High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a condition in which your heart must worker harder than normal to pump blood throughout your body. This causes stress on the heart muscles and can lead to severe or fatal problems such as strokes and heart attacks, or myocardial infarctions. The standard blood pressure for adults who are in good health should be 140/90 mm Hg or lower. This may be different for you if you have such maladies as coronary artery disease, diabetes or kidney disease, or if there is a dysfunction in the heart or heart failure.
Thiazide Diuretics
Commonly called water pills, thiazide diuretics help the kidneys get rid of excess water and salt, which in turn decreases the volume of blood in your body. According to the Mayo Clinic, these types of medications might be the first drugs your physician prescribes to treat hypertension. If they do not make significant progress in lowering blood pressure, other drugs may be added to treatment or your doctor might change your medication. Among the names of thiazide diuretics used are Diuril (generic chlorothiazide), Zaroxolyn (generic: metolazone) and Hydrodiuril (generic: hydrochlorothiazide). Older people may be prescribed Lozol (generic: indapamide) for their hypertension. These types of drugs can cause side effects that include pain in the chest, skin cracks, fever, urine discoloration, confusion, nosebleeds, tingling or numbing in the feet or hands, and others.
Potassium-sparing Diuretics
There are three types of these medications commonly prescribed. They are Dyrenium (generic: triamterene), Aldactone (generic: spironolactone) and amiloride hydrochloride. These types of diuretics generally are prescribed in combination with other medications for hypertension. Side effects might include diarrhea, chills, blood in the urine or stools, constipation, fever, headaches, decreases in appetite, shortness of breath, nausea, bad breath and weakness, among others.
Loop Diuretics
Loop diuretics include Demadex (generic: torsemide), Bumex (generic: bumetanide), Lasix (furosemide) and Edecrin (generic: ethacrynic acid). These drugs help your kidneys to produce more urine. Side effects may include pain in the chest, headaches, ulcers in the mouth or on the lips, bodily weakness, pain the back or side, vision blurring, confusion, diarrhea, and tachycardia or rapid heartbeat.
Other Medications
There are a variety of other drugs that can be used alone or in combination with other drugs to help lower blood pressure. These include beta blockers such as Lopressor (generic: metoprolol), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE) such as Univasc (generic: moexipril hydrochloride), angiotensin II receptor blockers such as Azor (generic: olmesartan medoxomil and amlodipine combination), calcium channel blockers such as Sular (generic: nisoldipine) and renin inhibitors such as Tekturna (generic: aliskiren). Another type of drug that might be prescribed is a vasodilator that can help stop narrowing of arteries. Vasodilators can include Capoten (generic: captopril) and Flolan (generic: epoprostenol sodium). Other blood pressure-lowering drugs include alpha blockers such as Adcirca (generic: tadalafil) and Coreg (generic: cardedilol), central-acting agents such as Catapres (generic: clonidine) and Tenex (generic: guanfacine), and alpha-beta blockers. Side effects from these types of medications are many and varied, depending on the specific drug used.
