Two Hypertension Medication To Avoid

Types Of Hpertension

If your physician has recently diagnosed you with high blood pressure he or she may want to start you on high blood pressure medications. There are a variety of hypertensive medication to choose from. Depending on if your hypertension in primary or secondary there are different routes to go.

Essential hypertension (also called primary hypertension, or idiopathic hypertension) is the form of hypertension that by definition has no identifiable secondary cause. It is the most common type affecting 85% of those with high blood pressure.

Secondary hypertension is high blood pressure caused by another condition or disease. Conditions that may cause secondary hypertension include kidney disease, adrenal disease, thyroid problems and obstructive sleep apnea.

Alpha-Blockers And Alpha-2 Agonists

Alpha blockers are a type of blood pressure medication. They lower blood pressure by preventing a hormone called norepinephrine from tightening the muscles in the walls of smaller arteries and veins. As a result, the blood vessels remain open and relaxed. This improves blood flow and lowers blood pressure.

Because alpha blockers also relax other muscles throughout the body, these medications also can help improve urine flow in older men with prostate problems.

Alpha blockers are also called alpha-adrenergic blocking agents, alpha-adrenergic antagonists, adrenergic blocking agents and alpha-blocking agents.

How Do Alpha Blockers Work?

Alpha-blockers work by blocking the transmission of certain nerve impulses. The ends of some nerves release a chemical (neurotransmitter) called noradrenaline (norepinephrine) when the nerve is stimulated. This chemical then stimulates alpha-adrenergic receptors.

These receptors are tiny structures which occur on cells in various parts of the body, including the heart, involuntary (smooth) muscles and blood vessels. When these receptors are stimulated, they cause various effects.

Examples of alpha blockers used to treat high blood pressure include:

• Doxazosin (Cardura)
• Prazosin (Minipress)
• Terazosin

Side Effects Of Alpha-Blockers

• Postural hypotension (a form of low blood pressure that happens when you stand up from sitting or lying down)
• Dizziness and faintness
• Headache
• Tachycardia (a heart rate over 100 beats per minute)
• Nasal stuffiness
• Peripheral edema
• Decreased ejaculation

Blood Pressure Variability

Most healthy individuals have variations in their blood pressure — from minute to minute and hour to hour. These fluctuations generally happen within a normal range.

Labile hypertension tends to be situational. This means the spikes occur in response to stressful events — a fender bender, intensive physical exertion or thinking about financial woes, for example. This helps distinguish labile hypertension from true hypertension, in which blood pressure is high all the time.

These fluctuations are the result of a complex interplay between environmental (eg, seasons, altitude, stress), physical (posture or volemia), and emotional factors inducing BP changes, and cardiovascular regulatory mechanisms aimed at maintaining the so- called BP “homeostasis.”

The Danger of Taking Alpha Blockers

New research presented today at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Session pointed out that these two types of high blood pressure medications — alpha-blockers and alpha-2 agonists — are associated with blood pressure variability.

And these fluctuations are linked to an increased risk of death.

Alpha-blockers are also associated with an increased risk of falling and of breaking a bone (fracture) when they are first started.

The researchers from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Utah are encouraging physicians to prescribe other blood pressure medications to decrease mortality risk for their patients.

“The less variation in your blood pressure as you visit your doctor’s office over time means you will do better long term,” Dr. Brian A. Clements, the lead researcher, told Healthline.

Prior research had already revealed a link between large variation in blood pressure with mortality risk. But that research didn’t associate these fluctuations with the type of medication being used to treat high blood pressure.

Over 10,500 people who had at least seven blood pressure readings participated in this study. The participants were enrolled between 2007 and 2011 and were followed for at least five years, through June 2016.

The researchers recorded both blood pressure variation as well as the blood pressure medication used by each participant.

Long term variability in blood pressure measured in adults at clinic visits is associated with cardiovascular and mortality outcomes, over and above the effect of mean blood pressure.

What Are The Safer Choices?

For people with high blood pressure, there’s a range of other approved medications available that may be safer and more effective than alpha-blockers and alpha-2 agonists. Those medications include:

• thiazide diuretics (chlorthalidone, hydrochlorothiazide)
• ACE inhibitors (benazepril, zofenopril, lisinopril, and many others)
• calcium channel blockers (amlodipine, diltiazem)
• angiotensin II receptor blockers (losartan, valsartan)

The Best News You Need To Know

If you have high blood pressure, there’s plenty you can do every day to control it. diet , exercising more, and tweaking other day-to-day habits can help keep your readings in check, like decreasing your stress. That might keep you from needing medication to keep your numbers where they should be.