Too many blood pressure meds?

Question

My brother has high blood pressure and had a stroke at the beginning of the year, and then a couple of months he had a very bad car accident. The doctor's told him he was border line diabetic, as well. My question is this, does he really need to be taking 3 blood pressure meds? One of the pills he takes makes his leg hurt very bad, and he doesn't know which one it is. I have told him to go talk to the doctor, but it's a money issue with him. He really can't afford the visit and doesn't have any insurance.
The following is a list of the meds he is taking:
Metformin--Diabetes 2 med
Enalapril--Blood Pressure
Spironolact--Blood Pressure
Hydralazine--Blood Pressure
Metoprolol--Heart
Plavix--Stroke Med

Answer 1

All of these medications have different functions--the Enalapril or Vacotec is an ACE inhiboter
Spironolact is a diruretic (to get rid of fluid build up)
Hydralazine is a smooth muscle relaxer for the heart and it relaxes and is used in conjunction with other hypertention meds.
Metoprolol is a selective beta1 receptor blocker (often prescribed as Toprol). You may have heard this type of medication referred to as a beta-blocker. Inderal is the most common--it slows the heart rate down, thus decreasing the force of blood pressure.

It is not unusual at all for docs to prescripe several different medications for 1 condition. Obviously they are concerned that his high blood pressure is what caused his stroke. The Plavix is used to prevent blood clots.

There are some medications that do combine the actions of some of these drugs. For instance, Uniretic is both a diuretic and an Ace inhibitor. It sounds like this doc. is covering all bases and using all the standard meds that are used for high BP.
Aside from taking the meds your brother needs to reduce his salt intake, if he smokes he has to stop, get exercise and watch his weight.

This article discussed that doctors need to try combinations of meds to see if these will lower his pressure. Quite often, one medication can do the trick. See the Mayo Clinic's discussion on this issur
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-blood-pressure-medication/HI00028

Answer 2

Does he really need to be taking 3 blood pressure medications? The answer is yes. Doctors do not start out with 3 meds. They usually start with one plus a water pill (spironolactone). If the blood pressure doesn't come down into the range they want their patient, then they add another one and then another. Some drugs work better together to control high blood pressure. Your brother has a good combination going - leave it alone unless he wants to go back to having uncontrolled hypertension with then will cause him to have his second stroke. He can reduce his blood sugars by diet alone - he can research this on the internet on how to eat properly so he doesn't have to start diabetic medications also. He can call his doctor about his leg hurting and see if he has any recommendations about this and possibly being caused by one of his meds. Your brother can ask a pharmacist where he gets his meds this question for free. He does not need a doctor's visit at this time unless the leg pain is unbearable. Then, he could make arrangements with his doctor to make payments on his next visit BEFORE seeing his doctor. Some clinics will do this. Do not encourage him to stop any of his meds unless you want to visit him in a nursing home or the cemetary after his next massive stroke.

Answer 3

1

Answer 4

Diabetics and pre-diabetics do not have to avoid sugar. Sugar isn't the cause of diabetes, this is a common myth. It's a matter of carbohydrates and total calories that can cause a rise in blood sugar.

How does your brother know that it's one of his meds that is causing his leg pain? It could have been coincidental in it's appearance.

At any rate, at some point, he will have to see a doc because his prescriptions will run out. But before that happens, he really needs to see a doc about his leg pain. Maybe it's related to the drugs, maybe it's a new symptom.

No one on YA can assess whether your brother should be on all those drugs or not because they don't know his complete history.

If he truly can't afford a doctor's visit - how about a visit to the community health department?

Answer 5

3 years ago, I was diagnosed - hypertension with a reading of 160/100. I used to feel dizzy a lot, my legs had awful cramps, and levels were very low in my potassium, causing my fingers and toes to always cramp together. One day I started to feel really faint while I was driving with my daughter in the back seat and I passed out, hitting 3 cars and ending up in a ditch. That moment,I knew I had to do something because my meds weren't working. I heard about this diet from a friend and thought I'd give it a shot. The results have been remarkable. In just 21 days, I honestly can't remember feeling this good, my blood pressure went from 175/110 to 125/70.

Answer 6

All that is being done with your brother is treating the symptoms that he has instead of getting to the root cause of his problems - he should not be on all those meds!! It sounds like your brother may have metabolic syndrome (which is people that have insulin insensitivity [ie: diabetes type 2], high blood pressure, high cholesterol [although he's not on cholesterol meds]). I would suggest going to see a doctor that can address the root of his problem instead of just giving him more meds that often have worse side effects than that conditions they treat. Heart disease is not something to mess around with so he should go see a practitioner that is qualified. I just graduated as a Naturopathic Doctor and I know of quite a few doctors that have had great results with patients on many heart medications. By working with his diet, lifestyle etc. these conditions can be effectively treated. You might want to look into some of the work being done by the Institute of Functional medicine in the states. This is a group of MDs, PhDs and NDs that work with patients to treat many health concerns (especially heart disease and metabolic syndrome) and eliminate medication usage. I believe that altering diet and lifestyle can make a huge impact on things like genetic expression (whether we "turn on" of "turn off" certain inherited genes) and many supplements can help your brother get to and treat the root cause of his problems instead of trying to cover them up with "bandaid" solutions!

Answer 7

One thing that my grandfather took for almost 50 years to help lower his blood pressure was bugle,also known as carpenters weed,sickle wort or middle comfrey.He would make tea out of the leaves and some times also from the roots. There are a few different varieties but it doesn't really matter which one you use. Bugle can also be used as a mild laxative analgesic helps allays coughs and irritations helps rheumatism and can also be used as a mild narcotic. I hope I was of some help.Take care.

Answer 8

Try to find another doc to see for one time about the amount of meds. It doesn't seem right. Good luck!!!

Answer 9

Your brother should start eating foods rich in potassium. You can find that information on line.

I have high blood pressure myself. I am also on a water pill.

Answer 10

Saturated fat raises cholesterol and is found mostly in foods from animals like beef, pork, eggs, butter and cheese. Plants that contain saturated fat include coconut, cottonseed and palm oil, and cocoa butter.
High cholesterol causes high blood pressure. The best thing for high cholesterol is Losing weight. A plant-based diet in conjunction with a properly conducted fast, most often leads to a total recovery or a vast improvement in hypertension and angina.

For borderline diabetics... avoid sugar and high amounts of carbohydrates.