My 86 year old mother suffers from high blood pressure. She

My 86 year old mother suffers from high blood pressure. She has been prescribed Enalapril, 20mg, which she takes twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.
Today she suffered a fainting spell, which has happened before occasionally. Her blood pressure dropped briefly to 80/50, but returned to a relatively normal 115/64, which is still lower than her average recent blood pressure that tends to be about 135/75. Should she continue to take her regular regimen of Enalapril despite the lower pressure or is it okay for her to skip a dosage during those times?

Customer (name blocked for privacy)

Hello and Welcome,

I worked with geriatric patients for 15 years and saw this kind of thing happen all the time. Alot of times the doctor will give a higher dose than needs to be. But as being a nurse we were in charge of monitoring it, so we could report to the doctor if this would be the right dose or not.

This is what I would do.....I would take her blood pressure before giving the medication. If it is too low, do not give it to her. If you do not give it to her, wait until maybe after lunch and take it again, to make sure everything is ok. You really need to keep a log of blood pressures, the times you took it, and when you held the medication so the doctor can look at this. A log for about 2 weeks is sufficient.

This kind of thing causes alot of geriatric patients to fall and break hips, arms, legs, and alot of times once that happens, they don't have the will power to ever try to get up again. So before this happens, I think the medication needs to be adjusted. But be sure and keep the log

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Thank you,
Pam Russell RN

My 86 year old mother suffers from high blood pressure.

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