Many. patients have a polytrauma, injuries to other parts of the body in addition to the head and brain. Trauma victims often develop hypermetabolism or an increased metabolic rate, causing muscle wasting and the starvation of other tissues.
1 Normal: Less than 120 systolic and less than 80 diastolic. 2  Pre-hypertension: 120-139 systolic or 80-89 diastolic. 3  Hypertension: 140 or higher systolic or 90 or higher diastolic.  Hypertensive Crisis: higher than 180 or higher than 110 diastolic.
Indeed, until my mid-40s my BP had always hovered around 120/80, which used to be considered perfect (about which more later). Now, all of a sudden at the age of 47, I was being diagnosed with stage one hypertension and being assessed for a course of blood pressure reducing medications (see box, below).