I started taking bp medicines and they are making me feel miserable. i am more motivated than ever to improve my diet and lifestyle. do people get off medicines?

Yes.: Diet exercise and wt loss are the cornerstones of therapy. Medications should be stopped if those interventions are successful. If you are feeling terrible on current meds talk to your doctor... It is now 2012 and we have many very effective meds for hypertension that have few side effects. Try another.

Sometimes: Careful avoidance of smoking or alcohol , along with weight loss, regular exercise, and a low salt diet could help with your BP and in soe cases allow you to come off meds. If still not enough, most studies suggest that careful trial and error approaches ought to lead to successful tolerance of some BP med.

Absolutely: Eat more organic fruit and vegetables. Cut back on or avoid dairy. Eat at most 3-4 oz meat with each meal. Drink lots of water. Consider magnesium supplements. Exercise.