Prescribing blood pressure meds can be a “mud up against the wall” or a “the salesman gave me free samples of this” thing.  But new research in the American Journal of Hypertension showed that renin levels in your blood can help prescribe the right BP drug.  Patients with low-renin hypertension responded best to diuretics and calcium channel blockers, while those with high renin levels did best on ACE inhibitors, ARBs, and beta blockers.  Being on the wrong drug actually elevated blood pressure in some patients, so trial and error is not the way to go.  Most heart attacks and strokes happen between 3 am and 10 am, so take your prescription at night to block that early morning BP spike.  Take diuretics right after breakfast and if you take a second dose, take it before 4 pm to avoid nighttime bathroom trips.