They usually discover their pressure is high at a routine medical, or when their blood pressure has been taken during a consultation for some other illness. If you have high blood pressure and a headache, your doctor will look for another cause for it. Worse than that, bringing high blood pressure down may even make you feel worse than usual. For the first time you may have the odd dizzy spell, or feel woolly headed, or get extra tired when you run, or your sex drive may not be what it was. The usual response to this is to stop taking the tablets.
Many people opt for the high pressure, rather than the treatment.
Because constant high blood pressure leaves you open to a higher risk of early stroke and heart attacks than people with a normal pressure. Bringing down the pressure into the normal range, and keeping it there, dramatically reduces your stroke risk. Which is why most doctors now run high blood pressure clinics. They want time to get the message across that high pressures are bad, even if you feel well. And to do so not just by prescribing drugs, but by persuading people with blood pressure problems to change their whole lives.