Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Strokes Waiting to Happen

Four patients over the course of a twelve hour shift last night with blood pressures in the 200s over 100s.

All of them were diagnosed with hypertension, and none of them were taking their meds. Two had diabetes, three were obese. Individually, these are all major risk factors, but when combined they put you at an increased risk for a wide range of bad outcomes.

Another one of my patients was a teenager who had already experienced a CVA.

I know from personal experience how difficult, annoying, and expensive taking daily prescriptions can be. Recovering from a stroke would be worse. Please, especially if you have high blood pressure, take your meds!

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