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My Dad's High blood pressure & Drink. Please help!
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I'm concerned about my Dad because he has high blood pressure... he's been on tablets for it for a few years, then this year they stopped working; they tried him on different tablets and they haven't worked either... so now he's on his third set of meds to try and help it...
Hypertension runs through my family; his mum has high blood pressure too and has been on tablets for years... and his dad died aged 63 from a heart attack. :yeees:
The thing is... I know my dad is terrified of dying young like his dad, but he's sort of gone into some kind of denile about what he's doing to his body.
He doesn't smoke; but he regularly goes out into really smokey atomospheres (maybe 3 times a week... possibly more) - it stinks enough to smell it on him from a couple of meters away when he gets back home.
He cooks low salt at home, but he often eats out (also eating hot and spicey food which he shouldn't be doing either cos he's just had throat surgery and it's bad for him :rolleyes: )
He also drinks too much... and I suspect he has a drink problem but he gets all defensive when the subject is brought up, and basically refuses to even try giving up for his health's sake.
Also, while I'm glad he has a great social life, he does still stay out until the early hours of the morning a couple of nights a week and he's 56 years old, which maybe means he's not got the same stamina as a younger guy... and I don't think that helps. He has a habit of falling asleep at his computer desk and snoring the house down. Plus he's sometimes on-call cos he works at a hospital so he regularly has disturbed nights sleep. So I don't think he's getting near enough sleep either.
He's also got it into his head that because the hypertension is a hereditary thing, changing his lifestyle won't help at all... so he won't bother trying. :banghead:
I really don't know what to do... cos if he carries on like this then it won't be long until his heart suffers from it and I'm Dad-less.
Does anyone have any bright ideas how I can persuade him that he needs to think of making some changes in his life...
And also how I could possibly broach the subject of his drinking habbits without him feeling I'm on his case?
I'm beginning to think I'll have to resort to using scare tactics, but I don't want to upset him.
Hypertension runs through my family; his mum has high blood pressure too and has been on tablets for years... and his dad died aged 63 from a heart attack. :yeees:
The thing is... I know my dad is terrified of dying young like his dad, but he's sort of gone into some kind of denile about what he's doing to his body.
He doesn't smoke; but he regularly goes out into really smokey atomospheres (maybe 3 times a week... possibly more) - it stinks enough to smell it on him from a couple of meters away when he gets back home.
He cooks low salt at home, but he often eats out (also eating hot and spicey food which he shouldn't be doing either cos he's just had throat surgery and it's bad for him :rolleyes: )
He also drinks too much... and I suspect he has a drink problem but he gets all defensive when the subject is brought up, and basically refuses to even try giving up for his health's sake.
Also, while I'm glad he has a great social life, he does still stay out until the early hours of the morning a couple of nights a week and he's 56 years old, which maybe means he's not got the same stamina as a younger guy... and I don't think that helps. He has a habit of falling asleep at his computer desk and snoring the house down. Plus he's sometimes on-call cos he works at a hospital so he regularly has disturbed nights sleep. So I don't think he's getting near enough sleep either.
He's also got it into his head that because the hypertension is a hereditary thing, changing his lifestyle won't help at all... so he won't bother trying. :banghead:
I really don't know what to do... cos if he carries on like this then it won't be long until his heart suffers from it and I'm Dad-less.
Does anyone have any bright ideas how I can persuade him that he needs to think of making some changes in his life...
And also how I could possibly broach the subject of his drinking habbits without him feeling I'm on his case?
I'm beginning to think I'll have to resort to using scare tactics, but I don't want to upset him.
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Comments
http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/herbsvitaminsek/a/Hypertension.htm
Smoking ban comes in soon enough so I'm sure he'll be hanging around less smokey places soon.
He does eat a lot of garlic anyway actually.
http://www.springboard4health.com/notebook/herbs_hawthorne.html
Hawthorne is an excellent cardiotonic
It functions by peripheral vasodilation; very mild dilation of coronary vessels; increased enzyme metabolism in the heart muscle; and increased oxygen utilization by the heart.
A noted expert in the area maintains that hawthorn drugs are characterized by three basic healing properties which complement one another:
1. Improvement of coronary blood supply which leads to a decreased frequency of anginal attacks and of subjective complaints.
2. Improvement of the metabolic processes in the myocardium, which results in an improvement of functional heart activity.
3. Abolition of some types of rhythm disturbances.
Yes, but they actually work on most people... they've completly stopped working on my dad, it seems... which is why I reckon he could do with at least trying cutting stuff like alcohol out... Obviously I don't want him to completly change his life so he can no longer enjoy it.
I have tried talking to him... many times... It's just I'm always at a bit of a loss as to what to say. It's difficult to begin the conversation, and then I don't feel like he listens at all. :yeees:
I had another attempt this morning but he started doing something else while I was talking to him. :rolleyes:
Ho hum... least I try.
How so?