Before anyone starts on treatment for high blood pressure, several measurements need to be made on different days - at least three and often many more.
This is to get some idea of your average pressure and to decide whether you need treatment at all.
These measurements will usually be made by a practice nurse, or you may be taught how to measure your own blood pressure and then asked to return to your doctor with your own twice-daily record of your blood pressure over a week or two.
Presumably, something similar has happened to you and the results showed that you were likely to benefit from medication.
Now that you have started your treatment, you will probably need weekly measurements at first to asses your response to different dosages of your drugs or to different drug combinations.
This has to continue until your blood pressure is controlled.
It may take only a week or two, but in roughly one third of people, this process of trial and error takes several months, occasionally more than a year.
It's worth preserving, because eventually almost everybody either reached their target pressure, or at least has a sustainable fall in their blood pressure.
Once your treatment has been shown to be effective, you will probably only need your blood pressure measured every three months or so.
As long as your blood pressure is well controlled, you are much less likely to develop any of the serious consequences of uncontrolled high blood pressure.
Your vigilance can be more effectively applied to making sure you attend regularly for follow up, with routine blood pressure checks about every three months.
Drugs used for treatment of high blood pressure often cause minor side effects.
It is important to report these to your doctor, because they can nearly always be avoided by changing the drug or changing the dose.
Angina (pain over the front of the chest upon exertion) and intermittent claudication (leg pain from obstructed leg arteries) are increasingly common in men from middle age onwards and are much more likely in people with high blood pressure, even if this has been controlled by treatment.
They are much less common in women, unless they have been heavy smokers.
Often they are not recognized, angina being dismissed as "indigestion" and intermittent claudication as arthritis.
Both should be reported to your doctor.
The reason your high blood pressure needs treatment is to reduce your risk of eventually suffering from stroke, coronary heart disease, or any of the other complications that it can cause.
The other major causes of these outcomes therefore also need attention.
This is not possible unless the relevant signs and symptoms are initially measured and assessed and then regularly followed up.
How much you smoke, your blood cholesterol level, your weight for your height and your regular exercise habits should all be recorded before your treatment is started.
Whoever is doing your follow up will want to check these, for example, to see how well you are doing with any diet or exercise plan that has been suggested or if you have succeeded in giving up smoking.
They will also want to know how you are getting on with your medication, if you are having any problems or side effects and if you have any other problems you wish to discuss.
This is to get some idea of your average pressure and to decide whether you need treatment at all.
These measurements will usually be made by a practice nurse, or you may be taught how to measure your own blood pressure and then asked to return to your doctor with your own twice-daily record of your blood pressure over a week or two.
Presumably, something similar has happened to you and the results showed that you were likely to benefit from medication.
Now that you have started your treatment, you will probably need weekly measurements at first to asses your response to different dosages of your drugs or to different drug combinations.
This has to continue until your blood pressure is controlled.
It may take only a week or two, but in roughly one third of people, this process of trial and error takes several months, occasionally more than a year.
It's worth preserving, because eventually almost everybody either reached their target pressure, or at least has a sustainable fall in their blood pressure.
Once your treatment has been shown to be effective, you will probably only need your blood pressure measured every three months or so.
As long as your blood pressure is well controlled, you are much less likely to develop any of the serious consequences of uncontrolled high blood pressure.
Your vigilance can be more effectively applied to making sure you attend regularly for follow up, with routine blood pressure checks about every three months.
Drugs used for treatment of high blood pressure often cause minor side effects.
It is important to report these to your doctor, because they can nearly always be avoided by changing the drug or changing the dose.
Angina (pain over the front of the chest upon exertion) and intermittent claudication (leg pain from obstructed leg arteries) are increasingly common in men from middle age onwards and are much more likely in people with high blood pressure, even if this has been controlled by treatment.
They are much less common in women, unless they have been heavy smokers.
Often they are not recognized, angina being dismissed as "indigestion" and intermittent claudication as arthritis.
Both should be reported to your doctor.
The reason your high blood pressure needs treatment is to reduce your risk of eventually suffering from stroke, coronary heart disease, or any of the other complications that it can cause.
The other major causes of these outcomes therefore also need attention.
This is not possible unless the relevant signs and symptoms are initially measured and assessed and then regularly followed up.
How much you smoke, your blood cholesterol level, your weight for your height and your regular exercise habits should all be recorded before your treatment is started.
Whoever is doing your follow up will want to check these, for example, to see how well you are doing with any diet or exercise plan that has been suggested or if you have succeeded in giving up smoking.
They will also want to know how you are getting on with your medication, if you are having any problems or side effects and if you have any other problems you wish to discuss.