Aa
Settling conflicting info about whether BP meds help or hurt the vascular system
I'm a 63 yr old male, and started hypertension about a decade ago. Took Lisinopril, which knocked my systolic down from the 160s to the 140s for awhile. Recently, even with Lisinopril, was spiking close to 200. New Dr. added HCTZ (diuretic) which got it back under 150, but the 2 together make me ongoingly fatigued, and dizzy upon standing up. The new doc, nor anyone else, knows why I have such high BP. I'm underweight, not overweight, never drink or smoke, eat mostly grain, veggies and a little fish with low salt, hike in the hills regularly, semi-retired, low stress life with daily meditation, definitely don't fit the profile for hypertension. Go figure rolleyes
Anyway, I've recently read about studies that show a few disconcerting conclusions about BP meds, such as:
- they frequently don't work, even with 3 combined meds (ACE, Calcium Chain + diuretic)
- they work for awhile but then stop, and reconfiguring meds/doses doesn't help much
- some studies have shown they actually increase, rather than decrease, rate of heart-attack/strokes in takers, as a side effect, even if the numbers seem to go down
- other studies show the rate of heart attack/stroke in people who ran high numbers for any length of time, then successfully brought the numbers down with the meds, had just as many heart attacks/strokes as those who never brought their numbers down, indicating that once the vascular damage is done, even if meds successfully lower your numbers from that point on, it makes little difference to the damaged veins, heart and organs
Obviously, if any of those points are accurate, the BP drug-makers don't want you to know, so some of these studies seem hard to locate, but I've seen 'em
So I'm interested in the latest accurate info about these points, from people who really know. My cardio doc isn't one of them. He's a nice guy but he just writes me scrips for the pills and says that's the only fix. Please respond and help clarify, much thanks.
Anyway, I've recently read about studies that show a few disconcerting conclusions about BP meds, such as:
- they frequently don't work, even with 3 combined meds (ACE, Calcium Chain + diuretic)
- they work for awhile but then stop, and reconfiguring meds/doses doesn't help much
- some studies have shown they actually increase, rather than decrease, rate of heart-attack/strokes in takers, as a side effect, even if the numbers seem to go down
- other studies show the rate of heart attack/stroke in people who ran high numbers for any length of time, then successfully brought the numbers down with the meds, had just as many heart attacks/strokes as those who never brought their numbers down, indicating that once the vascular damage is done, even if meds successfully lower your numbers from that point on, it makes little difference to the damaged veins, heart and organs
Obviously, if any of those points are accurate, the BP drug-makers don't want you to know, so some of these studies seem hard to locate, but I've seen 'em
So I'm interested in the latest accurate info about these points, from people who really know. My cardio doc isn't one of them. He's a nice guy but he just writes me scrips for the pills and says that's the only fix. Please respond and help clarify, much thanks.
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