Hypertension Review (High Blood Pressure)

CDM Hypertension Review

Please complete this form to help us treat your high blood pressure (BP).

It will take a few minutes to complete depending on how involved you would like to be in improving your BP and how much you’d like to learn!

The British Heart Foundation is an excellent source of information if you are looking to learn about your BP.

Your BP review is in 3 parts.

  1. Completing this form to help us advise you on your lifestyle and to help you understand how you could improve or even cure your high BP by changing your habits.
  2. Attending the practice for a BP test, weight measurement and blood test. We check your KIDNEYS, your CHOLESTEROL and test for DIABETES.
  3. (Optional) A telephone or face to face appointment with our Specialist Practice Nurse to discuss the what treatment or lifestyle changes would benefit you most and to answer your questions. If your blood pressure is well controlled and you are happy with things you can choose not to have this appointment.

You need to book the last two parts with reception as per the text you received.

If you have your own BP monitor you can submit your own readings anytime here.

This review works well on mobile but it is easier on a computer.

Your Details

Why are we obsessed with your Blood Pressure?

Blood pressure is the pressure that your blood flows through your blood vessels (like pipes). If it’s too high then the pipes get damaged over time and may clog or burst.

  • If this happens in your brain, you have a stroke.
  • If this happens in your heart, you have a heart attack.

It’s as simple as that!

Causes of High Blood Pressure
There is no single cause of high BP but it is mainly caused by the way you live your life (lifestyle). Being OVERWEIGHT and SMOKING are the two biggest causes of high BP and losing weight or stopping smoking often CURES high BP.

Checking your understanding so far.
What is your usual blood pressure?

Higher than 160/100
Your BP is too high. You are at an increased risk of stroke and heart attack and we will likely recommend an increase in your tablet treatment at your review with our nurse. You need to try especially hard to improve your lifestyle to reduce your blood pressure.

Higher than 140/90
Your BP could be better controlled. We recommend you try hard to improve your lifestyle to reduce your BP. We may recommend an increase of your tablet treatment at your review. Sometimes this BP is an acceptable level if you are having bad side effects to the tablet treatment or if you are prone to falling and hurting yourself.

Lower than 140/90
Excellent. Your BP is controlled. Your risk of heart attack and stroke from your BP is low. We will likely recommend you stay on your current tablet treatment and continue to work on your lifestyle. If your BP is much lower than 140/90 then it may be worth trying to lower your dose of tablet treatment.

Lower than 100/50
Your BP is well controlled but possibly too low. This can sometimes cause you to feel dizzy or pass out. If you are on tablet treatment we will likely advise you to reduce the dose or stop it at your review.

I don’t know
That’s ok! The nurse will discuss this with you at your review.

Smoking

Do you smoke?

Smoking is the MOST COMMON cause of high BP, heart attacks and stokes. We STRONGLY advise stopping.

There are NHS smoking clinics in Edinburgh and West Lothian to help you stop.

Weight and BMI

Mentioned earlier, your body weight is one of the most important factors causing high BP. Please input your height and weight below to find out whether losing weight would make you healthier.
This will calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI) which is an easy way of telling whether you are overweight and what your healthy weight should be.
How would you like to calculate your BMI?

Metric

BMI Over 30
You are very overweight and your blood pressure would likely be much better if you lost weight. Please see your ideal normal weight below. If you lost a significant amount of weight you would likely be cured of your high BP.

BMI over 25
You are overweight and your blood pressure would be likely to improve if you lost weight. If you lost a significant amount of weight you would likely be cured of your high BP. Please see your ideal weight below.

BMI under 25
Excellent. Your weight is within the ideal range. Your weight is not a factor causing your high BP and we would not suggest losing weight. We would recommend working on the other factors that can cause high BP.

BMI lower than 19
You are likely underweight. This is unusual for someone with high BP. Your weight is certainly not in any way causing your high BP. You may benefit from gaining weight and this may be discussed at your review.

