What is Amlodipine (Generic Norvasc)?

Amlodipine (Generic Norvasc)

Amlodipine is nothing but the generic form of Norvasc that is the besylate salt and a long acting calcium channel blocker. Amlodipine besylate is available in the form of white crystalline powder that posses the molecular weight of 567.1 Amlodipine (Generic Norvasc) is indicated as the best treatment for hypertension. Although this generic form is taken for hypertension it can be taken alone or with combinations to other anti anginal agents.

This crystalline compound is slightly soluble in water and sparingly in ethanol. Norvasc tablets are formulated with the composition of active ingredients that can be used through oral administration.

Amlodipine is a prescription that can be taken with or without foods, it is metabolized by liver and hence, the dosage patterns can be lowered in patients suffering from liver dysfunction.

The recommendations of these amlodipine versions may range for patients with coronary artery diseases with the compositions of 5mg to 10mg once daily. Amlodipine tablets need to be stored at room temperature from 59 degrees F to 86 degrees F and special care must be taken by storing them under light resistant containers.

Generic Norvasc is also a indicated and symptomatic treatment for chronic stable angina, and also can be taken with combinations with other anti anginal agents.

High Blood Pressure Medicine And Sex Drive

There is definitely a relationship between high blood pressure medication and one’s sex drive, for both men and women. In men high blood pressure medication can cause erectile problems because they slow down the flow of blood to the penis, thereby making it much more difficult for the man to get an erection when sexually aroused. It's known that diuretics (or water pills, like hydrochlorothiazide) and beta-blockers (like Atenolol) can also cause erection problems. These are also the first drugs that a doctor is likely to prescribe if you are not able to lower your high blood pressure through diet and exercise. There are also medications known as calcium channel blockers, such as Diltiazem, Verapamil, or Amlodipine. As a group, they rarely cause erectile dysfunction. But erection problems may be less common with some individual drugs within that group than with others.

Women taking these medications may experience pain during intercourse due to a lack of lubrication which is a side effect of these drugs. Women actually experience a bigger affect to their sex drive when taking high blood pressure medication than men do, namely a loss of natural lubrication. Women also may experience a recurring decrease in sexual desire, persistent or recurring decrease in sexual arousal, or a difficulty or even complete inability to achieve an orgasm.

High blood pressure: how it all starts?

Blood vessels to carry blood around the body. When the heart beats, it pushes blood through the arteries. When a person is healthy arteries, blood flows through blood vessels, only a bit of resistance. But a person whose blood vessels are narrow, to prevent the arterial blood streaming through them. The heart has to work harder to make blood, where it should go, and in this way, high blood pressure occurs. High blood pressure a huge burden on your heart and can damage arteries. This increases the risk for cardiac problems and renal failure. Hypertension is often called the "silent killer" because many men and women are not even aware they have it. This is because the majority of the people who have high blood pressure have no symptoms.

Several factors increase the risk of high blood pressure. Some you can control, and some can be. The perpetrators can not be a control are: age, the risk of hypertension increases with age, heredity. If you have close relatives who have high blood pressure, use of tobacco products, you are at higher risk, the fat that regular physical activity, consumption of too much salt. Doctors recommend that all the grownups 18 years and older is considered hypertension. If you have high blood pressure, the following are some tips to help you reduce it to stop smoking. Nicotine makes blood vessels narrower and heart beat faster, which increases blood pressure. To limit sodium and alcohol intake, use a balanced diet rich in vitamins and low in fat, Exercise regularly, and half an hour, or 5 days a week.

What Causes High Blood Pressure?

The causes of high blood pressure vary. Causes may include narrowing of the arteries, a greater than normal volume of blood, or the heart beating faster or more forcefully than it should. Any of these conditions will cause increased pressure against the artery walls. High blood pressure might also be caused by another medical problem. Most of the time, the cause is not known. Although high blood pressure usually cannot be cured, in most cases it can be prevented and controlled.

In 90 to 95 percent of people with high blood pressure, doctors do not know what causes it. High blood pressure with an unknown cause is called essential, or primary, hypertension.

Sometimes, an underlying disease or other condition is found to be the cause of the high blood pressure. This type, called secondary hypertension, only occurs in 5 to 10 percent of people with hypertension.

Causes of secondary hypertension include:

* Renal Pertaining to kidneys (kidney) disorders, such as:

o Renal vascular disease Also called renovascular disease; includes problems with blood flow to the kidneys - A disease involving the kidneys' blood vessels

o Renal parenchymal disease Disease affecting the parenchyma (connective tissue) of the kidneys - A variety of diseases involving kidney tissue

What is resistant high blood pressure?

What is resistant high blood pressure?

High blood pressure ( Hypertension ) is blood pressure that does not show any response to is called as resistance BP. Particularly, it is defined as blood pressure that remains elevated above treatment goals in spite of taking maximum three drugs that includes also a diuretic (Drugs for urine excretion). As it is difficult to treat few cases, and may require a combination of multiple drugs before control is established, it cannot be called resistant until this three-drug combination has been tried.

Diagnosis of Resistant high blood pressure (Hypertension)

Resistant high blood pressure (Hypertension) is diagnosed when the blood pressure continues to be elevated despite trying combination therapy with three drugs. The standard guidelines state that:

* Proper blood pressure measurement process must be used
* The size of the blood pressure cuff should be double checked for accuracy
* The blood pressure readings must be recorded on two separate occasions
* Blood pressure should be taken in sitting and lying position.

