@therajrpatel: Blood Pressure Still High on Medication? New Oxford Study Finds 50% of Treated Participants Had a Clinic Reading of 140/90 or Higher 🩺 TAKING YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE TABLETS EVERY DAY DOESN’T AUTOMATICALLY MEAN YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE IS UNDER CONTROL. New Oxford Population Health research involving around 1.4 million adults in England found that 37% had hypertension. And among people who actually had high blood pressure, 59% did not know they had it. So the accurate way to picture that is: Imagine 10 people who ALL have high blood pressure. Nearly 6 of them may not know it. But this is the part I really want people already taking treatment to hear. Among participants taking one or more blood-pressure-lowering medicines, HALF still had a clinic reading of 140/90 mmHg or higher. That does NOT automatically mean their tablets were “not working”. Blood pressure varies. One clinic visit cannot tell you everything about somebody’s usual blood pressure. How the measurement is taken matters too. Talking during the reading. Not sitting quietly first. The wrong cuff size. Your arm not being supported. Stress or anxiety in the clinic. Recent exercise, caffeine or nicotine. All of those can affect a reading. And some people simply need more than one medicine, a different dose, better adherence support or attention to other factors that can push blood pressure up. The Oxford researchers themselves said it was not clear why so many treated participants still had raised measurements. So what should YOU do if you already take tablets? First: DON’T ASSUME “I TAKE THE TABLET” automatically means “MY BLOOD PRESSURE IS CONTROLLED”. Check it. If you use a home monitor, NICE recommends sitting quietly in a relaxed setting with your arm supported and using the correct cuff size. For home monitoring, the numbers are slightly different from clinic readings. For most adults under 80 being treated for hypertension, NICE uses a clinic target below 140/90 mmHg and an average home or ambulatory target below 135/85 mmHg. For people aged 80 and over, targets are generally different, and individual circumstances such as frailty or other conditions matter. So don’t judge treatment from ONE number. If you’re checking at home, write the readings down. If the readings stay above your target, take that record to your GP, pharmacist or prescriber and ask for a review. And please DON’T change the dose, add another tablet or stop your medicine yourself. In England, many community pharmacies provide the NHS Blood Pressure Check Service, and home blood-pressure monitoring is another useful option when appropriate. One more thing: If a blood pressure reading is extremely high — around 180/120 mmHg or above — especially with symptoms such as chest pain, severe breathlessness, new confusion, weakness, vision changes or other signs of acute illness, seek urgent medical assessment. People often search: Can blood pressure still be high on medication? Why is my blood pressure high even though I take tablets? What should my blood pressure be at home? Is 140/90 high if I take blood pressure medicine? Can a pharmacy check my blood pressure? How often should I check blood pressure at home? Should I change my tablets if my blood pressure is high? 💚 MY PHARMACIST MESSAGE: Taking the tablet is only one part of blood-pressure control. The other part is knowing whether the treatment is actually getting you to your target. CHECK IT. WRITE IT DOWN. GET REPEATED HIGH READINGS REVIEWED. AND DON’T CHANGE THE TABLETS YOURSELF. For up-to-date health news and what it actually means to you, follow. 💚 #BloodPressure #Hypertension #BloodPressureMedication #HeartHealth #MedicationSafety

Pharmacist Health Raj

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Thursday 24 September 2026 22:03:52 GMT