I feel much healthier now – Christian’s story

After the initial shock of a high blood pressure diagnosis, Christian was more surprised by how simple it was going to be to treat.

An unexplained illness

I was at a concert with my friends In November 2014 when I started to feel unwell. I felt light-headed and had aching pains around the mid-section of my body. At first, I thought it may be indigestion, but decided to leave the concert area and find somewhere to lie down against a wall and take some time to breath and have some water.

The dizziness went and the pain subsided and I felt a return to something like my normal self. The next day I decided to see my GP to find out if anything was wrong. They took some blood and did a blood pressure test, and suggested I keep a diary to keep track of how I was feeling.

A few days later, the test results came back and the doctor told me I had high blood pressure. I was a little shocked as I’m a pretty active guy and I was only 43 so didn’t really think that something like that would affect me.

A reassuring doctor

The doctor assured me that it would be fine and explained I was lucky to have found out about my condition.  I wasn’t aware that high blood pressure is the UK’s biggest silent killer, responsible for 60% of strokes and 40% of heart attacks, and a risk factor for kidney disease and dementia.

I started to research high blood pressure and that’s when I came across Blood Pressure UK. Their online information resources were invaluable in helping me become more informed about blood pressure issues and what I should do.

What surprised me the most though was how simple my condition was going to be to treat. The doctor explained that I would just have to take one tablet a day and keep an eye on my blood pressure numbers to make sure they stayed in the normal bracket. I bought a monitor that I use at home to do a weekly check.

A blessing in disguise

Straight after I took my first pill I could feel a noticeable difference and my blood pressure reading was much lower. It is amazing really, I feel much healthier now. It is a blessing that I found out when I did as things could have been much worse. As a dad of two that doesn’t really bear thinking about.

I would urge everyone to know their blood pressure numbers and keep monitoring their blood pressure over a period of time to gain a true picture of your health, as you might feel fine on the outside but you just never know.

Christian Whelan, 43, Liverpool.

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