Dr. Sanjay Gupta

Worrying just erodes your quality of life.

So don't worry about it.

But I think it is important that you are empowered to understand that your blood pressure may be a manifestation of a whole host of different things.

And just going and getting a pill to lower it is not the answer.

So I'm not saying ignore it.

I'm saying it is important to take into account what that blood pressure is trying to tell you.

I think

it is really important for patients to educate themselves because actually we've become so protocolized, so guideline bound, that now even doctors who are doing this have only been taught, well, the blood pressure is this value, you've just got to hit it with tablets, hard, hard, hard.

And so I'm very much for patients understanding that it is nuanced.

I am very much for patients saying, okay, my blood pressure is high enough

How is it measured?

Is it just a one-off?

Is it a crude measurement?

Is it sustained?

Has it been done in a better way?

Has it been measured?

Because blood pressure, you know, when you go to your doctor's office and have your blood pressure checked, that's a very artificial environment.

The heart rate's going to be up, you're going to be stressed, etc., etc., etc.

If on the basis of that you are told that you have this diagnosis that you have to then carry around as a label for the rest of your life, well, I think I have an issue with that.

I think what we need is patients to realize that that's a very crude reading.