Important life saving and money saving news for people with hypertension

Parent Cafe
1

<p>"The surprising news made headlines in December 2002. Generic pills for high blood pressure, which had been in use since the 1950s and cost only pennies a day, worked better than newer drugs that were up to 20 times as expensive.</p>

<p>The findings, from one of the biggest clinical trials ever organized by the federal government, promised to save the nation billions of dollars in treating the tens of millions of Americans with hypertension — even if the conclusions did seem to threaten pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer that were making big money on blockbuster hypertension drugs.</p>

<p>Six years later, though, the use of the inexpensive pills, called diuretics, is far smaller than some of the trial’s organizers had hoped.</p>

<p>“It should have more than doubled,” said Dr. Curt D. Furberg, a public health sciences professor at Wake Forest University who was the first chairman of the steering committee for the study, which was known by the acronym Allhat. “The impact was disappointing.”</p>

<p>The percentage of hypertension patients receiving a diuretic rose to around 40 percent in the year after the Allhat results were announced, up from 30 to 35 percent beforehand, according to some studies. But use of diuretics has since stayed at that plateau. And over all, use of newer hypertension drugs has grown faster than the use of diuretics since 2002,…"
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/28/business/28govtest.html?_r=1&hp[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/28/business/28govtest.html?_r=1&hp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

2

<p>Ironically, when I posted this Fri., I didn’t realize my younger brother had had a stroke that day. When his wife called to tell me, I passed along this info to them. I hope they find it useful especially since he checked out of the hospital against medical advice after they brought down his blood pressure. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem he has any permanent damage from the stroke.</p>

3

<p>Northstarmom, thank you for posting this - I sent the link to my H who has been diagnosed with borderline high blood pressure last week. The stersses of the recent events that sent the Dow plunging might have been a contributing factor.</p>

<p>(When a close relative or a friend ends up seriously ill, it is very painful. I’m glad to hear your brother is doing OK. Cyberhugs to you.)</p>

4

<p>Diuretics make you have to run to the bathroom a lot, which is incompatible with a lot of jobs.</p>

<p>I have high blood pressures, and I take the newer drugs. If my doctor insisted that I take a diuretic, I would be unemployed.</p>

5

<p>This study has been very highly publicized. When I was diagnosed with hypertension, my Dr. weighed that study with other research. I ended up on lisinopril. She felt the lisinopril had advantages over hydrochlorothiazide. </p>

<p>Know that for this ‘silent killer,’ medication compliance is very important, and harder to achieve when side effects are troublesome, as per Marion’s comment above.</p>

6

<p>Dear Norhstarmom,
Sorry about your brother. Hope he takes care of himself </p>

<p>LA</p>

<p>Re diuretics, most can be given so that you won’t be running to bathroom all day.</p>

7

<p>Just go for a daily run guys, better than a pill ;)</p>

8

<p>Kel, Husband runs 5 miles a day and was just dx with high blood pressure and put on medication.</p>

9

<p>I^^I have had high BP, even during my running days. Back then my internist (no longer, for obvious reasons) dictated into my file: “PT would rather have a heart attack or stroke than take medication.” I told him that was just defensive on his part and now my survivors wouldn’t be able to sue.</p>

<p>When I no longer could run due to injuries I started taking different meds, eventually ending up with a slight diuretic, HCT. Not enough of a dose to even notice more frequent bathroom trips. It has given me an allergy to the sun which is something I have tried to avoid for other reasons, mostly because I have extremely fair skin. I use a strong sun block but if it’s extremely hot it sweats off quickly. I’ve been taking the generic benazapril with HCT for several years and it works very well for me.</p>

10

<p>I have a question regarding the sun sensitivity. Does it make you more likely to sunburn and/or more likely to get heat exhaustion? My husband is really dark skinned so he tans but I’ve noticed that he can’t stay out in the sun for a couple hours with out feeling funny. I always put this down to being raised in frigid Minnesota. Could it be the meds (blood pressure plus a mild diuretic)?</p>

<p>The high blood pressure is genetic for him. He developed it in his 30’s. His sister has it too and both of his parents did.</p>

11

<p>The preferred medications for hypertension are the thiazide diuretics. The most common one used is hydrochlorothiazide, and the manufactured cost is less than a penny per pill for the lowest dose. It does increase urination in the short-term, but most adjust within a month or two. It does cause increased skin sensitivity to light, thus more likely to burn.
Lisinopril, a member of the ACE-inhibitor class, is the preferred drug for people with diabetes, heart failure, and heart disease. It does protect the kidneys from damage. Most of the medications in the ACE-inhibitor class are generic. The ARB class (-sartans) of drugs are very similar to ACE-inhibitors. There are no generics in this class.</p>