What is the Connection Between Hypertension and Stroke?

Hypertension and stroke are connected because hypertension often causes individuals to have strokes. When people have hypertension, it means that the pressure of their blood is exerting a strain on their blood vessels. Over time, this pressure can make the blood vessels weaker and more likely to burst. In addition, weakened blood vessels can also easily become clogged by clots, and both of these effects can potentially lead to different kinds of strokes.

The results that connect hypertension and stroke often take a long time to develop. Many people may suffer with high blood pressure for many years before experiencing any kind of consequence. It is possible for a person to reach his elderly years with serious damage to his blood vessels from high blood pressure that he was never aware of.

In most cases, when hypertension and stroke are connected, it is because of blood clot-related strokes. All the pressure in a person’s blood vessels from hypertension eventually damages artery walls, and fatty materials can leak through them into the blood. This fat accumulates, and pretty soon, a person can have a blood clot. These blood clots can stop the blood flow to a person’s brain, and this can result in cell damage, which can potentially be deadly or permanently crippling.

The other way that hypertension and stroke can be connected is through the weakness of the blood vessel walls. These weakened walls sometimes break. When this happens in the brain, the blood drains into the tissue, causing a potentially deadly form of stroke called a hemorrhagic stroke.

Many of the worst consequences of hypertension and stroke can be avoided if a person simply takes the appropriate medication. There are plenty of medicines on the market that can control a person’s hypertension issues, and if a person has some issue with one kind of medicine, doctors can often find another solution. Without the hypertension, the damage to blood vessels may never happen, and stroke might be avoided altogether.

The symptoms of stroke often come on quite suddenly. A person may find that they can no longer feel some body part. She may also lose the ability to speak properly or understand what other people are saying. In some cases, there can be immediate loss of consciousness. A stroke can also create feelings of confusion or sudden unexplained memory loss. Rapid treatment is generally considered vital to avoid the worst effects of a stroke.