Can you adjust your medication yourself?
While the initial prescription and the basic setup of specific blood pressure medicines should of course be done by a doctor, some patients consider adjusting their medication themselves in certain situations.
However, some conditions must be met and the procedure agreed with the doctor must be followed. The basis is regular monitoring and documenting your own blood pressure readings at home. For this you can use, for example, the Blutdruckdaten-app to enter the measured values. The resulting trend curve makes it very easy to see when values are outside your personal "normal" range. To then adjust the medication yourself, you need very good knowledge about the dosages of your medicines. You must be trained to recognize when a change in medication is necessary. You should receive a clear instruction on in which situations to change the medication or the dose to reach the target values agreed with the doctor. And, most importantly, you must trust yourself to adjust the dose correctly if needed.
As a rule, blood pressure medicines should be taken at the times and in the doses prescribed by the doctor. As is well known, starting a new medication or changing an existing one always takes some time to show its effects. The body does not react immediately to a single tablet; it needs time to absorb the active ingredient and adjust. In addition, many active substances build up to a certain level in the body at which they are effective. A change or initiation of therapy can therefore take up to four weeks before the desired effect appears.
This basic adjustment of the medication must be carried out by the treating physician. Under certain conditions, however, some patients may be able to adjust their medication themselves within specific guidelines set by the doctor based on their measured values.
Sources:
- https://www.leitlinien.de/themen/hypertonie/version-1/kapitel-5#5.5-selbstmanagement
- https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2819951
- https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2818560
- https://www.apotheken-umschau.de/podcast/episode/ne-dosis-wissen-der-medizin-podcast-fuer-menschen-im-gesundheitswesen/sollten-patient-innen-ihren-blutdruck-selbst-einstellen-1121063.html
- https://www.pharmazeutische-zeitung.de/koennen-patienten-ihre-arzneimittel-selbst-anpassen-147531/
This article comes from BloodPressureDB – the leading app since 2011 that helps hundreds of thousands monitor their blood pressure every day.
Our content is based on carefully researched, evidence-based data and is continuously updated (as of 12/2025).
Author Sabine Croci is a qualified medical assistant with many years of experience in internal medicine and cardiology practices as well as in outpatient care, and has led BloodPressureDB's specialist editorial team since 2015. Thanks to her extensive additional qualifications as a paramedic, first responder and in various therapy and emergency areas, she provides solid, practical and reliably reviewed information.
Author Sabine Croci is a qualified medical assistant with many years of experience in internal medicine and cardiology practices as well as in outpatient care, and has led BloodPressureDB's specialist editorial team since 2015. Thanks to her extensive additional qualifications as a paramedic, first responder and in various therapy and emergency areas, she provides solid, practical and reliably reviewed information.
We hope you found the article helpful. For good blood pressure control, it's important to take your medications correctly. Our app BloodPressureDB will gladly remind you when to take them.
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