Causes of Resistant high blood pressure (Hypertension)?

There are many factors that can cause resistant high blood pressure (Hypertension), and proper medical testing is required to investigate each of these potential causes. The three most common causes of resistant high blood pressure (Hypertension) are:



* Patient is not showing compliance with treatment, i.e. not taking medicine regularly.
* Secondary high blood pressure (Hypertension) (Usually from overactive adrenal glands or pheochromocytoma)
* Fluid retention (usually expansion from kidney failure)

Secrets of High Blood Pressure Treatment

Secrets of High Blood Pressure Treatment

Medical scientists are fighting this life-threatening disease and they have gained some success. That is the development of several classes of antihypertensive drugs and definition of “normal” levels of blood pressure that should be maintained to reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications and death.

Is it a great success? Unfortunately not. Pharmaceutical treatment can not reverse the disease. The patient with developed arterial hypertension can only hope to reduce the risk of high blood pressure complications. How big is this risk reduction? Relative risk reduction is less than 25% during 2-5 years for all major cardiovascular complications. It is higher for stroke (36-45%) and less for heart attacks (10-15%). When all risks are combined, the relative risk reduction is close to 25%.

Be careful and distinguish absolute and relative risk reductions. Papers and pharmaceutical ads always present relative risk reduction which is more impressive. They even do not mention that it is “relative”. That is because the absolute risk reduction could be as much as 0.2-2.0%. Does not impress you, right? Let’s take a clinical trial where 0.6% and 0.96% of patients had had fatal stroke in the treatment group and placebo group accordingly. Absolute risk reduction will be 0.96% - 0.60% = 0.36%, however relative risk reduction will be as much as (0.96% - 0.6%)/0.96% = 37.5%! Looks much better! Absolute risk reduction 0.36% means that from one thousand patients taking medication during 3-5 years, three or four could be saved from fatal stroke. Clinical trials don’t say what will happen with those saved patients after 5 years. Presumably, the risk is postponed towards after 5 years period. Clinical trials also do not say which particular patients will be saved. It is like lottery, it could happen that 4 saved patients is just a difference between 44 saved and 40 preliminary died due to pharmaceutical side effects. Vioxx, Celebrex, Baycol are the known examples.

How to Deal with High Blood Pressure

How to Deal with High Blood Pressure

Most alternative medicines for high blood pressure offer relief from the problem without these unwanted effects. Most of us will not experience symptoms that suggest we have high blood pressure. Properly known as hypertension, the problem manifests itself quite unnoticed at first. Stress can lead to hypertension, but stress, anxiety and tension are not the same as high blood pressure. A doctor will diagnose hypertension when the patient's systolic blood pressure crosses 240 mmHg. Simultaneously, diastolic blood pressure may go above 120 mmHg. If both these finding occur at the same time, there is no room for doubt.

When the patient experiences symptoms like recurring headaches, he or she may have malignant hypertension. This can lead to a number of problems, including kidney failure. Generally, high blood pressure is a serious problem to patients suffering from diabetes. This is because diabetes tends to weaken the walls of the heart and arteries. In such a case, high blood pressure can prove to be a fatal complication.

High blood pressure is not an illness in itself, but it can lead to some organ damage. People with high blood pressure are very prone to strokes, heart attacks, problems with the eye's retinas and kidney disease. Pregnant women can certainly not afford to ignore hypertension because it often leads to many complications.

Patients with high blood pressure must modify their lifestyles. Those who are overweight need to start exercising regularly. They must also eliminate excess salt from their diets and include plenty of fruit, nuts and green vegetables. If they live stressful lives, they need to eliminate the stress-inducing factors. Doing this can sometimes include moving out of an overly noisy neighbourhood and switching to a less demanding job. Additionally, the patient will probably have to take certain antihypertensive medication.

It is possible to live a full and functional life with high blood pressure without using pharmacological medicines. For instance, many patients have found considerable relief by using hawthorn. Studies have shown that a majority of patients with type 2 diabetes using hawthorn for around 16 weeks displayed a reduction in their mean diastolic blood pressure.

Symptoms of high blood pressure

Symptoms of high blood pressure

Blood pressure is a measure of the force that the blood applies to the walls of the arteries as it flows through them. It's normal for blood pressure to increase when you exert yourself, or when you feel stressed or anxious. But if your blood pressure is consistently higher than the healthy level when at rest, this is high blood pressure (hypertension).
High blood pressure usually causes no symptoms. Even if high blood pressure does cause symptoms, the symptoms are usually mild and nonspecific (vague, or suggesting many different disorders). Thus, high blood pressure often is labelled "the silent killer." People who have high blood pressure typically don't know it until their blood pressure is measured.
One of the most dangerous aspects of hypertension is that you may not know that you have it. There are generally no symptoms of high blood pressure, so you usually don't feel it. In fact, nearly one-third of people who have hypertension don't know it. The only way to find out if you have high blood pressure is to get your blood pressure checked on a regular basis. This is especially important if you have a close relative who has high blood pressure.
If your blood pressure is extremely high, there may be certain symptoms to look out for, including: Severe headache, Fatigue or confusion, Vision problems, Chest pain, Difficulty breathing, Irregular heartbeat, Blood in the urine, Pounding in your chest, neck, or ears.
If you have any of these symptoms, see a doctor immediately. You could be having a hypertensive crisis that could lead to a heart attack or stroke.