Swelling and High Blood Pressure: What You Need to Know

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is known as the "silent killer" because the early stages usually cause no noticeable signs of a problem.

Visible Signs

• In the advanced stages, high blood pressure may cause visible symptoms, such as swelling of the legs, flushing of the face and sweating.

Other Symptoms

• High blood pressure can also cause shortness of breath, rapid pulse, tension, fainting spells, dizziness, nosebleed, blurred vision, depression, ringing in the ears and headaches.

External Factors

• A number of risk factors for high blood pressure have been identified, including smoking, stress, obesity, stimulant use (including caffeine), heredity, drug abuse and high sodium intake.

Related Conditions

• Secondary hypertension is blood pressure caused by another health condition, such as poor kidney function, narrowing or hardening of the arteries and the buildup of fatty plaque on the insides of blood vessels.

Considerations

• Some symptoms of high blood pressure mimic those of other conditions. Swelling, for instance, can be caused by joint infection, arthritis, drug reaction, allergies, sprain, gout, poor circulation or lymph disorders. Only a licensed physician can make a definite diagnosis.