Can you adjust your medication yourself?
While the initial prescription and basic adjustment of certain blood pressure medications should of course be handled by a doctor, at various points the possibility of patients adjusting their medication themselves is considered.
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 have been trained to recognize when a change in medication is necessary. For this, you receive clear instructions on the situations in which and how the medication intake or dose can be changed to reach the target values agreed with the doctor. And, most importantly, you must also feel confident that you can adjust the medication dose correctly if necessary.
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 is from Tensana – the leading app since 2011, helping hundreds of thousands of people 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 outpatient care, and has headed the specialist editorial team at Tensana since 2015. Thanks to her extensive additional qualifications as an emergency medical technician, first responder, and in various areas of therapy and emergency care, she provides well-founded, practical, and reliably verified information.
Author Sabine Croci is a qualified medical assistant with many years of experience in internal medicine and cardiology practices as well as outpatient care, and has headed the specialist editorial team at Tensana since 2015. Thanks to her extensive additional qualifications as an emergency medical technician, first responder, and in various areas of therapy and emergency care, she provides well-founded, practical, and reliably verified information.
We hope you found the article helpful. For good blood pressure control, it's important to take your medications correctly. Our app Tensana will gladly remind you when to take them.
It also keeps track of your medication supply and notifies you in time when you're running low. This feature is fully available in the free version as well. Get the free app now.
