THE MOST COMMONLY PRESCRIBED MEDICATIONS FOR TREATING HYPERTENSION
Here’s a brief overview of the most commonly prescribed medications to treat high blood pressure, along with their side effects.
• Diuretics such as HydroDIURIL, hydrochlorothiazide, Lasix, furosemide, and Bumex have been used for many years to treat high blood pressure. They help remove body water and therefore reduce pressure within the circulatory system. Side effects of diuretics can include dehydration, potassium depletion, weakness, and elevated cholesterol levels. Your doctor may also recommend you take a potassium supplement. In addition, people who are taking diuretics need to reduce their intake of salt, since increased sodium levels can also deplete the body’s stores of potassium.
• Beta-blockers slow the heart rate and the metabolic rate, helping to reduce the buildup of pressure in the circulatory system. They include medications such as Inderal (propranolol), Corgard, Tenormin, and Lopressor. Some side effects of beta-blockers include coldness in the extremities, a slowed heart rate, and elevated cholesterol levels. Beta-blockers can also cause wheezing in asthmatics and people who have emphysema. If you must stop taking beta-blockers, it’s important that you be weaned from them gradually; since beta-blockers slow the heart rate, if you stop taking them, your heart rate will suddenly increase, causing an increase in the amount of oxygen that is delivered to the heart. This added stress can lead to angina or a heart attack.
• Calcium channel blockers are a large class of medication that includes Procardia (nifedipine), verapamil, and Cardizem (dil-tiazem). They work by dilating the blood vessels, which takes some of the stress off the heart. These drugs produce relatively few side effects, but when they do occur they include either a rapid or slowed heart rate, swollen ankles, and intestinal upset.
• ACE inhibitors include Zestril, Prinivil, and Monopril. These are strong medications that work by altering the action of an enzyme that regulates blood pressure. ACE inhibitors are also routinely prescribed to preserve kidney functions in diabetics. Side effects can include an upset stomach and a chronic cough.
• Another medication is Hytrin, an alpha-blocker, which is used to lower blood pressure and also has the bonus of reducing the size of the prostate in men, which will help cut down on the problem of prostate enlargement later on in life. There is also a medication called Catapres, which comes in the form of a patch that can be worn for a full week and administers a slow, constant flow of medication to lower blood pressure.
• Other medications, such as Aldomet, have been around for decades and were once routinely prescribed by doctors but are not used today unless other medications have failed to lower blood pressure, since Aldomet produces many side effects, including liver and blood abnormalities. Another side effect of high blood pressure medications for men is impotence. Understandably, some men are reluctant to bring up the subject with their physicians, but your physician’s response will be strictly tempered by his medical viewpoint, and he’ll simply ask when you first noticed the problem. He’ll then suggest that you try another kind of blood pressure medication that won’t interfere with your sexuality.
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