DH has been on hypertensives since he was 40, nothing to do with excessive salt consumption, weight or anything else. He had to have regular medicals through out his working life because of his job and even in his 20s, his blood pressure was always on the high side of normal. His GP said it was probably genetic. His grandmother had a heart attack out of the blue and died in her early 50s. He is now in his mid-70s, and has outlived both his parents.
On statins I am more cautious. Sometime ago some one on GN recommended that when the doctor says you have raised cholesterol and need statins, ask him what your chances are having a heart attack or stroke if you do nothing and then how this would change if you took statins. My GP was very disconcerted to discover that, in my cases, as with the person who recommended we do this,the difference between the two was so little that there was very little point in me taking statins. In my case my GP thought my high cholesterol was also genetic as the figure has been at exactly the same level for 10 years.
Obviously, if taking statins would have made a big difference to these risks, I would have taken them.
It is always very sensible to be cautious about taking medication - we are already suffering from doctor's willingness to prescribe and patient's willingness to demand antibiotics.
However where the risks of a condition like high blood pressure are so well known and so well attested, to refuse to take medication that is known to reduce your chances of a heart attack or stroke, which could kill you or leave you ill and disabled for the rest of a much shorter life, just strikes me as perverse.
The number of drugs and combinations on the market and available to treat high blood pressure are so many that if one drug does not suit you, another will. DH has had his medication changed a number of times, including changing medication when a mdication cause side effects.
