Got Hypertension? Why Blood Pressure Medications Stress Some People Out

Q. My father died of a heart attack. Now my husband has very high blood pressure (145/90). He's got what it takes to lower blood pressure -- a potent hypertension drug (Benicar) -- but he constantly "forgets" his pill, or lets the Rx run out, or says he's "fine." I swing from furious to frantic. How can I get him to take his meds?
-- Anonymous, via e-mail

A. If you've ever heard someone say, "My doctor's crazy," this is why. Every physician has had breakdowns over people who, like your husband, get prescriptions for life-threatening conditions, such as hypertension, but don't take them.

The problem's as old and big as Rockefeller Center: Fifty percent of people with chronic health problems act just like your husband. A fascinating study recently attempted to get a group of heart-attack survivors -- people you'd think would faithfully do anything -- to take their meds. As a motivator, they got their heart drugs free. No co-pays, nuttin'. While more people started out taking them, almost half didn't stick with it. (Aargh!) A year after their heart attacks, only one in 10 was consistently taking their meds. Sounds crazy, huh?

Unfortunately, your husband's "reasons" for not taking his Benicar are pretty typical. We bet that, if pressed, he'd sum them up in one sentence: "I don't want to take them." Why? Maybe he doesn't feel any different, which is normal with such "silent" conditions as high blood pressure. Maybe taking pills makes him feel old and sick, when he sees himself as young and strong. Or maybe he suspects an inaccurate BP reading (it happens), just doesn't believe it's as bad as the doc says (it is), or is afraid of side effects. Or, maybe he's just suspicious of prescription drugs. Some people are.

What to do? This:

1. Buy a home blood-pressure monitor and make a pact with your husband to check your BP together every day. Seeing his numbers and what happens when he takes the meds may do the trick. Plus, you'll get a good sense of what's going on with your own pressure. It's a great habit. Here's how to make sure your readings are right.
2. Ask your doc to have a 20-minute talk with your husband about the drug, alternatives, risks, benefits, and other options (e.g., diet, exercise, drinking pomegranate juice weekly after he gets his BP down. Way down. We'd like to see it at 115/75. Yours, too.
3. If those don't work, enlist an outsider: a second doc, a savvy nurse, a counselor, a relative, a good friend, an owner of an AK-45 . . . whoever has the power to appeal to his smarter side; someone he'll listen to, who maybe has been there but isn’t married to him.

Whatever you do, don't give up. Medications will shift his blood pressure from scary to healthy. He just needs you to help him see and believe that.

Ask the doc these 6 questions anytime you get an Rx for a new medication.