Have you ever had high blood pressure from an early age which has never seemed to be totally under control despite medication?

I’d lean towards genetic. It’s in my entire family. The only person not on meds is my mother. But, if we follow the guidelines we can control it. It takes some discipline and it’s not easy, but it’s manageable. I’m male, I doubt it’s hormonal. :)

Not exactly. My blood pressure was high at one point, doctors mentioned putting me on blood pressure meds, but I refused, and I knew enough to have my thyroid checked, I had other symptoms, most notable my thyroid was huge in my neck. Once I took medication for my thyroid to get it back to normal, my high blood pressure corrected itself. Even when I am only slightly slow with my thyroid (I am hard to regulate with medication) my blood pressure goes up when I am hypothyroid and blood pressure goes way down when I am hyper. Another girlfriend of mine had the exact same experience when she was first diagnosed. The doctor found her to have high blood pressure at a regular check up, and he thought to check her thyroid, once on thyroid meds it corrected itself, and now she realizes other problems she was having were related to her thyroid also.

But, of course blood pressure can be high for many other reasons. Sometimes the receptors in the arteries don’t work right for genetic reasons, and your blood pressure does not regulate well, because your body does not know it is high.

I had a few blips in my sports physicals when I was a kid when I got some slighty high readings. That might be something for parents to watch with your kids.

Hawthorn might be a help.