A Qualitative Study of Patient Perspectives about Hypertension

Table 5

Patient quotes about feelings and beliefs of wellness.

Theme	Quote
Feelings and beliefs	I: And how did you know it was going up and down?
	P: Well when I wasn’t feeling well I [—] checked it.. And when I was feeling okay I just didn’t check it. I just assumed it’s normal. [laughs] Not that much. But if I feel okay why would I worry about blood pressure?
	I: Right.
	P: That’s my feeling. (female, on target)
Feelings and beliefs	P: I find because my blood pressure I'm a bit tired.
	I: Or how can you tell?
	P: I feel it. (female, not on target)
Feelings and beliefs	I: Okay. So if you feel bad, do you assume it’s your blood pressure or you know when, when it’s high because you feel a certain way?
	P: Yeah. Yeah.
	I: Okay.
	P: You feel a certain way, you get flushed quite easily.
	P: And uh [—] just don’t, just don’t feel like doing anything.
	I: Okay.
	P: Don’t feel too energetic. (female, not on target)
Feelings and beliefs	P: Like if I eat KFC or something like that I know my blood pressure is up the next day, you know by midnight she’s up there right?
	I: Do you feel it or you just?
	P: Oh yeah.
	I: Oh, okay, what do you feel?
	P: [—] Sweaty. Like I can sleep [—] and I [—] like even with the window open tonight, I’ll still be sweating. (male, not on target)
Feelings and beliefs	P: I couldn’t back then because it was high all the time.
	I: You didn’t really know.
	P: I didn’t realize, but now I can tell the difference. I could tell when I retain water my hands swell [—] They get red, if my blood pressure is really high. So, yeah it’s really odd but yeah my hands get red, my feet swell, I can physically feel it.
	I: Going?
	P: Yeah.
	I: Okay. And do you feel any different if it’s [—] low? Or lower?
	P: Yeah. Like I don’t have any of those symptoms, I have no headaches, I don’t have any [—] you know, swelling or any of that kind of stuff. (female, not on target)
Feelings and beliefs	I: Can you feel a difference when it’s low versus high?
	P: Yes.
	I: Can you tell me how?
	P: Um I have more energy, definitely a lot more energy. That’s probably the biggest. (female, on target)
Natural remedies	Well after um [—] probably a year and a half I realized that natural remedies don’t work and um [—] I made an appointment with my doctor. Well we went through a different process. (female, on target)