Honestly, the pills will help while you are trying to get everything under control. An AD with Topomax added worked wonders for me. In fact I'm still on the Topomax and I won't let my P-doc take me off because I am convinced that's the only reason I'm not B/P anymore. It's been about a year since I've had an episode of that. At the time I went on it I was B/P about 6-7 times a day. I was ready to go inpatient and ready to try ANYTHING. Hope this helps.