Ways to help you lose weight include:

  • Altering your diet using the NHS weight loss plan. It includes a free weight loss app to track your weight and what you eat.
  • Increasing the exercise you do by walking or cycling more, taking up a new active hobby or by joining a gym. Have a look at local NHS subsidised activities here.
  • Referring yourself to the NHS Lothian Weight Management Clinic. This is a face to face clinic which helps you lose weight by means of diet, exercise and a healthy lifestyle. The option of weight loss surgery may be discussed if you are very overweight.

Imperial

Height

Weight

BMI Over 30
You are very overweight and your blood pressure would likely be much better if you lost weight. Please see your ideal normal weight below. If you lost a significant amount of weight you would likely be cured of your high BP.

BMI over 25
You are overweight and your blood pressure would be likely to improve if you lost weight. If you lost a significant amount of weight you would likely be cured of your high BP. Please see your ideal normal weight below.

BMI under 25
Excellent. Your weight is within the ideal range. Your weight is not a factor causing your high BP and we would not suggest losing weight. We would recommend working on the other factors that can cause high BP.

BMI lower than 19
You are likely underweight. This is unusual for someone with high BP. Your weight is certainly not in any way causing your high BP. You may benefit from gaining weight and this may be discussed at your review.

Ways to help you lose weight include:

  • Altering your diet using the NHS weight loss plan. It includes a free weight loss app to track your weight and what you eat.
  • Increasing the exercise you do by walking or cycling more, taking up a new active hobby or by joining a gym. Have a look at local NHS subsidised activities here.
  • Referring yourself to the NHS Lothian Weight Management Clinic. This is a face to face clinic which helps you lose weight by means of diet, exercise and a healthy lifestyle. The option of weight loss surgery may be discussed if you are very overweight.

Exercise

Regular exercise helps to prevent high BP. Exercise also helps you prevent becoming overweight and improves mental health and wellbeing. Sport and activities are great forms of exercise but simply walking or cycling more or being more active are just as effective.
Would you like to discuss ways of being more active at your review?

Alcohol

Drinking too much alcohol is linked to high BP. Alcoholic drinks are also high in calories making it harder to lose weight. The NHS recommends drinking no more than 14 units of alcohol per week.

Here is great advice on cutting down on how much you drink.

If you think you may be addicted to alcohol you can refer yourself to an NHS clinic here.

How many units do you drink every week?

Salt

Salt is linked with causing high BP. The NHS recommends keeping salt intake to a minimum.

Cholesterol and Statin Medication

Cholesterol In Your Food

We have mentioned diet already but cholesterol in your food is a particular cause of high BP because it can line the blood vessels and causing them to stiffen or block.

Foods high in cholesterol include foods high in animal fat, coconut oil or palm oil. More examples found here.

Statin Medication

There are tablets that can be prescribed to help lower your cholesterol. They include Atorvastatin, simvastatin and Rosuvastatin and this family of medication are called ‘Statins’.

Depending on your cholesterol test result, we may recommend you start taking a statin tablet daily. We do not make our recommendation on your cholesterol result alone but by considering how likely you are to suffer from a stroke or heart attack in the future.

We calculate this by considering other things in your medical history eg. smoking history, blood pressure, age and gender. The result is called an ASSIGN score and you can read about it here.

As a rule, you should take Statins if your score is more than 20 %. Feel free to ask the Specialist Practice Nurse about your ASSIGN score and statin medication.

Cholesterol intake
Well done for reaching the end of your blood pressure review!

It is a lot of information to consider but in summary:

  • Don’t smoke
  • Lose weight if you are overweight
  • Exercise and keep active
  • Reduce your alcohol, salt and cholesterol intake
This is the end of your high BP review. How would you like to proceed?
This form collects your name, date of birth, email, other personal information and medical details. This is to confirm you are registered with the practice, to allow the practice team to contact you and also to update your medical records held by the practice and our partners in the NHS. Please read our privacy policy to discover how we protect and manage your submitted data.
Consent

© 2022 Kristian Turnbull