How would you convince someone you love to take their blood pressure meds?

canadianlbs

icemom011 wrote: »

I really would need to find a way to make it stick this time,

i was thinking mostly about finding a way for the two of you to have/continue a conversation while she is taking the meds. about what she feels, about how she feels about being on them . . . while she continues with taking the meds. and vice-versa, about how you feel when she's NOT taking them.

not like i'm an expert about relationships. but it seems like this is a dichotomy that's hugely built into your relationship; you're just not of the same mind about this issue. and it seems like most of the conversation so far might have been very results-based or goal-based; it's basically all about her either taking them, or 'getting' to not take them.

idk; definitely not a relationship expert. but i ahve had a few and i can remember times when i was hugely divergent from the party of the other part on something. weird thing was that now and then there would be situations/relationships where even though we were on opposite sides of some huge life-changing thing, we'd still find ourselves able to have 'just' conversations about them. not 'you should/i need you' to do whatever. just more like a 'huh. that's how you look at it? never thought of that, but i get it. meanwhile, here's how i look at it' thing. i guess a lot of that depends on how high the stakes are, and i do see how high they probably feel like they are about this.

leahcarnnachaos

I find it hard to get into the mindset of not taking the tablets but I have examples from both sides. A friend was diagnosed with high blood pressure and she decided that she would not take the tablets and instead would control it through weightloss and exercise - started jogging, lost weight and the last we spoke about it she was in the normal range with a new love for running (even went for a run on the morning of her wedding!).

On the other side, while I'm not a big fan of just taking tablets without changing lifestyle, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure earlier this year but I wanted to take the tablets straight away as, due to my family history, I wanted to get my blood pressure down as quickly as possible. I'm 48 and my sister is two years older than me and had a stroke 4 years ago and there's also a family history of heart disease.

Once I knew how high my blood pressure was (I'm in the UK - the GP practise nurse took my blood pressure, left the room without explanation and booked me an emergency appointment with a GP so that he could sort out the prescription! There was a weekend between this and the GP appointment so she also told me that until then if I felt in anyway dizzy I should go to A&E - all of which really helped me stay calm!!).

So I'm on the tablets but also on here working on health eating, exercising and losing weight as a lifestyle change. I get the blood pressure checked regularly and as I lose weight and get fitter I hope to lose the tablets but would rather take them than have a stroke or a heart attack. On the flip side, my sister has mostly recovered from the stroke, still gets severe headaches, and absolutely refuses to change her eating habits, lifestyle or lose weight even though they directly contributed to her having a stroke at 46. She's larger now than she was before the stroke. I've expressed concern gently, offered to help where I can but she's really not interested in changing anything, has actually said that she doesn't see why she should have to! As with most things, you can only do so much, the other person has got to want to do it as well (for whatever reason they find that motivates them). Haven't found that with my sister yet but that doesn't mean I've given up looking...

ninerbuff

Lol, when my dad stop taking his for awhile, my mom had him signing a life insurance policy with a higher amount.
He's back on.

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