin) and metoprolol; calcium channel antagonists such as adalat; ace inhibitors such as lisinopril (carace; zestril) and enalapril.  Finally angiotensin 2 converting enzyme inhibitors such as valsartan (diovan). There is marked national variation in this drug usage. All drugs for high blood pressure have a range of side effects that may limit their use.