Many experts recommend a switch to low or no-fat high blood pressure medication to reduce risk for sudden death caused by heart attacks. For patients with hypertension, unpredictable high readings often are a signal that you may have to switch to a different medication. And even though these readings are tied to an increased risk for death, the researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute at Utah are encouraging doctors to prescribe alternative…
For years, doctors have generally discouraged patients from switching high blood pressure medication, since doing so can make their disease much worse. However, research has shown that many patients do try to alter their medication after having a heart attack or stroke. In addition, studies have found that these individuals may need additional medications to control their high BP readings. This is why doctors may need to consider changing their prescription guidelines to include at least some of these alternative medications.
Of course, doctors recommend using at least one form of high blood pressure medication in order to effectively control your disease. Patients taking these drugs must be aware of all of their options and discuss them with their physician. Some patients take one type of drug while others take two or more. Also, some patients taking these medications take them in conjunction with medications for cholesterol and triglyceride control. This is because these two forms of control are often intertwined.
The researchers have also studied patients who were prescribed high blood pressure medications but then began to make lifestyle changes, such as increasing their exercise and decreasing their caloric intake. The study found that those patients not taking the medications experienced a significant increase in their blood pressure instead of a decrease. Also, these patients’ bodies had greater resistance to the medication’s effects. Patients taking these medications who then made changes to their lifestyles actually saw their numbers reduce only temporarily. So it appears that lifestyle changes alone are not enough to counter the effects of this disease.
Doctors usually treat high blood pressure with prescription medications such as diuretics, alemtophan, and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, and beta-blockers (BB). If you are taking medications for your blood pressure and would like to know if they are having an adverse effect on your body, talk to your doctor about the medications you are currently taking. Sometimes these medications will have side effects that vary from person to person, and they may not be as effective as originally thought.
One medication class that has been studied very thoroughly is that of beta-blockers. These class of drugs, including atenolol, bromocriptine, and ramelteon, are usually used to treat more severe cases of hypertension. However, there are some patients whose only reaction to this type of medication was the increase in blood pressure readings. For these patients, doctors have developed a new class of medication called alpha-blockers. This newer medication class acts in a different way than the beta-blockers, and they are being studied more extensively.