Do you suffer from hypertension?

September 16, 2009 5:14 PM

Do you suffer from hypertension? Help me help other people!

I'm preparing a small educational brochure on hypertension (high blood pressure) for a clinic I volunteer at. The primary aim is improve compliance with medication, but there's never anything wrong with honest education to other ends.

So I'd really, really appreciate answers to any of the following:

1) Are there any issues surrounding hypertension that either have confused you in the past, or continue to confuse you? What do you wish that somebody had explained earlier?

2) Have you ever had problems taking your anti-hypertensives as prescribed? If so, why? What kind of problems did you have? Is there anything that your doctor or clinic could have done to help?

3) What's a good way to ask questions about medication compliance? Even asking about it reeks of judgment, and seems to provoke defensiveness. Any suggestions for asking these kind of questions of other people?

posted by nathan v to health & fitness (6 comments total)

Side effects from medication are the number one reason people stop a medication without their doctor's OK. So I'd focus on that. BP meds can have weird side effects, and after a while sometimes they go away, but often they don't. Things like dizziness can be disorienting and disturbing. A list of "emergency" symptoms would be good, too.

People don't understand how BP meds work, so it'd be interesting to explain a little about that.

The potassium thing is confusing to some people.

The NHLBI has good material on this. I suggest you look there and see how they phrase it.
posted by FergieBelle at 5:53 PM on September 16

PS Another thought--it's sort of passe to say you "suffer" from a particular disease or condition. So I'd stay away from lingo like that. Again, check the NHLBI for good material. You can use the material from US government publications as you wish since there's no copyright.
posted by FergieBelle at 5:55 PM on September 16

1) Are there any issues surrounding hypertension that either have confused you in the past, or continue to confuse you? What do you wish that somebody had explained earlier?
Truthfully, I have never had a doctor properly explain to me what hypertension was. I was diagnosed at an early age (26), and immediately put on medication. Any understanding was gleaned from what I could get off the web, as I have always been intimidated by doctors and office visits. I truly only have a cursory understanding of blood pressure, hdl, and triglycerides. Its scary stuff to a new patient.

2) Have you ever had problems taking your anti-hypertensives as prescribed? If so, why? What kind of problems did you have? Is there anything that your doctor or clinic could have done to help?
I have to tip my hat to FergieBelle on this one. Not knowing clearly what the side-effects are, and a nervousness about appearing hypochondrial when reporting side-effects serve as a large blocking for newly diagnosed hypertension-ers. Its more a fear of missing other meds that I have had problems with that have kept me committed to my routine.

3) What's a good way to ask questions about medication compliance? Even asking about it reeks of judgment, and seems to provoke defensiveness. Any suggestions for asking these kind of questions of other people?
I think being honest is a big step. I wish someone earlier on had looked me in the eye and said, "These are some big lifestyle changes. Sometimes people have trouble keeping on track with the commitment that it takes. Can we talk about what some people have trouble with?" and then broach the subjects that have come up: side effects, medical compliance, exercise routine, dietary compliance, etc.

I wish you luck with your endeavour. I know that I would have benefit from someone who cares enough to ask!
posted by Draccy at 7:44 PM on September 16

I was seriously freaked out when my hypertension diagnosis came by way of my (former, and incredibly awesome) ophthalmologist, who found evidence of very early hypertensive retinopathy during a routine check.

There is nothing in the world like "oh, yeah, and your retinas are incurring injury as long as your blood pressure remains uncontrolled-- but that can all be reversed entirely with medication" to get you to take your meds (ACE inhibitor, in my case, and the one that's best for retinal patients). I am the most compliant person I know.

"Possible eye damage" and "could be diagnosed by your eye doc" are probably things most people don't think about.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 7:47 PM on September 16

I think that the most important thing to tell people is that hypertension has no overt symptoms. You don't feel better or worse for it, but it can/will damage parts of the body. Hence hypertension is called the "silent killer."

With no overt symptoms of hypertension, comes the real problem. That is when the patient starts taking medication, there may be some side effects.

The combination of these two phenomena results in the patient thinking that they can go off their hypertension medications. They can't!
posted by mbarryf at 5:58 AM on September 17

That you don't have to be middle-aged or overweight or eating at McDonald's every day to have hypertension.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 7:13 AM on September 17