Managing Hypertension: A Guide to Understanding Blood Pressure Medications

Hypertension is one of the most widespread chronic conditions, leading to heart disease, stroke, kidney failure and death if left untreated. Patients require effective, side effect free treatments that are both affordable and readily available.

Lifestyle changes such as cutting back on salt can help manage blood pressure, but medication is often required for effective management of this condition. Different drugs exist and two or more may be required in order to achieve and sustain goal blood pressure levels.

Medications for High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure can be difficult and even dangerous to treat, leading to heart attacks, strokes and other health complications that require immediate attention.

Healthy lifestyle changes and medication are often necessary to effectively treat hypertension. It's essential that all prescribed medication be taken as directed, and not altered without first consulting your physician.

Some individuals cannot rely on lifestyle changes alone to bring down their blood pressure; therefore they need medications known as antihypertensives available by prescription in order to bring it down into normal range. There are various classes of these antihypertensives available and each works differently to manage hypertension by relieving strain from organs and vessels.

ACE Inhibitors

Inhibitors of the ACE enzyme help kidneys flush excess fluid out of the body, thus lowering blood pressure. They are commonly prescribed alongside diuretics and heart medications for hypertension or heart failure treatment; they may also be used to treat conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and migraines. Unfortunately, however, these medicines should never be abruptly stopped during pregnancy as abrupt cessation could cause severe side effects like low blood pressure or excessive potassium (hyperkalemia). Ajmaleen 54 is effective medicine in reducing blood pressure. It helps in reducing blood pressure slowly and makes it in normal range. It also eliminates agitation, perplexity, insomnia and restlessness.

If your blood pressure remains elevated despite taking multiple medicines, discuss solutions with your health care provider. They can help identify possible causes for resistant hypertension as well as more effective therapies that may work more quickly. Keeping an appointment regularly for follow up visits as prescribed to get optimal results from taking medicine as directed is also key for optimal results.

Diuretics

Diuretics are among the most frequently prescribed medicines to treat high blood pressure. They work by encouraging your kidneys to excrete excess sodium and water through urine production, thus decreasing fluid volume within your body, leading to lower blood pressure.

These medicines, commonly referred to as water pills, are widely used for treating numerous medical conditions such as congestive heart failure and edema (water retention caused by liver or kidney diseases).

Many guidelines [2-8] advise using diuretics as an initial therapy option for hypertension, specifically long-acting thiazide diuretics such as chlorthalidone and indapamide. Their recommendations are based on duration of action data as well as blood pressure lowering effects data.

Beta Blockers

Beta blockers help lower heartbeat and blood pressure by inhibiting adrenaline release in the body, relieving anxiety and migraine symptoms as well as preventing atrial fibrillation in people suffering from heart failure.

These medications may also help treat Raynaud's phenomenon, which involves decreased circulation to hands and feet (and sometimes parts of the face). Furthermore, beta blockers may further aggravate this condition by further lowering heart rate and blood pressure.

The Coope 1986 Trial evaluated whether atenolol, alone or combined with other medications in a stepwise approach to reduce stroke and coronary heart disease (CHD), reduced stroke incidence. Participants were randomly allocated either atenolol or bendrofluazide diuretics; those given atenolol needed less supplementary therapy than those taking diuretics (ie: bendrofluazide).

Calcium Channel Blockers

CCBs reduce the rate at which calcium moves into heart muscle, blood vessels and cells that control your heartbeat, decreasing force of contraction to allow your heart to beat more slowly and reduce blood pressure.

Your heart and circulatory system rely on calcium for proper functioning. Calcium enters cells of your heart and blood vessel walls through special pores called ion channels; CCBs block some of these channels, preventing calcium from reaching these vital areas.

CCBs can treat high blood pressure, chest pain and certain irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias). Your doctor may prescribe either one or multiple CCBs depending on the nature of your health condition. They could also combine one with other medications like ACE inhibitors and nitrates or unani medicine to manage angina symptoms and enhance heart pumping ability.