Even small amounts of alcohol may raise blood pressure in some people. As for smoking, within minutes of inhaling, your blood pressure increases. Smoking also damages blood vessel walls, contributes to hardening of the arteries, speeds up your pulse, and increases how hard your heart has to work. If you want to be able to stay off of medication, you should first eliminate as many of the contributing factors as possible. Drinking and smoking should be the first to go.
Diuretics lower the body's fluid volume through increasing urination.
Calcium-channel blockers cause the walls of the blood vessels to relax, thereby lowering blood pressure. Sympatholytics act on parts of the nervous system to relax the heart and blood vessels. This class of drugs is not usually prescribed during pregnancy. Vasodilators also cause the blood vessels to relax, are only used in severe cases of hypertension, and are rarely prescribed for women because one kind of vasodilator can induce increased hair growth.