Can High Blood Pressure Medication Be Dangerous?

Online, March 17, 2011 (Newswire.com) - High Blood Pressure Insider is dedicated to promoting the benefits of a healthy lifestyle in preventing hypertension, rather than a lifetime of taking high blood pressure medication.

Hypertension drugs can have life-threatening side effects, but this recent story from Canada was particularly frightening as drugs had to be recalled following a dangerous labelling mix-up.

A pharmaceutical company has launched a voluntary recall of a drug which may have been mislabelled - with possible "life-threatening" consequences for patients with high blood pressure, says Health Canada.

Following a complaint by a pharmacist regarding a prescription product containing the wrong medication, Mylan Pharmaceuticals is recalling one lot of Mylan-Minocycline 50 mg capsules and Mylan-Amlodipine 5 mg tablets, both sold in bottles of 100.

The risk, says Health Canada, is that patients sensitive to tetracyclines or minocycline may be taking minocycline in error, due to mislabelled bottles.

"In addition, a patient who requires MYLAN-AMLODIPINE for their high blood pressure or angina will not get the medication needed to help them treat these conditions," said a Health Canada statement.

Mylan-Amlodipine is used to treat high blood pressure and chest pains. Mylan-Minocycline is used to treat certain types of skin infections, urinary tract infections, gallbladder infections, and respiratory infections.

In this case the labelling error caused the problem, but even the correct high blood pressure medication can have serious side effects.

So if you're advised to take medication for your high blood pressure, don't accept this as the only course of action.

There are many other actions you can take.

But please be careful .... If you're currently taking blood pressure medications, there is no way that you should consider stopping taking them without consulting your doctor. The withdrawal reaction can also be life threatening.

So what do you do to resist the onset of hypertension?

Always eat a healthy diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables, maintain a healthy weight, exercise regularly, drink alcohol in moderation and avoid smoking. A recent report suggested that having a nap in the afternoon can help protect you against high blood pressure.

All of these lifestyle changes will work to keep your blood pressure levels down.

If you're already taking drugs for high blood pressure, work with your doctor to see if by adopting these lifestyle changes you can reduce and eventually eliminiate the high blood pressure medication from your daily routine.

If you want to know more about how to control high blood pressure without taking medication, then visit High Blood Pressure Insider at http://www.highbloodpressureinsider.org

High Blood Pressure Insider is a website uniquely dedicated to promoting a more natural approach to the prevention of high blood pressure, Its objective is to educate people to manage their high blood pressure through a healthy lifestyle and enjoy the many benefits of a healthy heart.