Don't you have free healthcare when unemployed?

There are lots of different medicines for high blood pressure. Be aware that is you come off a medicine that your blood pressure can suddenly shoot up several months after stopping. You need to be persistent to find one (or several) that suits you. Most of them are now generic drugs so not expensive for your health insurance.

My blood pressure needs several pills to keep under control. I am still looking for the perfect mix but I know that coming off a drug can make my pressure rocket, often after several weeks.

Don't damage your health long term just to save a few $.

Sorry about the health care costs. We get ours (UK) covered by general taxation, so the only out of pocket cost is a flat rate charge for prescription drug items, whether or not you have a job.

John

I agree with John, some meds need to be weaned off of or you can have a rebound effect. Ive been able to cut back on my meds, because of losing weight and Ive changed my diet. But I may never be able to come of of them completely because my blood pressure goes high when Im anxious. Talk to your docter about your situation and see if they can help. Sometimes they can even give you samples. A docter visit is a lot cheaper then a trip to the ER.

UK vs US is different here. I believe everything is all about money here or until you about to see the grim reaper before they will help. Yes the medication is cheaper then the ER room. But we have to also understand that most of the stuff we are being brainwash. The Gov't, Doctors and Pharmaceutics all cares about $$. I've been screwed over by my past Doctor before. All he want to do was drug me up on every drugs out there. HBP is cause by many things, but I've cut my diet, exercise, medicate, think positive things about my life. I've been off HB medication for two weeks now since I ran out. But I check my HBP and it seem to be fine. If I can continue with what I am doing, I will...

My BP med is only $5/mo. There are all sorts of generics and many major Rxstore chains have BP meds for $4-5/ mo. My Dr writes me a 6 mo prescription.

Scarlet, You get 6 months. I usually get 3 months with 1 or 2 refill. But since my original Doctor left due to family issue, I use another Dr in the same office. But anyway, the fact is that it's been about 3 weeks or over now. I am still off HBP medication. I've check my pressure daily and so far so good. Again I feel like some of these Dr's just want to poison us. Well I guess my pressure is lower now is because I've calm myself down. I usually don't eat a lot of salty food, so that's can't be the cause. I've lost a lot of weight, so that can't be the cause. The final thing I can figure out is my anger, which I have control with meditation and I feel great now knowing that I don't have to pop another HBP pill.

I FEEL JUST LIKE YOU EVERY TIME ALL THESE PILLS THEY HAVE GIVEN ME I FEEL LIKE SHIT, SCARED, AND DON,T FEEL NORMAL. I FEEL LIKE I,AM PUTTING POISEN IN MY BODY. THEN ON THE OTHER HAND , THEY TELL YOU , YOU WILL HAVE A STOKE, HEART ATTACK. SO WHAT DO YOU DO???? MY BP JUST GOES UP AND DOWN. NOW I,AM ON A WATER PILL HORRIBLE. CAN DRY YOUR KIDNEYS OUT((GREAT))) I,AM GETTING PVC. YEA WHEN YOU DON,T HAVE ANY INSURANCE THESE DRS. DON,T GIVE A RATS ASS ABOUT YOUR HEART. I PROBLEY WILL STOP THESE PILLS TO. SO DEPRESSED OVER IT ALL. ZZZ

THEY EVEN HAVE LITTLE KIDS ON STATIN, HBP MEDS. I CAN,T BELIEVE THAT. ALL I KNOW WHEN I,AM NOT TAKING THESE PILLS I HAVE NO ANXIOUS FEELING, HEADACHES, DIZZY, AND THESE DRS. HOUND YOU. I WALK 3/4 MILES A DAY , NEVER OUT OF BREATH FEEL GOOD . THEN GO TO A DR. FOR SOME CRAP RIGHT AWAY MORE PILLS AGAIN THE ANXIETY IN ME DEPRESSION STARTS ALL OVER AGAIN. DOES THAT HELP MY HEART?????

Neko,
I do not think that drs. try to poisson anyone, they are just profesionals that try to make his job the best they can with the education that they have recived.

You are free to go to them or someone else... If you have HBP and you go

To a dr. then you get pills.
To a surgeon then he migth operate your kidneys nerves.
To a naturist then he can order a tea made of olive leafs
To a yoga teacher he will order meditation
To chinese dr. he can use accupuncture

The decision is really yours... and I am not able to say which one is better, if you do not want pills please do not go to a doctor.

Jesus

That's the decision that I've made and not rely on the pills. Some of these pills are poisoning out body. You guys can be on the pills forever thinking that it is the best choice. I feel like I made the right choice right now and feel great.

