Now that you've been diagnosed with hypertension what's next? How do you control the disease and manage the symptoms so that you aren't at risk for secondary diseases because of the hypertension? This answer depends on what your risk factors are and whether or not you can control your hypertension with lifestyle changes or if your doctor feels you need to take medications along with the lifestyle changes.

The risk factors for hypertension fall into 3 categories:

1) Those you can change: Exposure to environmental pollutants, obesity, lack of exercise, excessive alcohol use, some prescription medications and illegal drugs, diets high in sodium and frequent stress.

Because hypertension is a silent disease you may feel fine but be a walking time-bomb. Most people don't even have any symptoms or may only experience a mild headache and then suddenly they are in a crisis or were diagnosed with a secondary disease caused by the hypertension. Getting diagnosed early and keeping your blood pressure controlled can help prevent this.

Strokes are the third leading cause of death in the United States, and the number one leading cause of disability. The amount of money spent in rehabilitation of stroke victims each year is astounding. What is good about this is that medicine has been able to lessen the impact of some strokes because the family knew the signs and symptoms and got immediate medical treatment. What is sad is that many strokes could be prevented in the first place by controlling risk factors such as obesity, lack of exercise, excessive alcohol intake and a high fat/high sodium (salt) diet.

Hypertension is a silent disease because most people don't know they have it until they are in a crisis. Often hypertension has so signs and symptoms or it goes undiagnosed because a person only experiences a mild headache. Getting diagnosed and keeping your blood pressure controlled can help prevent many complications of hypertension as well as prevent a crisis.

Although a single cause for hypertension is not known, there are several risk factors that increase your chances of developing hypertension. The more risk factors a person has the higher the associated risk of hypertension.

Hypertension can lead to other diseases as well as make other conditions worse. Hypertension also greatly increases your risk of a Heart Attack or Stroke. It is important to your health and your future to learn about the risk factors for hypertension. Some risk factors cannot be changed and we must accept them, but by controlling and changing the risk factors you can change you decrease your risks.

You should have your blood pressure tested at least every 2 years, because high blood pressure can lead to problems such as damaging your blood vessels. High blood pressure can increase your risk of heart disease, heart attack, developing kidney failure and stroke. Having your blood pressure checked takes only a few minutes and should there be a problem your doctor can treat it and recommend changes to your lifestyle that you should follow. Here are some simple tips to making changes in your lifestyle to keep your blood pressure within a normal range.

Hypertension in simple terms means high blood pressure. Blood pressure is determined by the amount of blood pumped by your heart and by the size and stretch-ability of your blood vessels. When we are young and healthy our blood vessels stretch and contract easily based on how much blood is pumping through them. But as we get older our blood vessels lose the ability to stretch due to genetics, diseases, obesity, bad diets, constant stress and a lack of exercise.

Hypertension is often undiagnosed and is extremely damaging because most people don't have any symptoms until they are in a crisis. Often a person only experiences a mild headache or occasional dizziness and then suddenly the doctor is telling them that they have hypertension and it has already caused other problems.. Getting diagnosed and keeping your blood pressure controlled can help prevent a crisis situation and it can decrease your risks of serious complications such as heart attacks, congestive heart failure, damage to blood vessels, kidney damage/failure, stroke/brain damage, and loss of vision.

Essential (or primary) hypertension is hypertension that has no known cause. Causes may be related to genetics, the enviroment, hormones or how much sodium (salt) you have in your diet. If you have a close family member who has been diagnosed with hypertension there is a greater risk that you will also develop hypertenstion, unless you make the changes needed to prevent it.

Secondary hypertension is hypertension that is caused by another condition or disease. This could be due to conditions like arteriosclerosis, diabetes or kidney disease, or from certain medications. In these cases keeping these other illnesses/conditions under control can help to keep your blood pressure under control.

People who have both hypertension and diabetes are at an even greater risk for developing secondary diseases such as atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a disease that causes plaque build-up and hardening of the blood vessels, especially the arteries. This can lead to coronary artery disease, heart attack, stroke and/or kidney disease.

Many forms of alternative health management have been shown to be effective in reducing blood pressure. These methods are endorsed by both alternative and medical health management groups. These include managing your weight by eating a diet that is low in saturated fat and sodium (salt), and high in complex carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes), physical exercise, and stress management techniques.

Below is a list of common anti-hypertensive medications and some of their side effects. This is not meant to be a complete and comprehensive list, just general categories of medications with common side effects. Please consult with your pharmacist or doctor for any serious side effects or questions regarding your specific medications.

To understand the medications you should first understand that blood pressure is determined by the amount of blood being pumped by your heart and by the stretch-ability of your blood vessels. To decrease blood pressure you need to decrease the volume of blood being pumped and/or relax the blood vessels so the opening is larger there fore decreasing the resistance to blood flow