It is more common among black people than white, which is definitely seen in South Africa. Hypertension is traditionally thought to be asymptomatic, but so many patients have told me that they feel better once they are on medication that I wonder about this. Certainly there are no specific symptoms until pressures are high enough to be dangerous. A diagnosis of hypertension is for life. The dangers of untreated, or inadequately treated, hypertension are stroke, heart disease and kidney failure.
Treatment is varied and changing all the time, with new drugs appearing on the market almost daily.
Beta-blockers are one of the commonest types of treatment. They act by blocking the beta-adrenoreceptors in the heart and blood vessels. These are involved in the control of blood pressure. They also act on beta-adrenoreceptors elsewhere in the body, the lungs, pancreas and liver. They are generally well tolerated, but can cause tiredness, sexual dysfunction and bronchopsasm in asthmatics.