Dorland's Medical Dictionary defines hypertension as "persistently high arterial blood pressure, generally defined as in excess of 140/90. Why is this dangerous? What does it feel like? What can you do about it?
Even if you don't have diabetes, high blood pressure imposes strain on the eyes, the kidneys, the brain, blood vessels, and the heart. High blood pressure, by itself, increases the risk of stroke, heart attack, and certain types of blindness. The principal symptom of diabetes is hyperglycemia, high blood sugar.
The excess blood sugars of untreated diabetes glycosylate, they bond with any available protein, including capillary walls -- in the blood vessels, in the eye, and in the kidneys. Even without generalized hypertension, it is possible to experience it locally, in the eyes and kidneys. Your doctor can tell for sure.
Add diabetes and high blood pressure, and you have a recipe for trouble -- avoidable trouble. It can hurt you, if you don't take action. You've got to know your BP numbers are elevated, first.
Without testing devices, you can't tell if your blood pressure is high. There is no pain, nothing to tell you "time to get help!" You can "feel fine" and still need action. You need to be tested. Elevated blood pressure is so common that EVERYBODY needs to be tested.
If the doctor finds you have high blood pressure, there are a number of things you can do to bring it down. First, get your diet under control. Eat healthy foods, and in healthy portion sizes. Limit your salt! (Salt raises your blood pressure!)
Second, being sedentary raises the risks of blood pressure, and good, regular exercise cuts blood pressure. Talk to your health care team about an exercise program appropriate for you. Almost anyone can exercise -- there will be activities right for you.
Third, there are a number of blood-pressure-reducing medications. Some of them are appropriate for diabetic use. One class of these medications, the ACE inhibitors, also serves to moderate the localized high pressures that follow diabetic kidney disease. Even if your generalized blood pressure is OK, your kidneys might benefit from the ACE inhibitors. Talk to your doctor.
Fourth, get your blood sugars under good control, and keep them there. Just as high blood sugars lead to glycosylation, helping cause high blood pressure, a sustained period of euglycemia, normal blood sugar, can cut glycosylation, reducing risk of complications like eye disease, kidney disease, nerve damage, and the complications of high blood pressure.
If you have diabetes,
remember that although heart complications are the number one killer, there
is plenty you can do about it -- if you get involved, and take the necessary
action.