Can Bp Meds Help You Lose Weight

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Approximately one in three Americans has high blood pressure, but only about half of those who do have the condition under control. One common reason: they stop taking their medications, often because of troublesome side effects such as weakness, fatigue, or a dry cough. However, taking smaller doses of several different blood pressure drugs may be a good way to address these issues, a new analysis suggests.

Researchers pooled findings from 42 studies involving more than 20, 000 people with high blood pressure. All had been randomly assigned to take a placebo or one or more blood pressure drugs in varying combinations and dosages. (For the American Heart Association's list of common blood pressure drugs, including their possible side effects, see /heart-meds/blood-pressure.)

Tips For Taking Diuretic Medications

Researchers found that taking a quarter-dose of a two-drug combination was just as effective at lowering blood pressure as taking a full dose of one drug. Taking a quarter-dose of a four-drug combination was even more effective (although it's important to note that this finding came from a single, small trial). People who took smaller doses of multiple drugs had fewer side effects than those taking a single drug at the full dose. In fact, their side effects were similar to those of people who took placebos. The study was published in the July 2017 issue of 

Finding safe, effective ways to manage blood pressure has been a matter of growing interest. Nowadays, there's a trend to control blood pressure more aggressively than in the past, says Dr. C. Michael Gibson, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an interventional cardiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Although the prior standard was a blood pressure target of less than 140/90 for most people, a goal of 120/80 appears to be even more effective for preventing heart attacks, strokes, and death from heart disease.

But reaching that lower goal leaves people more prone to side effects — especially fatigue, dizziness, and fainting, which can occur when blood pressure dips too low, says Dr. Gibson. Also, each class of blood pressure medication has its own side effects. For instance, some diuretics can cause excessive urination, although this usually improves after a few weeks. However, other side effects — such as erectile dysfunction from beta blockers, leg swelling from certain calcium-channel blockers, and cough from ACE inhibitors — tend to persist. When these occur, doctors often switch the person to a different class of blood pressure drug.

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More often than not, people require more than one drug to lower their blood pressure into a y range. And doctors have long known that it's more effective to add a second medication rather than raise the dose of the first one. Taking a lower dose of two to three different medications may be a good alternative when higher doses of a single medication cause side effects.

Of course, people can use a pill splitter to divide most of these pills into halves or quarters. But don't do this on your own, cautions Dr. Gibson. This is especially important for people who have heart disease, because blood pressure medications are the cornerstone therapy for treating many heart conditions, including heart rhythm disorders (such as atrial fibrillation) and heart failure.

But if you don't have heart disease, it's worth asking your doctor about the possibility of lowering your blood pressure medication dose. Ideally, people should be prescribed the lowest effective dose of any medication they take, says Dr. Gibson. During any routine office visit, be sure to review all your current medications with your physician and discuss any side effects you are experiencing.

Antihypertensive Medication Needs And Blood Pressure Control With Weight Loss In The Diabetes Remission Clinical Trial (direct)

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Weight Loss For High Blood Pressure

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Sign up to get tips for living a y lifestyle, with ways to fight inflammation and improve cognitive , plus the latest advances in preventative medicine, diet and exercise, pain relief, blood pressure and cholesterol management, andmore.

Get helpful tips and guidance for everything from fighting inflammation to finding the best diets for weight loss...from exercises to build a stronger core to advice on treating cataracts. PLUS, the latest news on medical advances and breakthroughs from Harvard Medical School experts.When thinking about weight-loss, one often has an “ideal” body weight in mind or an ultimate weight-loss goal. It’s very common for people to think that unless they lose dozens of pounds, they will not be any healthier.

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This is a misconception. Studies have shown that health benefits resulting from weight-loss are evident with a weight reduction as low as 5-10 percent. This means that an individual that weighs 200 pounds will benefit greatly from losing 10 to 20 pounds.

There’s scientific evidence that many obesity-related conditions improve with a 5-10 percent weight-loss. Let’s look at these related conditions and see how modest weight-loss may greatly improve them and your overall quality of health:

Cholesterol Although we have good medications that decrease our “bad” cholesterol also called LDL cholesterol, doctors and patients alike know how hard it is to increase the “good” cholesterol otherwise known as “HDL cholesterol” even by a few points.

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A 5-10 percent weight-loss can result in a five point increase in HDL cholesterol. This deserves applause as raising HDL by these few points can lower the risk of an individual developing heart disease. HDL cholesterol of more than 40 mg/dl for men and more than 50 mg/dl for women is protective against heart disease.

There are other fat-like particles in the blood that are harmful in elevated amounts. They are called triglycerides. People with high triglycerides are at higher risk for heart attacks and strokes among other problems. A normal level should be below 150 mg/dl, while anything above 200 mg/dl is considered high.

Losing 5-10 percent of body weight was shown to decrease triglycerides by an average of 40 mg/dl, which is a significant drop. This level can further improve with exercise, a diet low in concentrated sugars, carbohydrates and fats as well as with reduction of excessive alcohol intake.

Treatments For Hypertension

Excess body weight accounts for about 25-30 percent of cases of hypertension. As body weight increases, it causes hemodynamic abnormalities and other changes that result in elevated blood pressure. By losing 5-10 percent of one’s weight, blood pressure, both systolic and diastolic, decrease by 5 mmHg on average. In conjunction with a salt restricted diet, rich in vegetables, fruit and low-fat dairy, this weight-loss could be potentially even higher.

One of the laboratory markers used to screen for diabetes and to monitor its treatment is called Hemoglobin A1C. The normal level should be below 6.5. Research has shown that a 5-10 percent weight-loss can decrease this marker by half a point on average. This comes close to the effect that some anti-diabetic pills have on blood sugars.

Another condition that is seen with weight gain is a phenomenon called insulin resistance. In this disorder, the pancreas produces larger than normal amounts of a hormone called insulin. Insulin is responsible for keeping blood sugar levels normal. In this condition, high levels of insulin are needed because tissues are resistant to its effects.

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When someone has insulin resistance, the resulting high levels of insulin in the blood cause an increase in fat tissue especially in the waist area, abnormal cholesterol, and sometimes a change in certain hormone levels in women that causes male pattern hair growth and infertility. Modest weight-loss was found to significantly decrease insulin levels and thus to help with reversing these conditions.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Obstructive sleep apnea is a sleep disorder commonly diagnosed in patients affected by excess weight that snore or gasp for air during sleep. It’s caused by pauses and gaps in breathing during sleep and results in insufficient oxygenation. This causes fatigue and sleepiness during the day. It also is responsible for making certain diseases less responsive to treatment, like hypertension for example.

When sleep apnea is significant, oxygen levels in the blood are too low during sleep and the use of a breathing machine called CPAP is necessary. It has been shown that a 5-10 percent weight-loss may improve sleep apnea and sometimes if

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