Hypertension (high blood pressure)

Changing your lifestyle can help manage and control high blood pressure. Some lifestyle changed you can try are:

• Getting regular physical activity (the government recommends 150 mins at least a week)
• Eat a heart-healthy diet with less salt
• Limit the amount of alcohol you drink
• Maintain a healthy weight, or lose weight if you’re overweight or obese.

If you’re not sure if you’re at a healthy weight or not, try the NHS BMI calculator

In some cases, lifestyle changes aren’t enough to reduce your blood pressure, in these cases hypertension is often treated with medication to lower your blood pressure. Your GP will carry out some tests before prescribing medication and the NHS ** (LINK https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/high-blood-pressure-hypertension/treatment/ ) also explain that medication may also be recommended if you’re at risk of developing problems such as heart attacks or strokes.

You might have to take medication for you blood pressure for the rest of your life, but your GP might be able to reduce or stop treatment if your blood pressure stays under control over time. You must make sure that you continue to take your medication, sometimes you won’t feel any different, but they’re still working. Remember, most of the time you don’t know you have high blood pressure because you don’t feel unwell.

As with all medication, you might suffer with some side effects, please don’t stop taking your medication, speak to your GP who can advise on the best route to go down! J

Hypotension (low blood pressure)

Low blood pressure doesn’t always cause symptoms, but if it does, you should go see your GP. If you get the following symptoms, make an appointment:

• Feeling sick
• Blurred vision
• Generally feeling weak
• Light headedness or dizzy
• Confusion
• Fainting 

All these may be a sign that your blood pressure is too low. You might also feel symptoms when you stand up or quickly change position – you might have postural hypotension.

According to Webmd, (LINK https://www.webmd.com/heart/understanding-low-blood-pressure-treatment#1) low blood pressure could be treated with lifestyle changes. This all depends on the cause of your symptoms, and it’s really important to see your GP if you’re unsure or make any drastic changes to your lifestyle. Some simple changes for low blood pressure are:

• Eat a diet with more salt in
• Drink lots of non-alcoholic fluids
• Limit your alcohol intake
• Ensure you’re drinking fluids during hot weather
• While sick with a viral illness, get lots of fluids
• Speak to your GP about your current medication – some medicines cause low blood pressure
• Get regular physical activity to promote blood floe

Please speak to a GP before trying any of the following if you have been diagnosed with Hypertension or Hypotension.

It’s really important to regularly check your blood pressure, listen to how HALE were a part of David’s story.