My Mom is 64 yrs. old. She’s a little Filipino lady about 5ft 120lbs & she wasn’t feeling well, so she went to an Urgent Care, even though she didn’t want to since she has no health insurance. Her blood pressure was very high 195/100 & they prescribed metoprolol, but she said she hasn’t been to a doctor since she had my sister, which was about 30 years ago. She turns 65 next month & will have MediCare, so I figured now I can make her an dr. appt.
I tried to make an appt. for her to see a doctor where I go, but she told me to cancel the appt. because she said she is scared they will want to take blood & that they will tell her she is dying or something. She is so stubborn, I don’t know what to do, I mean she is my mother & I feel like I need to take care of her, but she doesn’t want my help. She is always moody & she won’t admit when she isn’t feeling well, but we can tell because she becomes snappy at everyone about every little thing & has a bad temper. The medication the Urgent Care prescribed obviously isn’t working because when she checks her blood pressure it is still very high. She says it’s because of work, but she only works 2 days a week at CVS stocking Hallmark cards & as a checker. Do you believe high blood pressure is mostly stress & work related? What causes high blood pressure & what are the symptoms I should look for to be able to tell if she is getting better or worse?
Have a look at this website:
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/high_blood_pressure/page2_em.htm
That reading is high but can probably be controlled very well with medication. So she really needs to see a doctor. If what she is already taking is not working after a few weeks then she probably needs to go on to something else or maybe increase the dose. The nightmare scenario is she could get a stroke – I would exhort you strongly to find some way to make her get proper medical attention to solve this. She may be suffering from headaches, dizzy spells, bad dreams at night, exhaustion and of course she is snappy and moody. One other suggestion is to buy a battery operated machine to measure her Blood Pressure several times per day for while and see how it fluctuates up and down and also it is out of the ‘stressful environment’ of the medical profession.
Good Luck to you and every success.
4 comments ↓
Blood pressure that is consistently 140/90 or above is considered high. Your mother needs to be evaluated and regularly monitored (at least for a time,) by a physician to find the underlying cause. This can be anything from advancing age and too much sodium/salt in her diet to cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, etc.
If the underlying cause is one of the more serious and it is left untreated, it can lead to heart attack or stroke. Continue to insist she makes (and keeps.) that appointment.
References :
Have a look at this website:
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/high_blood_pressure/page2_em.htm
That reading is high but can probably be controlled very well with medication. So she really needs to see a doctor. If what she is already taking is not working after a few weeks then she probably needs to go on to something else or maybe increase the dose. The nightmare scenario is she could get a stroke – I would exhort you strongly to find some way to make her get proper medical attention to solve this. She may be suffering from headaches, dizzy spells, bad dreams at night, exhaustion and of course she is snappy and moody. One other suggestion is to buy a battery operated machine to measure her Blood Pressure several times per day for while and see how it fluctuates up and down and also it is out of the ‘stressful environment’ of the medical profession.
Good Luck to you and every success.
References :
There are a number of systems the body uses to control blood pressure and raise if it should fall (as, for example, from dehydration or bleeding).
The disease, high blood pressure comes from.
1) a derangement in any of the half dozen body’s BP control systems due to age
2) any of several disease whose effects are rise in BP
3) stiffening of the blood vessels with age (normal blood vessels stretch a little to absorb the energy of the heart beat, but with age this flexibility is lessened resulting in stiffer vessels and higher BP)
4) excess salt in the diet
5) use of alcohol, decongestants, motrin/advil/ibuprofen/aleve like medications
Discussion…
Each medication of high BP is geared toward blocking one control mechanism or aspect of BP control so if her body is making the high BP one way and the drug given is blocking another way, the chance for success is less than if the drug matched the exact cause of BP elevation. Unfortunately there is no test to say which medication is best. Metoprolol is a reasonable first try. Sometimes the dose just needs to be increased. It may take several steps before the right dose or medication is found. Some people take two or three meds together.
Recommendations…
Her BP is moderately elevated and needs to be treated to avoid weakening the heart from pumping against the high pressure and to prevent kidney damage and stroke. She should follow up with the doctor to make sure the high BP is not a symptom of another condition but this occurs only about 4% of the time. 96% of the time high BP is the only condition. There are many drugs now that are once a day, good, and just $4-5 for a month supply.
Symptoms…
There are no real symptoms of high blood pressure except perhaps a headache. That’s why it’s called the silent disease. Other symptoms, if they occur are from damage to the heart, brain or kidneys the high BP caused.
Good Luck.
References :
Is she overweight ? – loosing a few pound will improve the blood pressure but she needs to see a Dr.anyway. If she has a high pressure job – this could be the cause of it. Some people are naturally hyper – she sounds like one of them.
Blood pressure should be taken several times over a couple of days to get a good average reading. It is normal to go up and down during the day depending on what she does.May be she has only White coat syndrome – that is high blood pressure in a Doctors office only – other wise it’s normal when she leaves the office.
Normal is under 130 – 85 at rest. 195 at rest is very high.
References :