{"id":445340,"date":"2026-05-12T18:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T18:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/445340\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T18:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T18:00:08","slug":"womans-heartfelt-plea-for-kilkenny-people-to-get-checked-for-silent-killer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/445340\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman’s heartfelt plea for Kilkenny people to get checked for ‘silent killer’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A woman diagnosed with high blood pressure has urged everyone in Kilkenny<\/a> to get theirs checked after research found the \u2018silent killer\u2019 is not being properly diagnosed or treated among the over-50s.
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Rebecca Fitzsimons, 71, told how despite being generally well, she was diagnosed with the condition, which increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, dementia and some forms of blindness.
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\u201cI had nothing. I didn\u2019t even get a headache, and I\u2019m very active,\u201d said the retired French and English teacher from Clontarf in Dublin.<\/p>\n

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She was speaking as part of the \u2018Before Damage is Done\u2019 campaign, an Irish Heart Foundation initiative to drive public awareness about the dangers of high blood pressure \u2013 which often arises without any prior symptoms.
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Ms Fitzsimons said her initial borderline high blood pressure reading late last year was confirmed as high a month later by her GP.
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It prompted her to implement lifestyle changes which included losing weight, shifting to a Mediterranean-style diet, cutting out eating late at night, and improving her sleep habits, meaning her blood pressure has returned to normal.<\/p>\n

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She has also urged others to get their blood pressure checked.\u00a0
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“I don\u2019t want a sudden stroke and it\u2019s the silent killer,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I would be delighted if somebody could be alerted and they say, \u2018oh my God, maybe I should get that checked\u2019.\u00a0
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“You feel better about yourself when you\u2019re proactive, when you take action.”
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Trinity College Dublin research published earlier this year revealed \u2018substantial and persistent gaps\u2019 in the diagnosis and management of high blood pressure among the over-50s in Ireland.<\/p>\n

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It found that 62% of adults aged 50+ with high blood pressure were not appropriately managed, meaning they were undiagnosed, untreated, or treated but not controlled (equateing to approximately 445,000 people nationwide).
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\u201cThere is often no single cause of high blood pressure,\u201d said Janis Morrissey, Director of Health Promotion at the Irish Heart Foundation.\u00a0
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\u201cA number of factors combine to raise it, and high blood pressure can run in families.\u00a0But you won\u2019t know you have it unless you get it checked.
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\u201cIf you are diagnosed, it means that your blood pressure is consistently higher than it should be. For most people, high blood pressure is 140\/90 or more.\u00a0
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\u201cThis measurement will be lower if you have other conditions like diabetes or kidney disease or if you\u2019ve had a stroke or already have heart disease. Knowing your blood pressure is key. Once detected, it is easily treated.
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\u201cYour doctor may advise lifestyle changes but there are times too when they will recommend medication.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dr David McConaghy, Irish College of GPs\/HSE Integrated Care Lead for Prevention said that this campaign aims to raise awareness about the silent symptoms and risks of high blood pressure.<\/p>\n

“The Irish College of GPs encourages people to get their blood pressure checked and learn more about how to manage their blood pressure before damage is done,” he added.
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Susan O\u2019Dwyer MPSI, Head of Professional Services at the Irish Pharmacy Union noted that local pharmacies nationwide offer blood pressure testing and many also offer\u00a024-hour blood pressure\u202fmonitoring.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We fully support this\u00a0campaign and continue to encourage people to call to their local pharmacy to get their blood\u202fpressure checked,” she said.<\/p>\n

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ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman diagnosed with high blood pressure has urged everyone in Kilkenny to get theirs checked after research…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[103,61,60,12969],"class_list":["post-445340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kilkenny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}