[Anonymous]

I am starting to get really worried about my mum. She had a mini-stroke a couple of days ago and had to go into hospital. She had several stroke symptoms, e.g. her face looked a bit different on one side to the other, she wasn't thinking straight, and her blood pressure shot up. She is okay now, but my fears of her having another one (or potentially something more serious) are growing. She's also commented a couple of times in the past about part of her face feeling numb.

This is because my mum (aged 50) does not live a healthy lifestyle. She seldom exercises (even though she has gone on the odd run), she weighs about 15.5 stone (height 5'2") and she smokes a lot (though she has said she will give up). She seems to eat okay at home but she snacks and picks a lot (especially cakes at work), and she has been gaining a lot of weight over the past few years, especially since she had her gall bladder out 7 years ago (due to gall stones) - and she hardly changed her diet. I think she does encounter a bit of stress too.

I am worried that my mum is greatly underestimating the impact her lifestyle could be having on her, and that she thought the mini-stroke was a one off. Although she said she will give up smoking, I am sceptical of how long that will last, given that she never changed her nutritional habits enough to make a long-lasting impact after her gall bladder was taken out, and if I had £1 for every diet she went on that fell apart very soon afterwards, I would be a millionaire.

How can I get through to my mum that she should ideally make significant changes to her lifestyle? When I tried telling her in hospital that she might need to make some changes she only retorted. I am mentally preparing myself for the worst and it's not nice Also, if something really serious did happen to someone you knew, how did you cope with it?

[Pn94]

I suppose you'll just have to offer all the support you can, apart from that there's not much else you can do if she doesn't want to listen except keep pressuring her to change her lifestyle. Maybe you could also get her doctor to have a chat with her.

[Sprockette]

Is she still in hospital? Could you maybe speak to her doctor discreetly and tell them your worries. If they spoke to her, she might be more inclined to listen and see it as more serious. You could ask them to recommend a dietitian and get her to see the dangers of not changing her lifestyle.