Other than yet more medication does anyone know how to get High Blood Pressure down?

Setting aside the looming surgery as it takes time for a drug regime to take effect, maybe a return to the GP is in order and he/she might consider adding something like Amlodipine to lower the BP.

Are you overweight? If so, lowering your weight will help. I ask this as it shouldn't be extremely painful using a BP monitor unless you are obese and using a cuff that is too small.

I read somewhere that in Germany they recommend eating bananas to lower bp ! ?

parsley too.

In China, a vegetable called bitter melon. Not sure if you can get it here?

Beetroot too!

I've been in a hospital gown and turned away an hour before surgery due to my high BP. A month or so later the consultant requested a 24 hour monitor and concluded there was nothing to worry about and went ahead with no problems.

As Riverwalk says, do check your BP machine is working ok and the cuff is the correct size .
Gentle exercise is very helpful, just a walk every day if you can .
Practicing mindfulness is very calming and good for BP , plenty of apps online if you don’t want to go to a class.
I’m sure you already know about cutting out caffeine and cutting down on alcohol?
Good luck!

www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322284

Cranberry juice and/or Beetroot juice are supposed to help, but must be taken daily. If your overweight you could try reducing your weight, easier said than done though. Regular exercise helps, but must be done at least three or four times a week and must raise your heart rate.

Thanks to you all. If bananas and parsley along with a Chinese vegetable I would definitely give it a go! Not beetroot though!!
Re the 'dopine' drugs I took them for years and they made my feet and ankles swell, Put up with it until my very broad feet grew bunions which along with plantar fascitis made it impossible to find shoes that i could walk in without pain. I don't think I've made the cuff too tight, but I'll try ;loosening it. In the instructions it said it wouldn't work properly if the cuff was too loose.

The link that Jura added has other veg/fruit. Berries. Tomatoes.

I'd make a smoothie and drink it IN ADDITION to including in meals. I might join you!

Years ago my husband had high blood pressure and the doctor called me in and said it could be controlled if salt was removed from his diet.
I duly did this and six weeks later his BP was back to normal.
The doc. then confessed that he always tells patients this but few follow through.
It wasn't easy to get enough flavour into food so I researched recipes and with herbs and spices replacing salt plus great attention to labels we succeeded. Over time your tastebuds adapt.

Simple (in theory, anyway) - just lose weight!

You will need a change of diet if only for a month to get you started. Google food to help lower BP and you will find fish high on the menu.

I agree, salt should also be banned but you should be able to find interesting food which will hopefully lower the BP.

I'm not obese but several times when having my BP taken I've squealed out loud and said that's really hurting and been told it doesn't hurt. Well it may not hurt most people but it's certainly hurt me several times.

Always empty your bladder before a BP test. If your BP is high, yes, it hurts, making the reading even higher.

Insist on an (old fashioned but superior and accurate) aneroid sphygmomanometer and stethoscope reading. Arrhythmias and/or muscle tremors make for (even more) inaccurate readings using automated monitors.

We are all different. Doxasozin is the only med that reduces my BP at all!

Make sure the doctor or nurse does two or, better still, three readings of your BP. Mine is always lower the second and third times. Also, beware of the 'white coat' syndrome. The very thought or sight of a doctor (whether or not wearing a white coat) raises my BP.

Nanamac I've been in a similar predicament to yours. On BP tablets for 20 years, last year it suddenly went up. It took a visit to a specialist plus 3 different tablets to bring it down and this took quite a few months. I too bought a monitor, at first I kept checking it, eventually relaxed about it and I now just check it twice a week, once on Monday morning and the other on Friday evening. Like other posters I had to take a cocktail of lisinopril, amlodipine and a diuretic. If you are overweight, losing some weight can only help.

I seem to remember that we shouldn't have a hot drink before taking BP.

We also cut our salt and use lots of garlic, onions and herbs for flavour.

If we go out for a meal we often find the food too salty now. I can't believe that our local pub puts salt on the chips before serving! We have to make a point of saying 'no salt please' when we order.

Nanamae77
Why is it painful? I suffer 'white coat' syndrome .This means my BP will go up the moment I step through the door of a hospital or surgery.There is little I can do about this and have been advised to obtain a BP moniter and take readings in the days leading up to an apt.I do not have to use a needle so interested as to why you find it painfull.

You could try cutting down on/cutting out salt. Not just the salt on your meals or in cooking, but the salt that is in a lot of food. Try reading the labels on foods - even Digestive biscuits, soup, sauces, etc., contain a fair amount of salt. Good luck.

There was a programme about blood pressure some time ago. A male voice choir from South Wales was divided into two groups, half had to eat beetroot every day. I can’t remember what the other group did! BUT the beetroot group all had lower blood pressure! (Shame I hate it!)

Well if beetroot is really the answer you must learn to like it
I also have white coat syndrome and my BP is fine when I take it myself at home but always up at the doctors or hospital my doctor is more than happy with my readings
Although the cuff feels very very tight I ve never found it painful I guess it’s a pain threshold thing some peopl3 feel it more than others
I love salt so use the lo salt stuff
If it was me I d google all the good things and eat them even if they re are not very likeable

I find it very painful to measure my blood pressure when it is high. The cuff is not too tight and I am not fat, it's just that it gets very tight as the measure goes up.
Having been well controlled for years with one tablet (cut down from two at one time) mine is raised again. I'm not overweight, my sodium is always below normal, so it's not salt. I'm active and have a healthy diet. I can only put it down to stress.

Take-up Tai Chi of Yoga both can help. Drink beetroot juice.