When healthy lifestyle changes alone do not control or lower high blood pressure, your healthcare provider may prescribe blood pressure medicines.
These medicines act in different ways to lower blood pressure. When prescribing medicines, your provider also considers their effect on other conditions you have, such as heart disease or kidney disease.
Keep up your healthy lifestyle changes while taking these medicines.
The combination of medicines and heart-healthy lifestyle changes can help control and lower your high blood pressure and prevent heart disease.
Talk to your healthcare provider if you have any concerns about side effects from the medicines. They may change the dose or prescribe a new medicine.
To manage high blood pressure, many people need to take two or more medicines. This is more likely in African American adults.
There are several very common possible high blood pressure medicines your provider may prescribe. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors keep your blood vessels from narrowing as much.
Angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) keep blood vessels from narrowing.
Calcium channel blockers prevent calcium from entering the muscle cells of your heart and blood vessels. This allows blood vessels to relax.
Diuretics remove extra water and sodium (salt) from your body, reducing the amount of fluid in your blood. The main diuretic for high blood pressure treatment is thiazide.
Diuretics are often used with other high blood pressure medicines, sometimes in one combined pill.
Beta blockers help your heart beat slower and with less force. As a result, your heart pumps less blood through your blood vessels. Beta blockers are typically used only as a backup option or if you have other conditions.
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Source: NHLBI
