VERAPAMIL DRUG STUDY

[JACK__0]

  I had triple bi-pass surgery apprx 3 yrs ago at age 48.  They found it before I had any heart damage.  I am on high blood pressure (Monopril 20 mg 1 daily) and cholesteral (Lipitor 40 mg l daily). My Bld pressure has ranged a high of 170/110  upon awakening to a low of 115/79 after 30 min. on the treadmill with a max heart rate of 180.
  I have been asked if I'd like to be on a drug study taking Isoptin SR. 240 mg. l tab daily and stay on my Monopril, because of the spikiness of the readings.  
  Can you tell me the pro's and con's of this medication.
  Thank You.  

[CCF CARDIO MD APS]

_
Dear Jack,
Firstly, verapamil is a drug that has been around a while, thus it's side effects are fairly well established and include constipation and lower extremity swelling as the most prominent.
This drug has been used as a blood pressure lowering drug for a long time and it is usually very effective at keeping the blood pressure normalized throughout the day.  Keeping the blood pressure controlled throughout the day is very important to your health (heart, kidney, and brain health) as you may have been told.
Fairly recently, the short acting calcium channel blockers (Isoptin SR is a long acting calcium channel blocker)
were shown to be detrimental at times to the cardiac patient, it was not an all or none situation, and it never showed detriment to the cardiac patient if the long acting form was used.
As you can see the 'pros' of Isoptin are more impressive than the 'cons', especially in someone like you who's blood pressure is not well controlled on the one drug therapy (monopril).
I hope you know that before any study can be done, there is a committee that decides whether or not it should be done based on potential benefit to the patient, as well there is a data-safety-monitoring board that oversees the study through its course to make sure that patients are deriving benefit and not risk from the study drug (if the latter were true
then the monitoring board halts the test.)
In other words, the study is being done because many physicians and scientists believe you will benefit from this drug, meanwhile there are safety mechanisms in place to make sure the opposite does not occur.
Good Luck.  I hope you find this information useful and please write again if you have any particular questions.
Information provided in the heart forum is intended for general medical informational purposes only, actual diagnosis and treatment can only be made by your physician(s).