Paul, of course you should follow your doctor's advice.
My wife has had great success with a home blood pressure machine, using it as bio-feedback. Once a day, she takes her blood pressure and, if it's high, she uses a variety of non-medical methods to try to get it lower, right then and there, taking her blood pressure several times in a row and usually watching it come down.
If you haven't tried this or other forms of biofeedback, I recommend that you do, with your doctor's permission, of course. My wife's doctor suggested blood pressure medicine, my wife told me, I made the suggestion to work on it before going with a pill, and the doctor was all in favor of our alternative approach.
I also highly recommend adding a "soft" practice to your life if you don't have one already - even more than one soft practice. E.g., meditation, yoga, tai chi. Get a massage, see a chiropractor, even something as simple as taking a longer hot shower. My wife practices Buteyko breathing under my guidance and this has helped her as well.
=S=