In the overall scheme of things you have to put being given a diagnosis of High Blood Pressure into perspective. On the scale of being told you have terminal and potentially fatal illness High Blood Pressure has to be looked at in the right way.

Now by saying all of this I do not wish to be accused of trying to downplay the potential risks and harm that can be caused by ignoring the signs and symptoms of High Blood Pressure. Far from it, I suffer from High Blood Pressure myself and hence know more than most the downside of being told you have this condition, it is just that having or being told you have just got High Blood Pressure (Hypertension or HBP) should not be taken as the "Death Sentence" it once was.

You can do a lot to deal with the situation and to be brutally blunt by and large how you react and deal with the diagnosis and how you move forward is by and large down to your own control. There are positive measures that you can take and you can wrestle control back into your life quite easily.

Perhaps my slightly brutal view point comes from having a friend who has just been advised that the Breast Cancer she thought was in remission has just returned and had spread. This dear friends and readers is serious, a damn site more serious than being told you are a few pounds over weight and hence your blood pressure is up!

Now before I find my email inbox flooded with correspondence from irate readers all accusing me of a cross between heartlessness and gallows humour let me repeat my earlier statement.

I have been diagnosed with High Blood Pressure, I know what it is like, I know what it is like when you forget to take your medication - my wife loves this especially. I used to forget every now and then to take The Calcium channel Blockers that I was initially prescribed and boy could you tell after about 6 hours or so. By that time I would be at the "ripping heads from Babies stage" but that also taught me a few things as well.

Dealing withy your High Blood Pressure is also about making lifestyle changes as well. It is about a lot more than just remembering to take the tablets at the same time every day, it is about taking a complete re evaluation of everything you do and trying to dig deep and find the cause (and in most cases this can be found) of the trouble.

In my case it was making between four to five flights a week and a long distance commute that entailed a constant rush to beat traffic either on the Roads, by Rail or at the Airport! Truly a mugs game. The next time someone tries to sell you on the idea of a life full of constant travelling, always being on the move and no two days the same; just advise them to keep moving along themselves and take their kind and most generous offer elsewhere.

There are some things in life that Money really cannot always buy and good health is one of them!