It isn't the high blood pressure itself that will ultimately kill you. It's the damage that it does to the organs in your body that will. Chronic high blood pressure can lead to an enlarged heart, kidney failure, brain or neurological damage, and changes in the retina and back of the eyes. How is this damage detected?

In the case of the eyes, a simple eye exam can determine if there are any changes to the retina or back of the eyes. What the eye doctor looks for is narrowing of the small arteries, small haemorrhages in the retina, and swelling of the eye nerve. Based on how much damage he finds he can then gauge the severity of the high blood pressure.

As for the heart, the increased stiffness in the arteries because of the high blood pressure causes the heart to work harder in order to pump the blood to the rest of the body. This increased workload puts a great strain on the heart which can, over time, lead to heart abnormalities. These abnormalities are usually seen as an enlarged heart muscle. An enlarged heart can be discovered by either a chest x-ray, electrocardiogram or most accurately by an ultrasound examination of the heart called an echocardiography. An ultrasound is very useful for determining the actual thickness or enlarging of the heart muscle. This enlarging over time could lead to heart failure, coronary artery disease, and abnormal heart rate or rhythms. Blood pressure medications can relieve some of these problems.

As for the kidneys, blood and urine tests can be used to detect kidney abnormalities in people who have high blood pressure. Kidney damage can either be the result of high blood pressure or the cause of high blood pressure. By measuring the serum creatinine with a blood test, we can measure exactly how well the kidneys are working. An elevated level of serum creatinine indicates a problem with the kidneys. Also, if there is a presence of protein in the urine, this may also be an indication of kidney damage as a result of high blood pressure even if the kidney function itself is normal. As a matter of fact, protein in the urine alone indicates that there is already damage to the kidneys and if the blood pressure is not controlled will most likely get worse. African Americans are at greater risk of end organ kidney damage than Caucasians and therefore should be checked regularly.

Uncontrolled high blood pressure can also cause brain or neurological damage which show up in the form of a stroke in most cases. The strokes are mostly caused by haemorrhage or blood clots of the blood vessels that supply blood to the brain. Multiple strokes can cause dementia. The best way to avoid this from happening is simply to keep your blood pressure under control.