My Story: John and hypertension

John battled hypertension for as long as he could remember but it really became important after suffering a heart attack. Follow John's story and how he manages his health today.

Transcript

00:00

For upwards of 30 years, I commuted from central Jersey into New York City.

00:06

That can raise your blood pressure going in and out of New York City every day.

00:14

So I worked basically down on Wall Street with the big banks. A lot of Fortune 500 companies, and that sort of thing.

00:22

I've been battling hypertension for as long as I could remember. Any time I went to the doctor, the dentist

00:29

just did it on my own. It was always slightly high. No one really seemed to give it much bother,

00:35

however, back in 2011, I suffered a heart attack. In 2012, I had surgery.

00:43

I had open heart surgery. From that point on, my blood pressure seemed to really given me a problem.

00:49

One day, I'm an athlete. I'm in my early 50s, actually, and I'm playing sports.

00:57

I'm out there, you know, running, swimming, playing golf, doing everything that I normally do.

01:03

Doctors told me that it was more hereditary than anything else. It wasn't really my lifestyle. So that really put a-- you know, a scare into me.

01:12

Just recently, I've gone on medication, and I'm on three separate medications for my blood pressure to try to keep it under control.

01:19

My doctor has talked to me about something, which I'm I'm really very excited about. Because I'm over 65 right now, I'm on Medicare,

01:27

and they've approved a program, where I can have an app on my phone and wear

01:34

a device on my wrist that will monitor my bodily functions, basically. My heartbeat, my blood pressure, so this is really exciting,

01:43

and I am very eager to start doing that. [MUSIC PLAYING]