Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Blood Pressure Medication

By Owen Jones


If you are suffering from high blood pressure, otherwise known as hypertension, and you failed to control it by making lifestyle alterations, then you will probably be taking blood pressure medication. This medication is important to hold the 'Silent Killer' at bay. Therefore, it is equally important to take the tablets on a regular basis, because otherwise your blood pressure will begin to increase fairly rapidly even within twenty-four hours of missing taking the blood pressure medication.

So, how do you make sure that you bear in mind to take the tablets as prescribed by your physician? It can become difficult for those people who have a bad memory, a busy lifestyle or numerous tablets to take. Some people purchase pill boxes with the numbers one to thirty-one on different compartments, so that they can see whether they have missed a day. This is a good concept which works for most people.

Others keep their medication on the shelf in the bathroom next to their toothbrush, so that they cannot help seeing their blood pressure medication. It is also a good idea to get into the routine of taking your tablets at the same time each day.

However, some tablets ought to be taken with or right after eating food to minimize the chances of upsetting your stomach. So, if you brush you teeth after breakfast, all well and good. Otherwise, you could leave your pills where you usually eat your breakfast or evening meal, so that you can take them with or after food.

Regularity or routine is the best way of remembering to take your tablets. After even a short time, you will reach for them automatically like Pavlov's dogs when you take the action that triggers taking the tablets. I work from home and any tablets that I have to take, I keep by my computer so that I take them with coffee as soon as I start work.

This works if you work from home, yet it is not a useful concept to have one set of tablets on the go in your employer's office and another one at home. You ought to never double up on this type of tablets - it is normally better to miss a day than risk taking them twice if you are definitely not certain. Taking them late however is better than not taking them.

I do not have a pill box, so I simply jot the date the pill has to be taken on the back of the foil with a felt tip pen so that I can see easily where I am.

Attempt to associate taking your tablets with an action or make it a part of another action. For example, if you maintain a diary, make a point of putting a mark each day to show that you have taken your tablets and keep the tablets by the diary. If the strips of tablets are small, you can keep them with your money - literally in with your money, so that you see them a number of times a day.

If you use a computer every day, you can easily (very easily, honest) set up a daily reminder in Outlook or some other electronic organizer to inform you every day by pop-up to take your blood pressure medication.




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