When blood pressure shoots up

Malignant hypertension refers to extremely high blood pressure that develops all of a sudden with apparently no symptoms. 

In most cases, in malignant hypertension blood pressure rises above 180/120 while normal blood pressure is below 120/ 80.
It is a serious medical condition that should be treated as soon as it is diagnosed.
This sudden rise in blood pressure may damage significant human organs like the kidney, eyes, brain or heart.
The patient may face some conditions like blurry vision, nausea, numbness of any body parts, severe headache, difficulty in speech, chest pain, shortness of breath, discoloured urine and trouble while urinating.
Also, there may be nose bleeding. Pregnant women may suffer from bleeding, water retention or convulsions.
What to do:
: Don’t panic. Comfort the patient. Panic or anxiety may raise the BP higher. Don’t waste time trying home remedies. Rush the patient to the hospital as soon as possible.
: The BP must be reduced gradually. A sudden fall may reduce blood flow to the brain causing brain haemorrhage. It is recommended not to reduce the BP more than 25 per cent in the first hour.
: There may be several reasons for sudden high BP such as kidney disease, hormonal dysfunction, tumour, hereditary heart disease and side effects of medicine. Once stable, the reason of the sudden rise in BP needs diagnosis.
: Don’t quit or reduce the dose of medicine if you are under any high BP medication.
: Pregnant women are at high risk of eclampsia or convulsions caused by malignant hypertension. It is essential to monitor the BP regularly during pregnancy.
*Sharadindu Shekhar Roy is a cardiologist at National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases Bangladesh. This piece originally published in Prothom Alo print edition has been rewritten in English by Farjana Liakat