High Blood Pressure is Often Referred to as The "Silent Killer"

My dad (87 yrs. old) was air-lifted to a hospital 3 weeks ago due to his High Blood Pressure. Dad has always had high blood pressure and he was actually very good about taking his BP medicine. (or so I thought) 3 years ago dad decided that he no longer needed his medications and the 'silent killer' almost killed him. I could give you the statistics concerning the # of deaths per year from high blood pressure. I could give you a list of causes and also a list of symptoms and things to watch out for. High Blood pressure leads to heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease etc. If you're reading this, chances are pretty good you are already familiar with all the statistics out there. I'm choosing to take the sentimental, humanistic, side of this killer. My dad ended up having a Thoracic aortic aneurysm. When he went to the local hospital his BP was 225/?? and the aneurysm was around 9 centimeters. 6 centimeters is commonly what size the aneurysm is when they perform surgery so this was extremely life threatening. An aneurysm, in laymen terms, is a big bulge or a balloon in your aorta. There are Thoracic, Abdominal, and Brain aneurysms. The Thoracic and Brain aneurysms can burst at any time. Once again, I could get all technical and explain what happens. Suffice it to say, my dad had to have a stint put in to go through the bulge and give him an even, steady blood flow. When we checked out of the hospital (the whole saga was a nightmare) they gave me all the paperwork and the 4 prescriptions that I needed to get filled. When I went to get them filled I was in shock! $500+. Dad and I both live in RV's and dad is on a fixed income. He didn't have a primary physician where we stay for the winter so that was my first step. I told the Dr. that I knew that he needed the prescriptions but not to the tune of $500 a month. The Dr. did her fancy work and Generic products that do the same thing will run around $70. I do quite a bit of searching on the internet and most of my searches are health related. I'm amazed when I see all the natural remedies that are out there for literally EVERY health issue that one might have. The side effects from many of the prescribed medicines we take are often worse than what we're trying to actually treat and the cost of these drugs is exorbitant. I'm astounded when I see all the commercials about this or that drug. You won't have high blood pressure anymore but... you may develop blood clots, have diarrhea, shortness of breath, depression, and on and on. Dad didn't realize that this health issue was so serious. Truthfully, I didn't realize it either. If my dad had taken his medication, perhaps this fiasco could have been avoided. Folks don't even know they have an aneurysm unless for some reason, they need a CT scan. PLEASE-get your blood pressure checked on a regular basis and if you find out that you do have high BP, PLEASE DO NOT ignore it. It's called the 'silent killer' for a reason. High Blood Pressure is usually not detected and it does indeed kill.