High Blood Pressure even though taking medication.

[Adeline12]

Hi, I'm in my early 50s. I've been taking blood pressure medication for about 5 years. It's always been fine at my check ups so I've just kind of forgotten about it and haven't been taking measurements at home like I did when first diagnosed.
I went for a six month check this week and it was high so the GP booked me for the 24 hour monitor next week. I've checked it at home a few times since and it in the 150/90 range mostly.
Now I'm worrying about having to increase the dosage as I'm relatively young.
Any advice or positive stories from people who managed to get it under control?

I'm perimenopausal, having a few issues with a uterine cyst so that's a bit stressful too. I could lose about 10 lbs but I'm not very overweight. Life is stressful as I'm going through a bad divorce and work full time and have teens at home. I thought I was managing my stress OK, but it seems like I haven't been.

Do you have lifestyle issues that might be pushing it up? Weight, smoking, inactivity, etc? If you do then improving your lifestyle should help.

But sometimes it is just high and it's better to take more medication than have a stroke.

I've never smoked and drink one or two alcoholic drink a month. My diet is OK but could be better. I find it hard to relax, much more so since my marriage broke down.

You may need to change medication I was first on ramipril it just didn't make any difference for me changed to a different one which has worked

Do you exercise? Move? Go for walks?

Yes, I walk a lot, garden and take exercise classes on top of having a busy job where I'm on my feet all day. 100% not living a sedentary life.
@dontmakeitaweproblem that's interesting. The GP only suggested upping the dose of my current medication. I will ask about changing my medication.

It might be all the stress - the one thing that made more difference to my BP, more than medication, was changing reporting line at work, so no more git manager. If you're going through a difficult divorce and have some health issues, it's probably affecting you more than you realise.