High blood pressure is commonly referred to as the silent killer. The reason it is called the silent killer is because many people who have high blood pressure don't even know that they have it.

In its early stages, where the pressure itself may only be slightly elevated, a person may experience no symptoms whatsoever. He may feel perfectly healthy and totally unaware of anything being wrong. Even in cases where a person is suffering from high blood pressure because of any underlying cause, the cause itself is so minor, say a slight problem with the kidneys, that the person won't notice anything wrong there either. Urination may appear to be totally normal or the change is so slight that only a trained medical professional would notice it. That is why it is important to get regular checkups as a simple blood pressure test can tell if a person is experiencing hypertension. Once a person's blood pressure reaches the level where it becomes serious, that's when you have the strong possibility of heart attack or stroke.

For those suffering from high blood pressure in the more advanced stages or where there is a more serious problem, there are some symptoms that are easily recognized and should be warning signs that there is a potentially serious problem.

One of the warning signs of high blood pressure is chronic headaches. Many people will experience these and dismiss them as allergies or simple sinus problems or just part of normal everyday life. This is a big mistake. At the first sign of chronic headaches (several days straight) a person should immediately see a doctor and get his blood pressure checked.

Another warning sign is dizziness. Many people dismiss this as possibly a problem with their eyes and first see an eye doctor who, unfortunately, does not administer a blood pressure test. The first person to see in case of dizziness is your regular physician.

Another warning sign of high blood pressure is shortness of breath. Usually when this occurs is when people start to get a little concerned. By this time though the blood pressure has probably reached high enough levels to be dangerous as this is one of the last symptoms you'll experience.

The good thing about getting symptoms is that this at least gives the person some kind of warning that something is wrong with him. It may not necessarily be high blood pressure but by prompting the person to get a check up, it will at least uncover exactly what the problem is. In most cases with the above symptoms the diagnosis turns out to be high blood pressure.

Unfortunately, because people wait so long to see their doctors, about 1% of the people who go to their doctors for their first check up after experiencing these symptoms for a prolonged period, are diagnosed with severe high blood pressure. This could have easily been avoided by simply going to the doctor at the first sign of symptoms.