Medication For High Blood Pressure

It is vital to ensure your blood pressure is kept under control, and the best treatment objective is to keep your blood pressure below 140/90, or even lower for people with other conditions, such as diabetes and other types of problems such as kidney disease.

Adopting a healthy lifestyle is a crucial and valuable first step in both preventing and controlling elevated blood pressure.

However, if lifestyle changes alone are not effective in keeping your blood pressure controlled, it may be necessary to take specific blood pressure medications.

The following types of medications are all used to treat high blood pressure:

• Diuretics: Diuretics are often called water tablets because they work in the kidney and help the heart by flushing surplus water and sodium from the body, thus lowering blood pressure.
• Beta-blockers: Beta-blockers help to reduce nerve impulses to the heart and blood vessels. This forces the heart to beat slower and with less force. As a result of these drugs, the blood pressure reduces which then make it easier for the heart to work.
• ACE inhibitors: (ACE) inhibitors assist in preventing the structure of a hormone called angiotensin II, which causes the blood vessels to become constricted. ACE inhibitors also cause blood vessels to relax thus lowering blood pressure
• Angiotensin antagonists: protect the blood vessels from angiotensin II.  As a result of this the vessels become wider thus lowering blood pressure.
• Calcium channel blockers (CCBs): assist in keeping calcium deposits from entering the muscles and cells of the heart and blood vessels. This then helps the blood vessels relax thus lowering blood pressure.
• Alpha-blockers: lessen the nerve impulses to blood vessels, which then allows the blood to pass more easily thus lowering blood pressure
• Alpha-beta-blockers: Alpha-beta-blockers work similarly to alpha-blockers, but they also slow the heartbeat the same as beta-blockers. As a result of using these drugs, there is less blood pumped through the vessels thus lowering blood pressure
• Nervous system inhibitors: relax the blood vessels by controlling nerve impulses. This causes the blood vessels to become more wide thus lowering blood pressure
• Vasodilators: directly open the blood vessels by relaxing the muscles in the vessel walls, thus lowering blood pressure

To discover if you have high blood pressure consult your doctor and have a blood pressure test.