Drugs Help Lower High Blood Pressure
An astonishing 60 million Americans have high blood pressure. Often called hypertension, high blood pressure is a disease without symptoms and, if left untreated, results in strokes or heart attacks.
Today the physician has many drugs to choose from when treating this silent disease. However, many of the drugs prescribed for high blood pressure have annoying--and sometimes severe--side effects that discourage people from taking medication to control their elevated blood pressures.
One side effect of many of those drugs is sexual dysfunction.
In 1965, the first beta-blocker drug was introduced: brand name, Inderal; generic name, propranolol.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration initially approved its use for the treatment of irregular rhythms of the heart and angina, pain in the chest due to coronary heart disease. The following year it was approved for the treatment of high blood pressure.
Many Beta-Blockers Available
Other beta-blocker drugs followed, and today there are many which the physician can choose from when writing the prescription. These drugs lower blood pressure by blocking part of the sympathetic nervous system, and one of the side effects is fatigue.
Four years ago, the calcium-blocker drugs were introduced for the treatment of rhythm disorders of the heart and for angina. Just recently one of the calcium-blocker drugs, verapamil HCL, brand name Canan SR, has been approved by the FDA and introduced to the medical profession for the treatment of high blood pressure.
The calcium-blocker drugs effectively reduce high blood pressure by blocking the entry of the calcium ions inside the smooth-muscle cells. The first approved calcium blocker drug for high blood pressure is a slow-release formulation in once-a-day dosage.
Although it is generally agreed that the calcium-blocker drugs do not produce the high incidence of fatigue and drowsiness found in many who take the beta-blocker drugs, they do have some side effects. Dizziness and constipation are the most frequent.
More serious side effects in some test subjects were headache and nausea, but there was little effect on sexual function.
It is expected that other calcium-blocker drugs for the treatment of high blood pressure will be approved this year, including diltiazem, brand name Cardizem, and nifedipine, brand name Procardia.
At present, sales of Inderal and other beta-blocker drugs exceed $1 billion. It is expected that the calcium blockers will far exceed this figure.
So, if you are aware of excessive fatigue since taking your beta-blocker drug to control your pressure, ask your doctor if a prescription for the recently approved calcium blocker is worth a trial.
Lowering high blood pressure is extremely important and now physicians have a choice of drugs which are effective yet maintain a good overall quality of physical health.
Question: A doctor’s wife told me she takes Vitamin C tablets and Nuprin every four hours when she feels a cold coming on, and she never gets the cold. Do Vitamin C and Nuprin go together OK?
Answer: Vitamin C and Nuprin, a brand of ibuprofen, may be taken for a cold, but I doubt that the combination can zap a cold.
Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling claims that Vitamin C, if taken in large quantities, can prevent a cold. Controlled studies have not indicated that Pauling’s claims are necessarily true.
However, there is nothing wrong in taking moderate amounts of Vitamin C. Excessive amounts of Vitamin C may cause diarrhea and possibly kidney damage.
Nuprin, or any of the other brands of generic ibuprofen, may relieve the muscle pains associated with a cold.
The common cold is spread by many rhinoviruses found everywhere during the cold season. Washing the hands frequently, not touching one’s face or nose, using individual tissues for each blow of the nose and discarding them properly will go a long way in preventing the spread of a cold and reinfection of sufferers.
Q: I am taking Isordil for angina. A few of my friends have the same problem and take Inderal. I am beginning to think my doctor is old-fashioned, although he is only in his 40s.
A: Your doctor is not old-fashioned. Many cardiologists prescribe Isordil, which generically is isodorbide dinitrate, for angina. Often, if the angina attacks are not controlled with the nitrate drug, a beta-blocker drug, such as Inderal, is prescribed to be taken in addition to the nitrate.
Q: I do not know why people with AIDS are not given the same drugs now given to cure leprosy. Leprosy is cured, right?
A: Leprosy today is referred to as Hansen’s disease, in honor of the physician who discovered the bacterium that causes it. If Hansen’s disease is detected early, treatment with sulfones and other drugs can prevent it from developing into a highly infectious type of the disease and thus disfigurement, so often associated with Hansen’s disease, is avoided.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome is an entirely different problem. It is caused by a virus that changes frequently, making it extremely difficult to develop a vaccine that will be effective in preventing it. At present there are many more effective anti-bacterial drugs than anti-viral drugs.
The most important thing to do to prevent AIDS from spreading is to educate anyone who is sexually active on how to prevent transmission of the AIDS virus.
