Worried about my mom...any advice

[Love4Me]

I am getting more and more worried about my mother. She is 52 years young and has uncontrolled high blood pressure (avg = 165/100). She has been this way, it seems like forever (at least 15 years). Her doctor has her on fofinopril sodium and just took her off of indapamide (due to an allergic reaction). Her blood pressure seems to have no rhyme or reasoning to it. When she is stressed, sometimes it is high and sometimes it is low. When she is resting, sometimes it is high and sometimes it is low. She has been taking it 2-3 times a day for a week and keeping a record to take to her doctor on Wed.

Part of the reason I am so concerned about her is because of my grandfather's history with high blood pressure. He passed away at the age of 58 and they say it was due to his uncontrolled blood pressure. I do not want this to happen to my mother, especially if there is something that she can do.

Her doctor seems pretty lazy about the situation. He has never really looked into the reason behind the bp (always chalked it up to stress). I have asked her to bug him about doing some testing. She has agreed to start taking it more seriously.

What I am asking of you nurses out there is this: please send me any advice or suggestions that could get my mom asking the doctor good questions to get him to start doing some REAL testing.

Thank you all so much for taking the time.

[LesJenRN]

Well my mother had her appointment yesterday. The doctor told her that her blood test results had come back "somewhat abnormal", but that he won't discuss the results with her because the lab seems to get a lot of "false abnormal test results". He wouldn't even look at the chart that she has been keeping of her blood pressure. He told her that she shouldn't be asking for a referral to a cardiologist because "it is too soon for something that serious". He had the nerve to ask her if hypertension ran in her family, as though she hasn't been his patient for 20 something years. She reminded him that her father died of a heart attach at 58 (just 5 years older than her). He said "well there you have it, the cause of it is hereditary". Then when she told him she was afraid, and doesn't want to die prematurely, like her father did, he just told her not to worry about it that he was a man and she is a woman. That she has many years left in her. He ended the visit by telling her instead of taking her regular one dose of meds in the evening, to double up and take one in the morning and one in the evening. Needless to say, my mom left the appointment and came to my house weeping.

I am ready to call the doc. and remind him that he is there to service/help his patients. I want to demand that he give her a referral to a cardiologist or she is going to change to a new doctor who might actually be willing to help her.

Where should we go from here. Any input you guys have is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

This guy is completely incompetent. I suggestjshe change docs asap and you may want to ask her if you can accompany her to another appointment. He forgot to mention to your mother that heart disease is the number 1 killer of women and the most undiagnosed among women. She has the right to see her lab results....come on, there are too many errors in labs??? Hello?! Is this guy older than dirt by any chance?????? Change doctors asap!

[LeesieBug]

I AGREE!!!!! She definitely needs a new doctor. Reading this has made me so ANGRY that MY blood pressure is probably through the roof!

My father had a stroke at age 53, and now has CHF (age 60) due to untreated hypertension. Like my father, my blood pressure suddenly shot sky high when I hit 31! After seeing what happened to him, I take this VERY seriously. Luckily my doctor understands the importance of keeping BP under control. She gave me a THOROUGH once over to rule out potential causes ( thyroid, diabetes, kidney probs. etc.). I now maintain my diet and exercise, and after some experimentation with different drugs have found lisinopril HCTZ to be extremely effective.

Good luck. Don't give up until she finds a doctor who takes this seriously.

[rn-jane]

I totally agree get a new doc, seems he's not up to speed with his patient. She needs to see a cardiologist. Good luck, keep us updated.