blood pressure drugs? need a doctors opinion.?

Hi! First off, clopidogrel is not a blood pressure medication. It's an antiplatelet drug, something that we use to prevent blood from clotting. The list of meds would be something that I would prescribe for someone with angina/a previous heart attack or stroke. Here's the breakdown of the drugs and what they are meant to do:

1. lisonopril - works by causing the vessels in the body to dilate (or relax and widen). This in turn causes there to be less resistance against which the heart has to pump - think of it as a water hose, if the hose has a larger diameter, the water pressure needed to push the water out of the hose is much less than if the hose was of a smaller diameter. It also works at the kidney level to control blood pressure (that's another topic for another day)

2. Metoprolol - works not only by causing the blood vessels to widen, but also decreases the tension of the heart muscle. This in turn leads to there being more blood flow and thus oxygen available to the heart muscle - taking the hose analogy one step further, imagine if the hose is really elastic, and a fat guy stands on it - no water (and in the heart's case, blood) can flow through it.

Diltiazem - acts like metoprolol but by a different mechanism, it affects calcium channels in the cells.

All these drugs work synergistically to lower blood pressure, it's like trying to hit the enemy at all fronts. However, less meds is always better, so unless your blood pressure is really uncontrollable by just 1 or 2, your doctor might start you on a third. Just be aware of the side effects of the medications, and have regular checks with your doctor and you should be fine.

Do everything you can to lower your blood pressure without using medicine.

Try sprints, 30 second sprint 90 second rest. ON/OFF

DO THIS 2-3 TIMES A WEEK

The aerobic philosophy is incorrect.

SPRINTS build elasticity in the vessels, and protect your heart against shock, increase optimal hormone levels, maintain the natural chaos of the heartbeat.

Aerobics DONT.

Remember ON/OFF strengthens the heart.

Aerobics are a GREAT ACTIVE RECOVERY EXCERICSE. which is good BUT DO NOT EXCEED 23 minutes NO MORE THAN 3 TIMES A WEEK - if doing sprints also , then even less than that

Excercise physiologists have found through their research that the heart strengthens from 8 - 23 minutes . NO MORE STRENGTHENING OCCURS AFTER THE 23 minute mark.

YOU WANT TO PREVENT INFLAMATION OF THE ARTERIES BY TOOOO MUCH AEROBICS. MANY AEROBICS RUNNERS DIED IF THIS.

MARATHONS ARE NOT NOT NOT healthy in ANY WAY AT ALL! They screw up the heart beat, INCREASE TRAUMA TO THE HEART, INFLAME

6 DEATHS LAST YEAR

MARATHONERS GET HEART DISEASE ALOT.

SO try the methods and if you STILL need the blood pressure medcine then you do

EXPERIMENT WITH THE MEDICINES THAT IS THE ONLY WAY YOU WILL KNOW WHICH ONE IS BEST.

Four is not uncommon. Some people can get by with one, others need more complicated regimens. By all means, given that this is a life-long situation, get a second opinion or explore the options in depth with the doctor.

Your pharmacist can also be a valuable resource on the drugs themselves. They usually know more about the drugs than the doctors.

If cost or specific side-effects are an issue, work with your doctor and pharmacist to explore cheaper or more effective formulations.

first off... I'm not a doctor... but.. I've had friends who have had similar medical conditions, who have gotten almost complete off of ALL of their meds. What they did was to start taking the all natural supplements from Melaleuca. If you go to www.melaleuca.com you can get an idea of what they have and how it might be able to help you.

ALWAYS check with your doctor before taking or mixing things... but if something that is all natural can help you get off of the drugs that your on... and if that could save you money cause you're not buying all of that... that's a good thing in my book.

If you want to learn more and to find out how you can get their stuff, you can email me at music_77@yahoo.com

I am not a doctor, but both my husband and I have high bp. My husband has to take 3 to control his. Sometimes, one just doesn't work. So they have to try different combinations to get what exactly your body needs. It took about 6 months to get my husbands under control. Kept trying different ones untill doc. found what worked for him. I on the other hand only need one. And it has kept mine under control thus far. So if that is what the doc. says, just use them. If the bp is right now, then it must be o.k. Better to take them than not too. You can have a heart attact or stoke very easily if not treated and under control.

if your doctor feels you need them. if you think its too much meds. then you are always intitled to a second opinion. I know my mother is on 4 and I am on 2. try asking your doctor why the 4 and to explain what each drug does. your doctor will be more than happy to answer your concerns.

