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Signs and Symptoms of High Cholesterol and High Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is a measurement of how hard your heart is pumping. If it’s too high, it can lead to problems like heart attack and stroke. Cholesterol is used to build healthy cells. It travels through the blood, but it can also attach itself to the lining of the walls of blood vessels blocking them. This can cause similar problems like high blood pressure. Neither high blood pressure nor high cholesterol happens quickly; rather, they are conditions that develop over a number of years.

  1. Symptoms of High Cholesterol

    • High cholesterol has no visible symptoms. You need to have a blood test performed to see if the cholesterol in your blood is too high. The Mayo Clinic recommends you begin having your cholesterol tested at age 20 and then every five years after that. Your doctor can then decide whether steps need to be taken to bring your cholesterol number down.

    Risk Factors of High Cholesterol

    • Though there are no symptoms of cholesterol, there are risk factors that may be increasing your chances of developing high cholesterol. These include: smoking, obesity, poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, high blood pressure and diabetes. A risk factor that you can’t control is whether high cholesterol runs in your family. If you had a parent or sibling develop heart disease before age 55, you will be at a higher risk of developing high cholesterol.

    Symptoms of High Blood Pressure

    • As with high cholesterol, high blood pressure does not manifest itself with visible symptoms for most people. Some people have complained of headaches, dizzy spells or more nosebleeds than normal, according to the Mayo Clinic. The best indicator of high blood pressure is to check your blood pressure either at home or at a machine you can find in many pharmacies. If it shows above the normal range, visit your doctor for a more-accurate check.

    Risk Factors of High Blood Pressure

    • Though there are no symptoms of high blood pressure, there are risk factors that may increase your chances of developing high blood pressure. These include: obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, too much dietary salt, too little dietary potassium, too much dietary vitamin D, drinking alcohol, stress and some chronic conditions. Some of the factors you’ll have no control over. These are your age, race and family history. As you age, you are more at risk of developing high blood pressure. Also, blacks tend to develop high blood pressure at an earlier age or with more serious complications than whites.

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