Posted on Wednesday, 1st April 2009 by admin
High blood pressure medications are prescribed to millions of Americans and have no doubt saved nearly as many lives. But they are also fraught with side effects and need to be taken in the right combination and carefully monitored. In this article, I’ll show you the correct approach when taking drugs for hypertension.
Why Use Drugs?
Drugs are normally given in three situations.
First of all, some doctors prescribe drugs when the patient has refused to try lifestyle changes. Many patients will lie to their doctors and say they have tried when they haven’t. In these cases, the doctor feels obliged to use drugs to lower their blood pressure as soon as possible.
Other patients are in great physical shape and lead a healthy lifestyle. However, they still have raised blood pressure due to genetics. They must rely on taking drugs and have no alternative.
The third case are those with extremely high blood pressure that is already doing great damage to them. If they do not take drugs immediately then they could die in a matter of months.
Which Drugs?
There are 4 types of drugs that can be given for high blood pressure: ACE inhibitors, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers and diuretics.
There are various combinations in which they can be given. However, trials and experience over the years have taught us that the best combination to take is ACE inhibitors with diuretics.
The other drugs and combinations have more severe side effects such as increasing the risk of diabetes.
Alternatives?
Unless you have really tried all possible lifestyle changes then why turn to taking drugs daily for the rest of your life anyway? Even losing 5 pounds of weight can drop your blood pressure enough to put you back into the safe zone. Isn’t this preferable to taking drugs?
Do you have or are worried about high blood pressure? Get the concise, salient facts on hypertension and how to treat it here: Blood Pressure Truth
Tags: HBP, High Blood Pressure, hypertension
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