Twice now I’ve stopped taking blood pressure tablets and then in a sense been forced back into them by family, because I have a young child – a teenage child. And I was in a sense black-mailed back onto taking these tablets by friends – close friends who said ‘Oh no you must be more responsible. ‘Oh you know you have a child to bring up. Think about it, you know the pills aren’t that bad. But I have got this total gut feeling that as I am 51 and my heart’s OK at the moment, and if I lose more weight, and lead a healthy life, which I do on the whole- can I manage without them? I’ve tried to talk to the specialist, last week actually, when I went to have a final check. He basically said ‘If you had angina and you were in total pain all the time and your body went green you would take any old tablets, but because you don’t get any symptoms you feel you don’t need to take these. And this isn’t a good idea, my dear. So it wasn’t really very helpful to me I didn’t think.

I should probably ring up the local well-being clinic and see if I can get any information out of them. But I am certainly not, being on a low income, going to waste any money unless I have some evidence. You know, unless they can actually say ‘oh yes this is something that works well with such and such a therapy. I mean I haven’t got money to willy-nilly spend on all different therapies and none of them do anything.

Before if something annoyed me, I probably got quite annoyed about it and I would have a little rant or something; or about something on the television that I felt was an injustice. But now, I think to myself this is an injustice, but your blood pressure is going to go up if you get too involved. I am beginning to think now that before I get too dependant – my body gets too dependant on these pills- I’m seriously thinking of changing my life as best I can- i.e. losing more weight, and eating slightly healthier, and doing everything I can do to lower the blood pressure.

The quality of my life is so diminished generally speaking. So far I’ve had beta-blockers which didn’t suit me. I could hardly get my head off the pillow and my mind felt like cotton wool. So I decided I can’t take these. Then I took ACE inhibitors and with those I had about 6 of the side effects and I just felt like I was nearly dead. I had constantly running nose, sore throat, couldn’t breathe properly. My chest, if I took a deep breath, it felt like I was always shallow breathing. Which, having done yoga in my youth, I know is not good for you. So I was thinking, I am taking these pills to lower the blood pressure but loads of other things are coming up that actually are making me feel mega-unhealthy. Every morning I felt like I had drunk a bottle of whisky and I don’t drink alcohol these days at all. I just felt so rough and my stomach felt so rough and tender. And one day I just said to myself ‘no, I’d rather die. I am seriously thinking of not taking the tablets. I have a cold sore at the moment and I am feeling a bit run down. Now I haven’t had a cold sore for ten years’ is it just coincidence or is it that the pills are making me run down? I wake up in the morning and I actually feel quite good and then I take the pill and I seem to lose energy.

The tablet I am taking now has minimal side effects, so far I have only been on it two weeks; but after a month you can usually tell. The other tablets I have taken, after three or four days I’ve felt dreadful, and I don’t feel dreadful. I don’t feel as good as I normally do but it would be an acceptable level if my risk were high enough. I am sensible about these things I feel, I am not so prejudiced, so anti tablets that I wouldn’t take any.

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 did last week find out how much blood pressure machines cost. Because if I make the decision not to take blood pressure tablets then I really do need to monitor myself I think once or twice a week. And they are slightly expensive – the ones in Boots were ‘100 – which for me on a low income is quite a lot of outlay; but I think it is something that I am going to have to do.

If you already know that your family are slightly prone to something, then you are going to make a bit more effort’ and I didn’t make any until my mother died. I was having cream cakes and just doing what I wanted really. I don’t smoke, but that’s just by choice. When she died I did start being more aware and being more careful with my food, and exercise, and so on. And then when I was cycling and I got these pains in my arms, I just remember thinking ‘it can’t happen yet. I am too young. I thought ‘well get everything checked and then we can go from there really. I think it’s so hard with blood pressure because you don’t know what part of you is causing it. You don’t know whether it is because you are slightly highly strung or you are not eating properly. You don’t know which of the many factors it could be.

The only thing I can’t quantify is this stroke business, because I don’t understand it for one. I’ve said stroke because I don’t think I would be in the heart attack category until I am in my 60s. I think, having my heart checked, I have got a good 10 years left of a reasonable heart, especially if I lose weight; which I am doing through exercise and my bike.

I would like to be more informed as to what the odds are. I have tried beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors; and I have now discovered another form of ACE inhibitor, which I am now taking that seems to have less side-effects than most other pills. I found these through the grapevine of asking at least 20 people – friends who would know someone who has got high blood pressure – ‘what are they doing?’ Basically it has been a sort of grapevine of conversations that has brought me to these particular pills.

My mother had just died aged 69 of her third heart attack; but maybe at least the last 8 years of her life, she was very conscious of keeping fit, and swimming, and eating properly and not having more than one glass of wine. But also, all her sisters and brothers had died – she lasted the longest – they all died in their mid-sixties of heart attacks. They all smoked in their earlier days – John Players- really strong tobacco’ because nobody said actually smoking causes lung cancer and isn’t good for your arteries and so on, and things like that. They probably ate too much fatty stuff and in those days people weren’t so health conscious.

One of my sisters has got high blood pressure too; this also brought the whole thing together for me. I think these hereditary things are hereditary things’ if your family are all prone to something then it’s most likely you’ll be prone to it too. But for me it is incredibly helpful to have that little bit of family history because then I know where my vulnerabilities lie, my hereditary vulnerabilities lie. I think that is helpful because if I didn’t know then I would probably just keep pigging out on massive meals, and wouldn’t worry about my weight and being healthy and all these things. I wouldn’t be attempting to make an effort myself.

About a year and a half ago, I was cycling and had really bad pains in my arms. I went to my doctor and this is how it was discovered that I had high blood pressure. I think I had had it for about two years before this, slightly high blood pressure, that is. But I think my doctor had thought ‘well she seems so healthy in every other way, it’s probably just shes a bit nervous when shes in the surgery. So unless it went obviously dangerously high I think we hadn’t really worried about it.