Making Multiple Lifestyle Changes is Beneficial, Achievable in Lowering High Blood Pressure (press release)

by NewsTarget

Men and women with elevated blood pressure who make healthy lifestyle changes and sustain them for up to a year and a half can substantially reduce their rates of high blood pressure and potentially decrease their heart disease risk. With behavioral counseling, increases in physical activity, and adoption of a healthy eating plan called DASH, rates of high blood pressure dropped from 37 to 22 percent among participants in a study conducted by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health.

High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease and the chief risk factor for stroke. About 65 million American adults, one in three, have high blood pressure. An additional 59 million adults have prehypertension, a level that is above normal, and increases risk of heart disease and stroke. Results of the study, called PREMIER, appear in the April 4, 2006 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

“This study underscores the value of lifestyle changes — namely improving diet and increasing physical activity — in reducing high blood pressure, an important public health problem,” said NHLBI Director Elizabeth G. Nabel, M.D. “For the millions of Americans with prehypertension and hypertension, this shows that individuals can make healthy lifestyle changes to keep blood pressure under control without the use of medications.”

A total of 810 men and women ages 25 and older with either prehypertension (120-139mmHg/80-89mmHg) or stage 1 hypertension (140-159mmHg/90-95mmHg) but who were not taking medications to control blood pressure were randomly assigned to three groups. Participants in two of the groups attended 18 counseling sessions during the first six months — 14 group meetings and 4 individual sessions. During the last 12 months they attended 12 group meetings and 3 individual sessions. They were prescribed goals for weight loss, physical activity, and given sodium and alcohol intake limits. One of these groups also received guidance on implementing the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet (DASH), an eating plan rich in fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy products and low in saturated, total fat and dietary cholesterol. DASH is used as an example of a healthy eating plan by the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and has been shown to lower blood pressure in previous NHLBI studies.

A third group served as a control, receiving only two 30-minute sessions of advice to follow standard recommendations for blood pressure control; one at study enrollment and one 6 months later. A third session was offered at the end of the 18-month trial after measurements were completed.

The numbers of participants with high blood pressure declined in all three groups, but the reduction was greater in the intervention groups and most striking in the intervention group that included the DASH eating plan. While approximately 37 percent of participants in all three groups had high blood pressure at the study’s start, this was reduced to 22 percent in the group following DASH and 24 percent in the intervention group without DASH. By comparison, the rate of hypertension fell only to 32 percent in the control group.

“Participants in the two intervention groups made greater changes than those in the control group and saw the greatest benefit in blood pressure status,” said Eva Obarzanek, Ph.D., research nutritionist and study co-author. “This shows that people at risk for heart disease can successfully and simultaneously make multiple changes in lifestyle, for a substantial benefit.”

Goals for the intervention groups included a 15 lb weight loss (95 percent of participants were overweight or obese), 3 hours per week of moderate physical activity, daily sodium intakes of no more than 2300 milligrams (1 tsp salt), and limits of one alcoholic drink per day for women, and two per day for men. Those also following the DASH diet were asked to increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables to 9-12 servings per day, consume 2-3 servings of low-fat dairy products, and keep total fat to no more than 25 percent of total daily calories. To keep track, participants kept food diaries, monitored calories and sodium intakes, and recorded minutes of physical activity.

More than one-third of participants had high blood pressure at the beginning of the study. Of these, 62 percent in the intervention group with DASH, and 60 percent in the intervention group without DASH successfully had their blood pressure under control after 18 months (that is, their blood pressure levels were no longer considered high). Comparatively, only 37 percent of the control group with hypertension at the study’s start had their blood pressure under control at the end of the study.

“These rates of hypertension control produced by the two interventions are even better than the 50 percent control rates typically found when single drug therapy is used to control high blood pressure,” said William M. Vollmer, Ph.D., a study investigator from Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research.

Compared with the control group, one or both intervention groups had:

- Greater weight loss: 5.9 lb in the DASH group and 4.8 lb in the group without DASH.

- Greater improvement in fitness: 2 beats per minute lower heart rate for the DASH group and 1 beat per minute lower heart rate for those without DASH. (The greater the reduction in heart rate, the greater the improvement in fitness.)

- Greater sodium reduction: 354 milligrams for those on the DASH eating plan and 384 milligrams without DASH (about 1/6 tsp less salt).

- Greater reductions in calorie intake: the intervention groups reduced their daily intake by 95 (DASH) and 130 calories (without DASH).

In addition, 25 percent of intervention group participants met the weight loss goal. The group following DASH also achieved increased fruit, vegetable, dairy, fiber and mineral intakes and decreased fat intake.