When I was 23 years old and had my first child, I realised I had high blood pressure. I thought high blood pressure was only for elderly people but now I know it can affect anyone. When I was born, my mother died with high blood pressure which runs in my family. My diagnosis has affected my family and I greatly.
During the pandemic I have been scared to go out so I have not gone out much at all. I am supposed to check my blood pressure every day and I would usually go to my local surgery and use their blood pressure monitoring device regularly. Since the pandemic started I have been unable to walk in to my local GP due to their restrictions so I don’t have access to a blood pressure monitoring device anymore.
It is difficult to get through to the doctor on the phone sometimes and I have had to cancel some of my appointments due to the pandemic. At the moment, I don’t know how my blood pressure is doing. It would give me a great sense of peace to be able to monitor my blood pressure from home. I think CheckUp Health is a great idea and it is really good to know that if my blood pressure went outside of safe parameters my GP would be notified. said Ayanda Mkhize, UK