What happens if you insist on taking antihypertensive drugs for a long time? Taking medicine for 25 years, he gives 2 pieces of advice

According to the "China Cardiovascular Health and Disease Report 2019", there are as many as 245 million hypertensive patients in China, of which 40.7% are taking antihypertensive drugs, and only 15.3% of the patients have controlled hypertension.

The vast majority of hypertensive patients may have to take antihypertensive drugs for a lifetime, but many patients worry that long-term use of drugs will not harm the body?

1. He insisted on taking antihypertensive drugs for 25 years and gave advice

Lao Hu was diagnosed with high blood pressure more than 20 years ago. The doctor prescribed antihypertensive drugs for him to insist on taking it. However, Lao Hu did not want to take the medicine. He was afraid that he would become a medicine jar for the rest of his life , so he began to pay attention to a light diet. No smoking, no drinking, and no medicine.

Not long after that, one day Lao Hu was admitted to the hospital because of dizziness. The doctor said that his blood pressure was still too high, 150/90mmHg, and he had to take medicine.

So Lao Hu began to take antihypertensive drugs as prescribed by the doctor. At first, he took the most common nifedipine tablets. Later, there were more types of antihypertensive drugs, and he began to switch to amlodipine and valsartan.

Today, Lao Hu is almost 80 years old, and his health is still very good, without any complications caused by high blood pressure. As a senior hypertensive patient, Lao Hu insisted on taking antihypertensive drugs for 25 years, and gave two pieces of advice from his own experience:

Advice 1: Control blood pressure, listen to the doctor

Lao Hu knew a friend who didn't care after he was diagnosed with high blood pressure. He didn't insist on taking antihypertensive drugs. Occasionally, he remembered to take a tablet, and forget it. Sometimes I also take some health products that claim to lower blood pressure, or follow the trend of drugs, but I didn't expect that I ended up being admitted to the hospital because of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage.

It is also this experience of a friend that makes Lao Hu give up the idea of ​​not taking antihypertensive drugs.

There are all kinds of antihypertensive health products on the market, such as antihypertensive watches, antihypertensive pillows, and antihypertensive insoles .

In addition, some hypertensive patients hear that other patients are normal after taking a certain antihypertensive drug, so they follow suit. This approach is risky, because each hypertensive patient's condition, contraindications and combinations Symptoms are different , and what is right for others may not be right for you.

Advice 2: Taking medicine and measuring blood pressure are indispensable

In addition to taking antihypertensive drugs every day, Lao Hu also insists on measuring his blood pressure after getting up every morning, so he knows enough about his blood pressure control. This also allows Lao Hu to manage his blood pressure very well.

Some hypertensive patients only take medicine when the blood pressure is high, and stop taking the medicine once the blood pressure is normal. This wrong mode of taking the medicine will cause the blood pressure to fluctuate all the time. Complications such as infarction are prone to occur when blood pressure fluctuates.

In addition, some hypertensive patients do not have the habit of measuring blood pressure and feel good about themselves, but sometimes their feelings are inconsistent with the severity of the disease. Therefore, hypertensive patients should not only insist on taking medicine, but also insist on measuring blood pressure .

2. Will taking antihypertensive drugs every day cause damage to the kidneys and liver?

Many hypertensive patients worry that taking antihypertensive drugs for a long time will affect the health of the liver and kidneys. At present, the six commonly used antihypertensive drugs in clinical use have the following effects on the liver and kidneys.

Diuretics: such as thiazide diuretics, thiazide-like diuretics, aldosterone antagonists, etc., are all antihypertensive drugs that do not damage the liver and kidneys.

Calcium antagonists: such as the common dipine antihypertensive drugs, have no damage to the liver and kidneys, no matter how severe renal failure is, it will not affect its use, and the decline of renal function will not affect its excretion, but it needs to pass through. It is metabolized by the liver, so patients with impaired liver function should reduce the dose.

Beta-blockers: such as metoprolol, bisoprolol, arolol, etc., the dose should be reduced after liver function is damaged .

