Speaking as a victim, not a doctor -
High blood pressure might (in a minority of cases) be caused by pre-existing unpleasantness in amongst the offal
- so get good advice!
High blood pressure, if present for a long time, WILL cause unpleasantness in the heart and / or in the head and / or in the blood vessels.
You are very unlikely to realise yourself that your blood pressure is high - a VERY good reason to pay your AME's bill with a smile.
Often, high blood pressure responds very well to medication, with zero side effects (as I live and breathe).
You might, if you are very unusual, reduce your blood pressure a little bit by taking careful thought and relaxation therapy.
You are more likely to benefit from zero salt, slashed caffeine, reduce alcohol from a bottle a day to a glass a day, forget the burgers and chocolate bars, give up the fudge cake and the fresh (or any other) cream, "pass" on the cheese, take up the lettuce and fruit salad, and as an antidote to all that misery, you're encouraged to do something which makes you pant for half an hour, five days a week, provided it's not so energetic that it brings on the heart attack / stroke you were trying to avoid in the first place.
One thing I've been advised NOT to do is give up taking the tablets now I've started, since "they" say that although your BP may be down, if it goes up again the simple treatments are much less likely to work next time.
SD