I’m lucky it was picked up early before it did, before it got going at a virulent level. Presumably it delayed that, as eventually it did become very damaging. I was quite mystified by it and upset partly because it could have stood in the way of me coming to [university] which I was very proud of having achieved and wanted to do. Mostly it was just the mechanics of it, I didn’t want it to stop me and get in the way so it had to be sorted out to that extent.

If theres anything wrong I’d rather know about it and get it treated, obviously by alternative methods if I can. I don’t want to take conventional medicines. But no I am pleased, because presumably if it hadn’t been picked up – I’m sure it would’ve at some stage – but realising that it could lead to further complications I’d much rather know now.

The first time I was told my blood pressure was up I thought ‘I’ve been rushing around and doing an awful lot this summer but it will sort itself out. I think I thought that it would be stabilised quite easily which hasn’t turned out to be the case, so that’s been a bit of a blow.

Although I’m not sure what ones expectations should be, as far as how quickly it should be to work out what medication you need to stabilise it, but it’s a bit of a frustration to know 8 months on it’s still not stabilised.

One of the things I was a bit miffed about was I’d done all the right things’ I’ve never smoked, I’ve kept my weight down, I take regular exercise, I eat a low fat diet and I have hypertension!

When I found out that I had high blood pressure, the first thing that came to me was how long was it there? I didn’t know it just manifested itself because of what I was doing, but it could have been there for some time. I didn’t feel any different in my body at all, I felt the same that I did feel 6 weeks previous to it when I found out. But I didn’t actually believe that I was a genuine case of hypertension. I felt at the time that that was probably because of the extra bit of stress and anxiety and that once that had passed it would go again. I didn’t think that it was something to stay.

After a few months I did go back and have the tablets. I felt like ‘theres something wrong with you, the things you could have done last week, last year – you’ve got to think about it. So my self-esteem dropped just that little bit to think ‘Now here I am, people out there, the world at large, still think that you’re probably a fit Police man, you’re a fit person’ But you think yourself ‘I’ve got hypertension, I can’t do the things that they think I can, that I can do,’ you know. So I would say yes that it did make that little bit of difference to me and the job.

I thought that it was just another medical thing which I had, I’d had so many different things wrong with me that I think I took it all in my stride then.

Because it was something I had expected I honestly wasn’t that worried. I was concerned, but not that worried about it because I think now that I know much more about it; and the effects of high blood pressure, enlarging the heart, or thinning the heart muscle walls and the enlarging of the arteries. The fact that high blood pressure can do irreparable damage and that’s a problem. Having not known any of those things I was perhaps less worried, less concerned. So I thought this is something that is possibly curable and once you’re cured there were no ill effects but that’s not the case, there are lasting effects.