Hypertension is the most diagnosed condition in the United States today and it is estimated that it affects approximately 72 million US citizens, including one out of every three adults. However, while we talk about hypertension, did you know that there are actually two forms of high blood pressure?

Most suffer from what is known as primary or essential high blood pressure which frequently has few, if any, symptoms and more often than not builds up slowly over several years. A much smaller, but nonetheless still significant, number of people suffer from secondary high blood pressure which arises out of an underlying medical condition and can sometimes present with an extremely rapid onset.

The medical conditions that can give rise to secondary high blood pressure are many and varied but listed below are some of the more commonly found causes:

Obesity. A gain in weight is often accompanied by a rise in your heart rate, as your heart comes under pressure to push an increasing volume of blood around your body, and a consequently increased pressure on the walls of your arteries.

Thyroid Problems. Excess or inadequate hormone production within the thyroid gland, seen in conditions like hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, can, directly or indirectly, result in a rise in your blood pressure.

Kidney Problems. The kidneys are composed of millions of tiny blood vessels and structures that are designed to filter waste products from your blood. When this process of filtering is interrupted, in the case of hydronephrosis or Polycystic kidney disease, one result is secondary high blood pressure.

Dietary Supplements. Several commonly available dietary supplements, like ginseng and St John's wort, are capable of producing high blood pressure.

Sleep Apnea. The constant interruption to your breathing arising from sleep apnea results in oxygen deprivation which damages the lining of your blood vessels and affects the elasticity necessary within these blood vessels to control your blood pressure.

This list is not of course exhaustive and might also have included such items as prescription and over-the-counter medicines, preeclampsia, Cushing's disease, diabetes and much more.

Hypertension, whether primary or secondary, is a serious medical condition that can lead to the development of other life-threatening conditions like cardiovascular disease, heart disease and kidney failure.