Could You Be Among the Millions of Americans Who Have Hypertension and Don’t Know It?

Think about a garden hose. You might have it for years, trusting it to carry water where you need it. Then, one day, it springs a leak. You can probably thank the water pressure on the walls of the hose over time. That pressure takes a toll.

Your blood vessels aren’t so different. And that’s why high blood pressure, or hypertension, is such a problem. About half of US adults have it, and that’s just the ones we know about. Because hypertension usually doesn’t cause any symptoms, it can fly under the radar.

Fortunately, Joseph R. Raccuglia, MD, can provide a quick, painless blood pressure check at our office in Freehold, New Jersey. If he detects hypertension, he goes to work developing a treatment plan to help. The good news? High blood pressure is often reversible.

Why doctors call hypertension the silent killer

With about half of the population dealing with high blood pressure, it’s abundantly clear that it’s a major health problem. It’s also a serious one. Medical experts call it the silent killer.

Why? Because high blood pressure usually doesn’t cause a single symptom until it’s severe. You can live with it for years and years and never know.

That doesn’t mean it’s not impacting your body, though. The excess pressure on your blood vessel walls connects to a wide range of issues. For starters, it increases your risk of heart attack and stroke, two of the top killers across the country.

It can also contribute to:

Arterial damage
Coronary artery disease
Dementia
Erectile dysfunction
Eye-related issues, such as retinopathy
Heart failure
Kidney damage

In short, you don’t want to leave hypertension unchecked.

Figuring out if you have high blood pressure

The first step in preventing problems is testing for hypertension, which only takes seconds. During a blood pressure check, one of our providers places a specialized cuff around your arm. It inflates, then slowly deflates. As it does, it determines at what pressure blood flow resumes.

That lets us see where your blood pressure is at when your heart beats (systolic pressure) and when it’s at rest (diastolic pressure). Ideally, you want your systolic pressure to be below 120 mmHg and your diastolic pressure below 80 mmHg.

If your blood pressure levels register above that, Dr. Raccuglia makes a plan for you. If you’re slightly above and get nervous at the doctor, we might recommend a recheck in the near future. You may have white coat syndrome, or elevated blood pressure due to medical nervousness.

If your blood pressure is well above healthy levels, Dr. Raccuglia can help. Lifestyle changes make a huge difference here, so he works with you to adopt healthy habits that support lower blood pressure.

In some cases, he may recommend medication.

Don’t let hypertension affect you without you knowing. To book a quick blood pressure check, call our office or request an appointment online today.