Blood Pressure Medication: Medication is typically a big part of the strategy for lowering blood pressure for most people. These medications, which are also known as “anti-hypertensive” treatments, won’t lower high blood pressure. However, they can assist in bringing it back into a normal range.
What medication to take will depend on factors like:
your blood pressure level
What is the cause?
how the medications affect your body
you have additional health issues
For many people, controlling their high blood pressure requires taking multiple types of medicine. Finding the medications and dosages that are most effective for you may take some time, in collaboration with your doctor.
Diuretics
These are frequently known as “water pills.” Your doctor will typically try these first when prescribing high blood pressure medication.
They aid your kidneys in eliminating water and salt from your body. The pressure inside your blood vessels will be lower since there is less overall fluid present, similar to a garden hose that is not fully turned on.
(Midamor) Amiloride
Bumex, or bumetanide
Hydrroton® (chlorthalidone)
Diuril (chlorothiazide)
Laxative (furosemide)
(Esidrix, Hydrodiuril, Microzide) Hydrochlorothiazide
Lzol (Indapamide)
(Mykrox, Zaroxolyn) Metolazone
Aldactone’s spirolactone
Dyrenium’s triamterene
In some cases, a pill will include more than one diuretic.
Moduretic (amiloride and hydrochlorothiazide)
Aldactazide (hydrochlorothiazide) with spirolactone
Hydrochlorothiazide (Dyazide, Maxzide) with triamterene
Beta-Blockers
They’ll lower your heart rate and prevent your heart from contracting tightly. Blood flows through your vessels less forcefully as a result.
Atenolol (Tenormin) and Acebutolol (Sectral)
(Kerlone) betaxolol
Zebeta (bisoprolol)
The drug Carroll
Metoprolol (Toprol XL, Lopressor)
Aspirin (Corgard)
Bystolic nebivolol
Levatol (Penbutolol)
(Visken) Pindolol
Inderal: propranolol
Betapace’s Sotalol
(Blocadren) timolol
Alpha-Blockers
Before nerve signals can direct your blood vessels to constrict, they block them. Your blood may move more freely because your vessels are relaxed, which lowers your overall blood pressure.
Cardura (doxazosin)
Minipress (prazosin)
Hytrin (terazosin)
Inhibitors of ACE
ACE inhibitors stop your body from producing the hormone that instructs blood vessels to constrict. Your blood vessels remain more open when your body produces less of this hormone.
Captopril (Capoten) and Benazepril (Lotensin)
Vasotec, enalapril
Moexipril (Univasc), Perindopril (Aceon), Quinapril (Accupril), Lisinopril (Prinivil, Zestril), Fosinopril (Monopril),
(Altace) Ramipril
(Mavik) trandolapril
ARBs
Angiotensin II receptor blockers prevent the action of the same hormone. It is produced by your body, but ARBs stop the hormone from tightening the blood vessel muscles, much like putting chewing gum in a lock.
Eprosartan (Teveten) and Candesartan (Atacand)
Avapro (irbesartan)
Ciocar (Losartan)
Micardis (telmisartan)
Diavan (Valsartan)
Inhibitors of Direct Renin
These prevent your blood vessels from constricting by targeting the same process that ACE inhibitors and ARBs do. However, they focus on the renin enzyme instead. Prior to the hormone being created, they prevent it from starting reactions.
An effective direct renin inhibitor is Aliskiren (Tekturna).
Blockers of calcium channels
They are also known as calcium antagonists or CCBs for short. It is more difficult for electrical signals to travel through particular muscle cells in your heart and blood arteries because they don’t let calcium into them. Certain CCBs prevent blood arteries from constricting. Others cause your heart to beat more slowly or cause it to relax when pumping blood.
Diltiazem (Cardizem, Dilacor, Tiazac), Amlodipine (Norvasc), and Bepridil (Vasocor)
Plendil, or felodipine
(DynaCirc) isradipine
Cardene’s Nicardipine
Nifedipine (Procardia, Adalat)
Sular nisoldipine
(Calan, Covera, Isoptin, Verelan) Verapamil
Central Aggressors
They prevent messages from your brain from increasing your heart rate and constricting your blood vessels. These medications are also known as central adrenergic inhibitors, central alpha agonists, and central-acting compounds.
Methyldopa (Aldomet), Clonidine (Catapres), Guanabenz (Wytensin), and Guanfacine
periventricular beta-blockers
They stop your brain from sending messages that might otherwise cause your blood vessels to constrict. These medications are rarely prescribed by doctors.
Guanethidine (Ismelin), Reserpine (Hylorel), and Guanadrel
Vasodilators
These ease the tension in the blood vessel walls’ muscles. The blood may flow through the vessels more freely when they broaden.
Combinations of Hydralazine (Apresoline) with Minoxidil (Loniten)
Some medications combine various drug classes.
Hydrochororthiazide (Ziac), a beta-blocker, and bisoprolol
Labetalol (Normodyne, Trandate), an alpha- and beta-blocker, Carvedilol (Coreg), an alpha- and beta-blocker, Olmesartan with hydrochlorothiazide (Benicar), an ARB, and a diuretic
Nearly one-third of Americans have high blood pressure, also referred to as hypertension.
Blood is pumped through the arteries with an excessive amount of force when someone has hypertension. Damage to the blood vessels themselves as well as other organs forced to bear the strain are both outcomes of this.
The systolic and diastolic pressures, which measure, respectively, the highest pressure exerted in the arteries as the heart contracts and the minimum pressure in those vessels between cardiac contractions, are the two parameters used to quantify blood pressure. When the systolic pressure (top number) is between 90 and 120 and the diastolic pressure (bottom number) is between 60 and 80, the blood pressure is regarded as normal in people.
WHAT ARE THE MOST POPULAR MEDICATIONS FOR BLOOD PRESSURE?
There are five top high blood pressure drugs according to dollar sales.
the beta-blocker metoprolol, the generic form of valsartan and HCTZ, the angiotensin II receptor blocker valsartan (Diovan), the angiotensin II receptor blocker olmesartan (Benicar), and the combination of olmesartan and HCTZ (Benicar HCT).
Here are the top 4 high blood pressure drugs based on prescriptions written:
Lisinopril (Prinivil, Zestril), an ACE inhibitor, is at the top of the list, followed by the calcium channel blocker amlodipine besylate (Norvasc), and generic hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ).
WHAT IS THE BEST MEDICATION FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE?
The patient’s overall health, age, ethnicity, and the existence of any underlying medical conditions or drug sensitivities all play a role in determining the “best” high blood pressure medicine.
For instance, it might not be a good idea to provide a beta-blocker to a patient who has hypertension and asthma because these medications can make the patient’s respiratory condition worse. Similar to diuretics, certain calcium channel blockers may be best avoided in patients who are prone to constipation (the elderly, for example), as both of these drug types have the potential to impair normal bowel function.
Some hypertension drugs work better on African-American individuals than others.
