Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Amlodipine Medication and My Stupidity

By B. Gregory Sloan


When we found ourselves in the stage of life where we began rearing small kids, our 3 weren't allowed to utter the major "S" word. No sir, the big "S" word was not allowed in our home. Our little ones were not permitted to call each other or anyone else-"stupid." I know, you might just think that there are a lot of egregious types of words that ought to be banned in a family before that particular one, and there were, but "stupid" was certainly one that wasn't tolerated.

So, that's one reason that I got to thinking about that particular word in terms of my own lifestyle and discipline routines a few days ago. At the ripe young age of 54, there are a few prescribed medicines that I have to take as needed. That being said, the very most important one, the one that I am actually instructed to take daily, is the one in which I am the most likely to neglect. The medication is called Amlodipine, which is quite commonly given for high blood pressure(hypertension) .

Here's the deal. My level of high blood pressure is not very high, or in the typical "danger zone," nevertheless, for the "Silent Killer' that we know hypertension to be, it's nothing short of "stupid" for a guy like me to fail to place a very high priority on swallowing that tiny pill to make sure that my BP levels continue to be at a safe level. High blood pressure can certainly cause many terrible things, including stroke, heart attack, and more. We simply can't ignore those facts.

So, exactly why am I more apt to neglect the amlodipine than the other medications? Well, it's because those hypertension symptoms are not normally crying out. I have a small disc issue in my lower back for which I take medicine, and when it acts up, it truly lets me know about it. But, this is not actually so with my high blood pressure. It's quite a sneaky rascal. With many ailments, the symptoms are going to let you know that it is time for medication. But no, my hypertension doesn't tug on my coat sleeve and give me a reminder.

So, duh ... stupid me. How hard would it be to put a reminder on my cell phone or something like I would do for various other critical tasks? That way I will likely not forget that extremely important pill. It just isn't that difficult! But, it's really important.

So, okay, I continue to expect that my children do not call each other stupid. However, this is one occasion in which I suppose their daddy has certainly drifted into that classification on occasion. High blood pressure is very dangerous. Let's follow our doctors instructions and do the deal. Let's save our lives.




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