Hi there, Thanks for writing in. I am a qualified and certified cardiologist. I read your mail with diligence. Two reasons for your elevated reading: a). It could be faulty BP apparatus if you have self recorded BP from an old BP apparatus which you have never standardized. Few reading with a different apparatus same Nurse or Doctor at health care facility will establish b). It is just that you are new onset hypertension patient. Initially, at times even for rest of the life of hypertensive patients, readings are high only intermittently. Due to this variation, it was not detected before even when recorded. For these reasons for diagnosis of hypertension more than one reading is needed or ambulatory blood pressure is recorded. Hypertension is a silent disease it may not produce any symptoms before it starts producing effects. That by no way means that you are going to have a stroke. My suggestion is confirm that you have blood pressure. Please take an appointment with a doctor. Your doctor will thoroughly examine you. An EKG, renal function tests and if there is a reason to suspect some other cause for raised BP it will be excluded. A schedule of drug, diet and exercise will be made exclusively for you. And, among the target organs of high BP brain is one of the three-other two are kidney and heart. Every effort shall be made no target organ has to bear the brunt. Good Luck. With Best Wishes Dr Anil Grover