OH I AGREE WITH YOU COMPLETLEY. YOU ARE ONLY 36 I, CAN,T IMAGINE THAT YOUNG WITH HBP. AND ALL THESE HORRIBLE PILLS THE SIDE EFFECTS MAKE ME SICK. I WALK 2 HRS ALMOST EVERYDAY. I,AM 68 MY BLOOD PRESSURE IS IF I,AM SCARED TO DEATH FROM THESE SIDE EFFECT 147/96 THEN IT DROPS DOWN AFTER I CALM DOWN TO 128/84 I,AM 68 HAVE NEVER BEEN SICK ACCEPT WHEN I GO TO THESE QUACK ASS DRS. PILLS , PILLS. YOU DON,T HAVE THE MONEY RIGHT NOW SO IF THEY ARE SO WORRIED ABOUT YOUR HEART WHY DON,T THEY GIVE THEM TO FREE OR 1/2 THE COST. YOU HAVE NO MORE INSURANCE THEY SURE DON,T GIVE A RATS HOUSE ABOUT YOUR HBP. REAL NICE PLEASE WRITE TO ME. I,AM GOING NUTS OVER THIS. ZZZ

ZZZTop,

I'm not a Doctor or telling everyone to get off of there medication. But I do believe that our body is strong then what we expected. Most of the stuff we hear, read...etc is all hogwash to me. I am 36 now, but I was put on HBP when I was 24 due to my weight gain from other drugs that the Dr did not tell me about. Everyone rely on drugs these day, is it because what the Dr, FDA, Gov't tells you. You watch TV shows like The Biggest Loser and some of the folks get off many drugs due to there weight...etc. I figure my HBP is due to stress and anger. But since I am 36 now and not 24. I am calmer now and been doing meditation to let go of my stress. Again, the folks that disagree with me can leave there comment to themself. But the one that want to hear what I say can leave a comment. It's all about wanting to live a good free life... you can can start off by reading a few books like Heal your Body, 101 Exercises for the Soul, The healing power of Humor. This may works or it may not, but it's all about believing yourself.

THATS WHY I,AM SCARED TO TAKE THEM (HBP MEDS) NOW ID I HAD HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE SAY 155/100 ALL THE TIME THEN I WOULD HAVE TO TAKE THE CRAP. BUT MY BP. WHEN I,AM CALM AND RESTED 117/76 125/80. IF I GET UPSET THEN IT GOES UP. ESARLY MORNING MINE IS HIGH. I WENT TO DR. THE OTHER DAY FOR SOMETHING AND RIGHT AWAY SCARED BP 139/93 THEY SAID " OH THAT IS HIGH"!!!!!!!SICK OF IT ALL. IF I HAVE A SERIOUS ILLNESS THAT REQUIRES ME TAKING HBP MEDS LIKE FLUID BUILDING IN MY BODY REAL HBP. I WOULD HAVE TO TAKE THEM. BUT THAT IS NOT MY CASE. IN AMERICA WITH NO HEALTH INS. YOU ARE SCREWED, YOU GET NO FREEBIES YOU CAN EVEN HAVE CANCER AND GET NO HELP. SO YOU ARE LUCKY JOHND1. ZZZ

To be truthful, I was on 2 B/P pills. One I hated cause you have to take it with food. One day I bought a B/P machine. It was only $34.00 and well worth it. One day I was feeling so tired. I took my BP and the diastolic was 55. I then looked on the internet and saw it is not good for the diastolic to be 55. I did not call the Dr. cause my B/P is always higher than it should be in the Dr office. Last time I saw a Dr. when the nurse took it it was 156--10 minutes later when the Dr took it, it was 126. They go up and back down so darn fast. I then looked up side affects for Verapamil and those weren't good either. I thought I recognized a few. Verapamil is the secondary pill anyway. The next morning I still took the other B/P pill, just left the Verapamil off. All the stress I was under at work was gone, I retired. I walk a mile every day and have lost 30 lbs so I sure all this stuff helps with B/P but when I mention it, Dr's they change the subject real fast. Also when all these pills were pushed on me the medical profession had changed the "normal" B/P from 140 to 120. Now it is back to 140. Anyway I checked it really often cause I had been on both of these pills a long time. My B/P did not go over 138 the first week and by the second week it goes from 122-126. Bottom number is fine also. A month later, If it's a few hours later the next day and i have forgotten to take my pill, my B/P is still about 135 so my next step will be to see if I can get a pill that is half the strength of the one I am taking---of course from the dr and see if I can go down another notch.

Just be very careful and keep checking your B/P to make sure everything is OK.

Well some people can come off BP meds but some need to be wary. My slightly high blood pressure had already caused changes to my eyes, and given me left ventricular hypertrophy. Some doctors would have shrugged it off, but I am glad I kept with trying to address it medically, as it turns out I had a rare endocrine disorder that had caused the hypertension. I ended up having a tumour removed from my pituitary. Unfortunately, it seems that the high blood pressure is here to stay. It has gone down and up by varying amounts over the last ten or so years.

It's trial and error for many drugs for both effectiveness and tolerability. The good news is that many BP drugs in all the classes are now off patent so are cheap. All three of the drugs I take (three different classes) are available as generics (one of them went off patent earlier this year).

John

Well it's been over a month now since I've taken myself off HBP medication. I do my daily meditation and breathing. I let things so and try not stress over it. I basically stop watching the news or be near any one that is negative towards me. I know it's easy said then done. But this world is full of negative folks...etc. which brings you down. Everything from your jobs, the laws is once of the cause to HBP. Then you move next to the Pharmaceutical, Gov't, Doctors which only cares about your money and not about your health. That's one reason why half the world is on HBP. But that's just my opinion. So if you can relax, meditate, vacation and be happy, smile, laugh. I think that's the answer to being off HBP.