Healthy hearts

Skipping blood pressure meds can prove deadly

By The Columbus Dispatch  • 

Steve Sutton never cared much for taking his blood-pressure medication. It was dehydrating and made for a lot of trips to the bathroom at night.

During the day, it gave him headaches. He’d also noticed that his blood pressure would drop for several hours after a workout and suspected he could, if he tried hard enough, control his blood pressure without daily pills.

That’s why he left the medication behind during a weeklong cycling trip in 2012. And when Sutton got home to Galena, he felt fine, so he didn’t start taking the medication again.

But within weeks, he lost his vision twice in one day. Doctors told Sutton, 56, that he had suffered mini-strokes when capillaries in part of his brain collapsed.

Now, he’s an evangelist for knowing your blood pressure and taking medication when prescribed.

“The doctor was pretty clear. He said, ‘Those were strokes. They were just short, and you’re lucky,’ ” said Sutton, who had no lasting damage.

Despite their potential to stop death and disability, blood-pressure medications often receive a halfhearted response from people who could benefit. Some patients take them irregularly; others skip them entirely.

Both could mean trouble, said Dr. Elizabeth Rave, a nephrologist at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital.

A major challenge is the quiet nature of high blood pressure. It’s not painful or otherwise troublesome until a crisis occurs, Rave said. “Blood pressure in general is considered the silent killer.”

High blood pressure can lead to heart failure, stroke and kidney failure.

Blood-pressure drugs, on the other hand, often trigger side effects including dry mouth, fatigue, sexual dysfunction and cramping.

A 2009 study published in the journal Circulation found only modest benefit from various efforts to boost medication compliance. The researchers referenced another study that found that about half of patients prescribed blood-pressure medications stopped taking them within a year. The researchers encourage broader recognition of the problem and better strategies to encourage patients to take their pills.

Rave said she urges patients to be honest about whether they take their pills and, if they aren’t , to say why.

“I want to know why so that I can provide an alternative,” she said.

Sometimes, the reason is the side effects, which can be managed or eliminated with a medication switch. Sometimes, it’s the cost. And sometimes, patients just forget.

Sutton said people with high blood pressure need to understand the importance of maintaining healthy numbers, even if that means taking one or more medications a day.

He takes two a day now and never skips a dose. “Everything is just beautiful. All my numbers are back in line,” Sutton said.