From the Guidelines
To effectively manage your high blood pressure, it is essential that you take your prescribed medications regularly and as directed by your healthcare provider. Missing doses can lead to uncontrolled blood pressure, increasing your risk of serious complications like heart attack, stroke, and kidney damage 1. Common blood pressure medications include ACE inhibitors (like lisinopril), ARBs (such as losartan), calcium channel blockers (like amlodipine), and diuretics (such as hydrochlorothiazide).
Strategies for Improving Adherence
Some strategies to improve medication adherence include:
- Setting daily reminders on your phone
- Using a pill organizer
- Linking medication-taking to an established daily routine like brushing your teeth If you're experiencing side effects, don't stop taking your medication—instead, discuss these concerns with your doctor who can adjust your dosage or switch to an alternative medication 1.
Lifestyle Changes
Alongside medication, adopting lifestyle changes is crucial for better control of your blood pressure and potentially reducing your medication needs over time. These changes include:
- Reducing salt intake
- Exercising regularly
- Maintaining a healthy weight
- Limiting alcohol
- Managing stress It's also important to note that patient medication adherence assessment tools can be used to identify barriers and facilitate behaviors associated with improved adherence to antihypertensive medications 1.
Importance of Open Communication
Open and honest communication with your healthcare provider about your treatment and any challenges you face is vital. This includes discussing your expectations, experiences, and any dissatisfaction with your current treatment regimen, allowing for adjustments and improvements to be made 1.
From the FDA Drug Label
PATIENT COUNSELING INFORMATION NOTE: This information is intended to aid in the safe and effective use of this medication. Tell patients to report light-headedness especially during the first few days of therapy If actual syncope occurs, tell the patient to discontinue the drug until they have consulted with the prescribing physician.
To manage high blood pressure, it is essential to take your medication as prescribed. Since you are noncompliant to medication, here are some key points to consider:
- Take your medication exactly as directed by your physician to control your blood pressure.
- Report any signs of low blood pressure, such as light-headedness, to your physician, especially during the first few days of therapy.
- If you experience syncope (fainting), stop taking the medication and consult your physician before resuming.
- Be aware of the potential risks of volume depletion, such as excessive perspiration, dehydration, vomiting, or diarrhea, which can lead to a fall in blood pressure. 2
From the Research
Importance of Medication Compliance
- High blood pressure is a global health problem that affects over one billion people worldwide, and long-term hypertension can lead to severe complications 3.
- Maintaining blood pressure within a normal range is essential, and ensuring patient compliance with medication is a critical aspect of patient care 3.
Common Causes of Noncompliance
- Forgetfulness of medicine and non-affordability are the most common causes of noncompliance with antihypertensive medication, accounting for 70.8% and 52.5% of cases, respectively 3.
- Other factors associated with noncompliance include employment, use of home remedies, age, experience of side effects, level of concern with missed doses, and cost 4.
Consequences of Noncompliance
- Noncompliance with antihypertensive medication can lead to loss of efficacy and withdrawal symptoms, particularly when stopping beta-blockers and centrally-acting antihypertensive drugs 5.
- Poor compliance can result in excessively high dose recommendations in clinical trials and decreased effectiveness of antihypertensive treatment 5, 4.
Strategies to Improve Compliance
- Using a fixed combination of antihypertensive medications, such as an ACE inhibitor and a calcium channel blocker, can increase compliance by reducing the number of pills taken by patients 6, 7.
- This combination has been shown to be effective in preventing myocardial infarction and total mortality, and is recommended as a first-choice therapy for hypertension 6, 7.