High Blood Pressure: Drugs that Bring Pressure Down
If high blood pressure is
identified early enough, when it is still in its very mildest
stages, the first line of defense is an attempt to modify the
risk factors associated with it. Of course, we can't do
anything about our heredity, age, race, or sex; but we can lose
weight, exercise more, stop smoking, and improve our eating
habits. We may even be able to alter our personality; your
doctor can recommend programs intended to teach Type-A
personalities (the hard-driven, success-oriented types who
start blowing their horns before the traffic light has changed)
how to become easy-going, Type-B
personalities.
In most cases, the mainstay of
treatment for hypertension is medication. It brings blood
pressure down quickly and keeps it down. And although it
doesn't cure the disease (if you haven't improved your diet and
lifestyle, blood pressure almost always shoots back up when
medication is discontinued), it does prevent the serious and
even life-threatening complications that can result if high
blood pressure is left untreated.
The first step is usually a
prescription for one of five types of medication: a diuretic, a
beta blocker, an ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) inhibitor,
an angiotensin II receptor antagonist, or a calcium channel
blocker. If these drugs, either alone or in combination, fail
to bring blood pressure under control, other classes of drugs
may be prescribed.
These drugs usually make no
difference in the way you feel, so it's easy to forget about
them. Nevertheless, it's important to take them faithfully
according to the prescribed schedule. If they are not taken on
a regular basis, they won't do their hidden, but lifesaving
job. Here's a closer look at the various categories that are
generally prescribed.
Diuretics, such as furosemide (Lasix), chlorothiazide
(Diuril), hydrochlorothiazide (Esidrix, HydroDIURIL), and
spironolactone (Aldactone), make it difficult for the kidneys
to retain water and salt, which are then filtered out into the
urine. Increasing the amount of urine reduces the amount of
fluid in the bloodstream, and hence the pressure on artery
walls. It's like turning on a second faucet in your house and
watching the water pressure drop in the first -- not a subtle
mechanism, to be sure, but it works. Because some important
chemicals may be washed out along with the water and salt, a
doctor may prescribe supplements -- most commonly a potassium
supplement -- to go with the diuretic.
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