Pain killers could be a cause of your raised Blood Pressure

Pain killers could be a cause of your raised Blood Pressure

Many over-the –counter and prescriptions medications are underlying causes of hypertension, which is a major risk factor for stroke, heart attack and aneurism – says Prof. Ehud Grossman of Tel Aviv University’s sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Sheba Medical center.

Professor Grossman whose recent research was published in the American Journal of Medicine explains that along with the renal failure and endocrine tumors that are common suspected cause of raise in blood pressure; the common pain relievers can be a culprit of raised  blood pressure as well. He says, ‘The chemical components of the drugs can raise blood pressure or interfere with anti-hypertensive medications, and while many medications can cause this drug-induced hypertension, both patients and doctors remain dangerously uninformed.”

Weighing the treatment optionsAccording to Prof. Grossman many times  the cause of hypertension- use of the drugs like ibuprofen  is overlooked while diagnosing the hypertension or may be the patient does not reveal the use of painkiller considering such medications that are available without prescriptions are relatively harmless, which is not always true.

Many of the medications that are linked with a rise in blood pressure are quite widely used, says Prof. Grossman, whose research provides an overview of which medications are related to high blood pressure, the list include contraceptive pills, various anti-depressants, anti-inflammatory pills to control pain and bacterial antibiotics.
High blood pressure is known side effects of many of these medications, however, the health care provider may not always account for them in their treatment plans and they don't inform patients of the potential risks associated with these medications. Professor says Its ultimately the doctor’s responsibility to weight treatment options and present the best course of their patient should issues of hypertension arise.

As per the Grossman views the awareness on the part of both doctors and patients needs to be raised, ‘"Many physicians don't account for this, and some don't even know about it. It's their responsibility to be informed and make sure that their patients are aware that this is a possibility. Doctors may decreases the dosage of the drug or add an anti-hypertensive drug to the treatment regime to control the blood pressure.

Balance Cost and benefitHe believes that, to balance between the cost and benefit the treatment plan should be altered. As many times medicine having hypertension as side effects needs to prescribe for patient for the treatment of lethal diseases, for example, new anti-vascular endothelial growth factor drugs, which may increase blood pressure, block the formation of new blood vessels and arteries to solid tumors. Because the drugs are so effective in treating these malignancies, the benefit outweighs the cost, he believes.
But that doesn't mean that patients shouldn't be watched closely for signs of hypertension. "Once a patient has won a longer life with the use of these drugs, you don't want to expose them to problems associated with blood pressure, such as stroke," says Prof. Grossman. There are simple ways to counteract drug-induced hypertension, such as the thoughtful addition of anti-hypertensive medications to a treatment plan, he says.

Note: Avoid unnecessary medications especially pain reliever. In India its very common practise; not only illiterate even the educated will go to pharmacy and get the medication for common illness. I suspect, many of them may be having raised hypertension due to over use of such medications. Let’s try to create more awareness....

Provided by Tel Aviv University

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