It's hard to take those lifelong medications everyday.....

Chronic diseases such as high blood pressure (hypertension) and diabetes cannot be cured by taking drugs on a short-term basis unlike bacterial infections for which antibiotics are curative.

It is both interesting and at times rather frightening to see how these patients take their drugs, especially so when they have been prescribed with more than one drugs or those drugs that require to be taken three times a day like some of the antihypertensives and antidiabetics. Moreover some of the drugs have troubling side effects which need to be dealt with.

As they have to come to see their doctor at the clinic regularly these patients who do not take their medications regularly or as instructed would display some "manipulative behaviors" with the objective of pulling wool over the doctor's eyes. Some have not taken the medication for days but a few days before their appointment they would take the drugs so their blood pressure would appear normal and the doctor very happy... a few were caught because they think by taking the drug a few hours before seeing the doctor, their blood pressure would appear low but they did not take the day before, little do they realise that it takes time for the drug to act on the body to reduce the blood pressure!

These poor patients are only cheating themselves... these are the people who are likely to suffer from stroke and subsequent half body weakness (hemiplegia).

Some more "bizarre" medication-taking habits will be shared in later posting.