Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
Ask a Pharmacist (Expert Forum)
Effexor XR and Optical Hypertension
Answered by
the drugstore.com™ pharmacy
Questions in the Ask a Pharmacist Forum are being answered by pharmacists from the drugstore.com™ pharmacy. Topics include: General information on prescription medication, over-the-counter medications, brand drugs, generic equivalents, common uses, drug therapy, drug interactions, possible side effects, travel medications, pill identification and proper disposal of expired, damaged and unusable medications
Doctor's Answer
by Alison L, RPh, Oct 20, 2009 08:16AM
, Oct 20, 2009 08:16AM
Effexor is known to increase blood pressure and so is Zyrtec-D, not plain Zyrtec. The D component of Zyrtec-D is pseudoephedrine and any product with that ingredient (Sudafed, Claritin-D) is not recommended with patients who have hypertension or increased ocular pressure (increased pressure in the eyes). The reason is because the pseudoephedrine constricts the blood vessels and as a result increases pressure. Effexor as well increases blood pressure due to how the medication works. So in combination, Effexor has been seen to increase the activity of Zyrtec-D. Therefore Effexor and Zyrtec-D together can increase the pressure in your eyes leading to hypertension. The usual case is that you may have already had increased pressure in the eyes and taking these medications may have contributed the problem.
