What can high blood pressure do?

At what levels can high blood pressure cause heart attack or stroke?

• ever since my girlfriend had a c-section last week her blood pressure has gotten really high and she has gotten way more swollen now than she was while pregnant. its to the point her feet and calves are rock hard. she is being monitored daily and today it was 179 over 116. this seems really high but they still wont put her on blood pressure meds. has anyone else had this problem? how long till the pressure and swelling go down?

• Answer:

  The American Heart Association has recommended guidelines to define normal and high blood pressure. Normal blood pressure less than 120/80 Pre-hypertension 120-139/ 80-89 High blood pressure (stage 1) 140-159/90-99 High blood pressure (stage 2) higher than 160/100 As many as 60 million Americans have high blood pressure. Uncontrolled high blood pressure may be responsible for many cases of death and disability resulting from heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure. According to research studies, the risk of dying of a heart attack is directly linked to high blood pressure, particularly systolic hypertension. The higher your blood pressure, the higher the risk. Maintaining lifelong control of hypertension decreases the future risk of complications such as heart attack and stroke. People who have high blood pressure are 4 to 6 times more likely to have a stroke.