I went to see the nurse again and it was still high and she said ‘Go and see the doctor again. So I made an appointment and saw the doctor who, at our surgery does do a lot of work on high blood pressure. He took my blood pressure again and said it was still too high. In his experience patients who had blood pressure as high as mine always ended up on medication. He said ‘You could try diet, you could try reducing stress in your life,’ but he said ‘these kind of things that people try, they never have a significant enough effect on blood pressure. With my experience, you’ll have to end up on medication. And I said ‘Well how long are we talking about?’ and he said ’10 years. I was really pretty fed up about that. And then he also said, again I think being very honest, ‘And wed have to experiment with what suited you, because very often there are side-effects with these drugs, thered be a certain amount at the beginning of trying out different drugs to see what suited you. And it’s something I really don’t want to get involved in. I suppose it is probably bound up with age and the fact that you have to be taking pills every day for 10 years.

Then that’s another thing that puzzles me, what happens at the end of 10 years, does that mean you’re better, or you drop dead, or what? Apparently medication will bring the blood pressure down, undoubtedly it will; but who knows what else it’s doing to you, that’s what I always feel. And certainly people spoke about ‘Oh yes they took ages before they got the right thing, and they tried to change and it didn’t work’ and it upset them. So it’s certainly not something that I would take on unless I really, really have to.

I go to the doctors at the surgery, I get a month’s prescription at a time; I’m due down there Monday to drop the prescription in and then I just pick it up from the local chemist. I go to the doctors on the Monday, drop it in their box, pick it up from the pharmacist on a Wednesday.

I like all the girls down at the reception there and we always have a little old chat about this, that and the other and we get on fine. Every 5 weeks I have to see the doctor, my favourite doctor has gone back to Derbyshire but I’ve got another doctor who’s good as gold. What I do like about these doctors is they treat you as human beings. If theres something you want to ask or say, they listen to you. If I think back to years ago when shall we say the doctors were like gods, ordering ‘do this. But they’re wonderful down there, were on first names terms with most of them and it’s nice. You can relax there and I think it takes a lot of the pressure away from you when they’re like that. In the ward where we went one of the nice things was when you go in they say ‘How would like to be known?’ First name, second name, anything you like which is nice.

I have the 2.5mg of Licinipril in the morning and then I don’t have anything else whatsoever. But while the doctor and I were talking yesterday he said ‘It may be that the Tracitrex is running out before the 24 hours and maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea eventually if it still stays high to put you on something different. He doesn’t want to because I’ve done so well on Tracitrex, but as I’ve taken it in the morning he thinks that maybe by evening when I get these palpitations, or I feel uncomfortable with myself, he thinks that’s when it maybe running out.

I went to see the nurse again and it was still high and she said ‘Go and see the doctor again. So I made an appointment and saw the doctor who, at our surgery does do a lot of work on high blood pressure. He took my blood pressure again and said it was still too high. In his experience patients who had blood pressure as high as mine always ended up on medication. He said ‘You could try diet, you could try reducing stress in your life,’ but he said ‘these kind of things that people try, they never have a significant enough effect on blood pressure. With my experience, you’ll have to end up on medication. And I said ‘Well how long are we talking about?’ and he said ’10 years. I was really pretty fed up about that. And then he also said, again I think being very honest, ‘And wed have to experiment with what suited you, because very often there are side-effects with these drugs, thered be a certain amount at the beginning of trying out different drugs to see what suited you. And it’s something I really don’t want to get involved in. I suppose it is probably bound up with age and the fact that you have to be taking pills every day for 10 years.

Then that’s another thing that puzzles me, what happens at the end of 10 years, does that mean you’re better, or you drop dead, or what? Apparently medication will bring the blood pressure down, undoubtedly it will; but who knows what else it’s doing to you, that’s what I always feel. And certainly people spoke about ‘Oh yes they took ages before they got the right thing, and they tried to change and it didn’t work’ and it upset them. So it’s certainly not something that I would take on unless I really, really have to.

One of my sisters has got high blood pressure too. Her’s was ridiculously, dangerously high. She was taking such strong beta-blockers, at one point she couldn’t get out bed; she was completely drugged up. Anyway, when they found out what it was they gave her a combination of two drugs; and within three days her blood pressure was totally normal. (And she is having something removed from her adrenal gland).

She doesn’t mind her two drugs?

She doesn’t mind her two drugs because she has never felt better, and she feels totally safe. Whereas before her blood pressure was so much higher than mine that she was constantly worried.

And so, it has taken away the worry element. When she has been operated on, then her blood pressure will be back to normal, even without the drugs -I think-I am not sure. This is why the majority of the population do just happily take the tablets because then it is one worry less for them. They haven’t got the responsibility; it is not on their minds so much. But on the other hand it maybe makes them a bit lazy; they probably eat more and think ‘Oh well I am taking the tablets so it doesn’t matter. I don’t need to cycle to work, I’ll go in the car. Theres an element of that going on as well.

Actually, my boss is a trainer and he used to be a jockey. He has high blood pressure and he has opted not to take high blood pressure tablets and he has bought himself a blood pressure machine. He says it is amazing how you can get your own blood pressure down. No way is he going to take tablets, and he tries to keep his blood pressure lower naturally.

I think that probably the art of having something like hypertension is to just get on. It is like brushing your teeth in the morning, it is something you have to do. But you want to interfere with your life as little as possible. I mean one of the things I really fear nowadays is the over-medicalisation of our lives instead of getting on and enjoying sunshine or doing nice things – reading books or writing books or whatever one enjoys doing – one will be sitting around clutched in the corner of a kitchen gazing at ones genomes or ones genes looking at what the future holds and thinking medicine, medicine, medicine- – –

You know it would be ghastly. One really wants ones GP and ones treatment and everything to be as low profile as it possibly can so one can get on and enjoy the rest of life.