If you face a health hazard like high blood pressure, we can certainly understand your woes. But, you don’t need to worry as with the innovation in the medical world, different types of blood pressure medicines are available in the market. Each medicine comes up with its own pros and cons. In severe cases, your doctor may even prescribe a combination of more than two medicines to help you get rid of the issues.
Even if you already have high blood pressure and you are at the risk of developing high blood pressure, a lifestyle change can help you. A combination of a healthy lifestyle and regular medication can help you in solving the issue.
Taking medicines as prescribed by the doctor will help you in monitoring blood pressure, and making healthy lifestyle changes will help you in maintaining the blood pressure.
Anyone who is facing a high blood pressure problem should know that medication is an essential part of the plan to solve high blood pressure issues. The drugs that are used for solving blood pressure are called anti-hypertensive medicine. These drugs are not meant to cure blood pressure, but they can bring back blood pressure to its normal range.
The type of blood pressure medicine that you should consume depends on a variety of factors. Some of these factors include:
- The level of blood pressure.
- The reason for the rise in blood pressure.
- How the body responds to different medicines.
- Other health problems that patients may be facing.
In many cases, patients need more than one type of medicine to get the blood pressure in control. It may take months to find the suitability of the medicine. Thus, it is essential for patients to work with doctors to find which drug works best for them.
Type of blood pressure medicines
Diuretics
Diuretics are also called water pills. These are the first type of blood pressure medicine that your doctor will recommend. The main function of diuretics is to help your kidney in taking salt and water out of your body. The lesser the amount of fluid in your blood vessels, the lesser pressure it will have.
Beta-Blockers
The main function of beta-blockers medicine is to slow down the heartbeat. Thus, it will prevent your heart from squeezing hard. Thus, the blood can easily flow through the vessel without additional force on the heart.
Alpha-blockers
The main work of alpha-blockers is to stop the nerve signal. Thus, they can tell your vessels to relax by giving the blood more space to move. This way, the overall blood pressure is reduced.
ACE inhibitors
ACE inhibitors basically refer to the Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. They prevent your body from creating hormones that tell the blood vessels to tighten up. When the hormone is reduced in the body, the blood vessels can stay more open.
ARBs
The ARBs basically refers to Angiotensin II receptors. These medicines also work by preventing hormones from working. The main function of this medicine is to prevent the hormone from constricting the muscles in the blood vessels.
CCBs
CCBs refers to Calcium Channel Blockers. They are the calcium antagonists. They don’t let the calcium into certain muscle cells in your heart and blood vessels. Thus, it is difficult for the electrical signals to pass. Some CCBs work by preventing blood vessels from tightening. On the other hand, others work by slowing down the heart rate.
Renin-inhibitors
Renin is a substance that your kidney produces. It triggers different steps that increase blood pressure. Thus, the use of renin inhibitors slows down the production of renin, and the process does not begin.
The working of these blood pressure medicines is dependent on different factors like age, race, sex, and the overall health of the patients. Sometimes, your doctor may prescribe two-drug combinations to get blood pressure under control.
The side effects
High blood pressure medicines also help in targeting other health issues. Sometimes, the use of high blood pressure medicines can increase your risk of having these diseases:
- Kidney problems
- Arterial diseases
- Diabetes
- Heart attack
- Heart failure
- Swelling or the thickening of heart chambers
But, if your doctor follows a targeted treatment approach, you won’t have to worry about the risks of other complications.
Let’s take an example to understand this. For example, if you are facing chest pain due to coronary heart disease, your doctor may ask you to take a beta-blocker for lowering blood pressure.
For patients who have diabetes along with high blood pressure, using a Diuretic along with an ACE inhibitor can decrease the risk related to heart attack and stroke.
So, pay attention to all these factors and get in touch with a good doctor to get advice. We hope this article will help you in getting an understanding of different blood pressure medicines.