High Blood Pressure Medication
Blood Pressure Medication:
High blood pressure affects millions of people in the United States
alone, but various methods are available to treat symptoms of high
blood pressure to ensure that complications such as heart disease and
stroke are lessened.
Several common high blood pressure medication treatments are available,
among them ACE inhibitors. An ACE inhibitor (angiotensin converting
enzyme) helps to regulate blood pressure by blocking an enzyme that
enables conversion of an inactive form of angiotensin to an active
form. This active form of angiotensin serves to narrow arteries,
causing more pressure within the arteries, while the inactive form
can't.
High blood pressure medication therapies serve to improve blood
pressure and control blood pressure in about fifty to sixty percent of
the Caucasian population. Other races such as Asian and African
Americans also show definitive improvement when using such high blood
pressure medication, but must be given higher doses, which many times
are combined with a diuretic.
A high blood pressure medication such as an ACE inhibitor also helps to
reduce heart enlargement, or left ventricular hypertrophy, in patients
suffering from hypertension, or high blood pressure. The ACE high blood
pressure medication also slows down kidney failure or deterioration in
patients who exhibit high levels of protein in their urine. The ACE
inhibitor is usually the first high blood pressure medication that a
physician will prescribe for a patient who also exhibits such
conditions as congestive heart failure, diabetes, or chronic kidney
failure.
However, a high blood pressure medication must be finely tuned when
given to patients exhibiting signs of other medical conditions because
other chemical and hormonal balances can alter their effectiveness in
the body system. There are some side effects to ACE inhibitor drugs,
the most common being coughing. Such common ACE inhibitor high blood
pressure medication drugs include but are not limited to brand names
such as Vasotec, Capoten, Accupril and Altace.
For patients who suffer not only high blood pressure but also secondary
conditions resulting either from high blood pressure or other physical
ailments, other high blood pressure medication choices are opted for.
Used in conjunction with the ACE inhibitors, good results are usually
expected when combining high blood pressure medication choices, but
it's also important for patients to record and discuss any unpleasant
or worrisome side effects to their doctor. Communication with your
physician and a basic understanding of what high blood pressure is and
does provides the key to understanding exactly what high blood pressure
medication is supposed to do.
Another type of common high blood pressure medication is called a Beta
Blocker. A beta-blocking high blood pressure medication serves to
inhibit certain involuntary functions within the body, including heart
rate. With high blood pressure, a beta-blocker high blood pressure
medication serves to either stimulate or inhibit the function of
certain muscle cells, including those of the heart and blood vessels.
Some beta-receptors increase not only the heart rate but the strength
of each heart beat contraction. Other beta-blockers can slow the heart
rate and the force of heart beat contractions. No matter what drug your
doctor prescribes for you, try to learn as much about it as you can,
including what it does and its possible side effects. After all, it's
your high blood pressure medication.
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