Mom is refusing blood pressure meds. Any suggestions?

Your Mom has dementia? Any idea why she is refusing the meds? For example, is she paranoid and afraid someone is trying to poison her...is it difficult for her to swallow the pills... does she just forget to take them?

Sometimes understanding her "reasoning" can help you come up with a solution.

My mother did not take hers regularly ... a prescription would last 3 to 4 times as long as it should. Why, Mom? "Well no one takes pills when they are fine! If my ankles start to swell I'll take a pill. I don't see any reason to take a pill when nothing is wrong."

Sigh.

Each of us daughters could explain, the doctor could explain, and even if she seemed to understand the explanation while we were talking, she reverted back to the "don't fix it if it ain't broke" refusal.

Ultimately what worked is having someone responsible for giving her her pills. She does not now argue with nurse who comes around in the NH and says, "I have one pill for you now. This is to keep your ankles from swelling." It is just part of the routine of her day and she goes with the flow.

I hope you can figure out something that will help you. Does Mom live alone, or with you, or what?

Robert, any way of telling your Mom the pills are vitamin pills... even put them into a vitamin pill bottle. Elders usually don't refuse vitamins :)

I don't have any suggestions as to how to get her to take them other than having a doctor explain the justification to her. People often listen to doctors before listening to their family.

In the meantime, make sure her diet isn't a salty one and gradually cut foods that are from her diet. This is a general overview of naturally lowering BP naturally:

mayoclinic/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/in-depth/high-blood-pressure/art-20046974

This is a more technical article, but briefly addresses the roles of garlic, celery and some other foods:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3210006/

And another, with a more general description of foods that lower BP:

webmd/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/guide/hypertension-complementary-alternative-treatments

Note that fruits, veggies, whole grains, poultry, and nuts, among others, can lower BP, and these are easy to add to a diet regimen, especially since fruits and veggies are so plentiful in this season.

Perhaps you could even take her to a local farmer's market so she can select her own fruit; it would be a nice chance to get out. There's nothing like the fragrance of fresh fruits in the cool morning air in a farmer's market.