I'm starting to experience symptoms of high blood pressure, but I really don't want to start taking medication. Can medication for high blood pressure cause side effects?

To answer the main question, yes high blood pressure medication has some side effects. In fact, anyone who says that there are no side effects to a product in general is lying, since even natural products and placebo can cause side effects. However, if you had asked if most of the time high blood pressure medications are well tolerated, I would have said yes as well. Since high blood pressure is a fairly common disease, we have a wide range of very well-tolerated medications that do not affect mood, cause little nausea and do not interfere with activities. Depending on one's preferences, it is possible to discuss with one's doctor whether a medication is really necessary. Note that side effects, if any, are often present at the beginning of treatment (1st week) and fade with time.

Before talking about medication, it is important to clarify two points. First, hypertension is a CONTINUOUS rise in blood pressure over time, so a person cannot have "occasional" high blood pressure. Most people do not feel that their blood pressure is high unless it is very high. So, the first thing to do if you think you are doing it is to measure it. If the value is high, then take it again after 5 minutes to validate it. The target value for a person without any other disease is 140/90. If your values are mostly above these figures, write them down in a notebook and consult your doctor in the next few weeks. A blood pressure above 180/110 requires immediate medical attention. On the other hand, it is important to know that many things in our lifestyle can be changed before thinking about medication. Here is an explanatory leaflet describing how to properly take your blood pressure and also what we can do in our habits to reduce pressure: http://www.hypertension.ca/images/2016_EducationalResources/2015_UnderstandingAndManagingYourBloodPressure_FR_P1000_PREVIEW.pdf

It is my pleasure,Sarah-Yan Chagnon, Pharmacist