Alpha-receptor blockers: They are rarely used at ordinary times, most of them are excreted through the intestines, and only a small part needs to be excreted through the kidneys. They have no damage to the liver and kidneys, and the impairment of liver and kidney functions does not affect their use.

Puli-type antihypertensive drugs: For example, fosinopril needs to be excreted through both the liver and the kidney, so patients with impaired liver and kidney functions should reduce the dose; other Puli-type antihypertensive drugs are excreted through the kidneys, so serious In patients with impaired renal function, the dose should be reduced.

Sartan antihypertensive drugs: Most of the sartan antihypertensive drugs are excreted through the intestinal tract and biliary tract, and only a small part is excreted through the kidneys, so the impairment of liver and kidney function does not affect their use.

In fact, a large number of clinical studies have shown that regular and rational use of medication to treat high blood pressure does not cause harm to the body . On the contrary, poor control of blood pressure will cause more damage to the kidneys.

So why do some people think that taking medicine will damage the kidneys and liver?

On the one hand, it is because some patients suffer from liver and kidney disease and have problems after taking antihypertensive drugs; , which eventually led to the problem.

3. When to take antihypertensive drugs? The Lancet has a new discovery

On October 11 this year, a study was published in The Lancet and found that taking antihypertensive drugs at night (8:00 to 12:00) and taking antihypertensive drugs in the morning (6:00 to 10:00) There is no significant difference in the main cardiovascular outcomes , so patients can choose a fixed time according to their own conditions, and routinely take their own antihypertensive drugs to reduce the occurrence of adverse reactions.

Normally, when you wake up in the morning, the blood pressure will continue to rise, peak at 9:00 to 11:00 in the morning, and then slowly decrease; at 3:00 to 6:00 in the afternoon, it will rise again, and it will decrease again in the evening. After falling asleep, it showed a continuous downward trend, and the blood pressure was lowest at 2:00 to 3:00 in the morning.

However, there are also some patients whose blood pressure fluctuations are not this regular. The blood pressure peak can be found according to blood pressure monitoring, and the drug should be taken 2 hours before the blood pressure peak.

Frequency and time of taking medication (Source: Cardiovascular Channel of the Medical Community)

4. Do these 3 things well to help you control your blood pressure

In order to control blood pressure, in addition to scientifically taking antihypertensive drugs, there are other ways to help control blood pressure.

1. DASH diet

A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association showed that the DASH diet is best for blood pressure control. The DASH diet is also known as the "hypertensive diet."

The general principle of the DASH diet is to focus on whole grains and vegetables . In the diet, you should consume enough fruits, vegetables, low-fat milk, maintain sufficient calcium, magnesium, potassium and other ions, and minimize the intake of fat. , especially animal fats rich in saturated fatty acids, can effectively control blood pressure.

2. Weight control

In general, blood pressure increases with weight gain, and being overweight can further increase blood pressure.

Weight control is one of the important ways to control blood pressure. For obese or overweight people, every kilogram of body weight lost may reduce blood pressure by about 1mm Hg. It is best to control the body mass index (BMI) within the range of 18.5 kg/m2 to 23.9 kg/m2.

3. Regular exercise

Exercise can help control blood pressure levels in hypertensive patients, and at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity regular exercise per week may reduce blood pressure by 5mm Hg to 8mm Hg.

Hypertensive patients are advised to do moderate-intensity exercise, such as jogging, walking, and swimming, for a total of 30 to 60 minutes a day, 4 to 7 days a week, in addition to daily activities.

In short, hypertension is a lifelong chronic disease. In addition to taking medicines as prescribed by the doctor, patients also need to take a variety of comprehensive measures to help reduce blood pressure.

References:

[1] "Will you take antihypertensive drugs? ". Cardiovascular Channel of the Medical Community. 2019-01-16

[2] "Will long-term use of antihypertensive drugs damage the liver and kidneys? ". The whole people are true - Tencent News. 2018-03-19

[3] "Can the debate be over? "Lancet" study of over 20,000 people: When is it better to take antihypertensive drugs? This time is also available! ". New perspectives in medicine. 2022-10-16

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