Lao Wang is a lawyer. Apart from some chronic diseases, his health has always been very good. But recently, Lao Wang's body has experienced some abnormalities. One day last week, when he returned home from a walk, Lao Wang found that his left foot was obviously swollen. At first,

Lao Wang is a lawyer. Apart from some chronic diseases, his health has always been very good.

But recently, Lao Wang's body has experienced some abnormalities. One day last week, when he returned home from a walk, Lao Wang found that his left foot was obviously swollen.

At first, Lao Wang didn't take it to heart. He suspected that it might be related to his twisted foot while walking.

But what Lao Wang didn't expect was that his left foot and entire left leg continued to swell in the next few days.

This aroused Lao Wang's vigilance. To be on the safe side, he immediately went to the hospital for examination.

When the doctor saw Lao Wang’s condition, he first suspected that Lao Wang’s condition might be caused by kidney disease.

The doctor immediately arranged for Lao Wang to undergo a urine test. The results showed that the protein in Lao Wang's urine was negative, which means that there is no protein in Lao Wang's urine, which is not consistent with the characteristics of lower limb edema due to decreased kidney function.

After ruling out edema caused by the kidneys, the doctor also checked Lao Wang’s thyroid function.

When the thyroid function is low, polysaccharides will be deposited in the patient's dermis, which will cause more water to accumulate between cells, leading to edema in the patient's lower limbs.

However, the results of the A function test showed that Lao Wang’s FT3, FT4 and hypersensitive TSH were all at normal values.

After these two common causes of lower limb edema were ruled out, the doctor turned his attention to Lao Wang's disease history and drug use history.

During the communication with Lao Wang, the doctor learned that Lao Wang had a long history of hypertension and . In order to treat the disease, Lao Wang had been taking medicine.

Among the drugs Lao Wang took, a drug called nifedipine attracted the doctor's attention.

Doctors believe that this drug may be the culprit that caused Lao Wang's lower limb edema.

It turns out that nifedipine will cause the arteries of the user to dilate. After the arteries dilate, the pressure on the capillaries will increase, causing the fluid in the blood vessels to leak out, increase tissue fluid accumulation, and cause edema.

In addition to nifedipine, Lao Wang also takes and amlodipine .

These two drugs are common on the medication lists of many patients with high blood pressure. So, how to effectively deal with the side effects caused by these two drugs when taking them? Today I will take you to talk about this issue.

1. How do amlodipine and nifedipine treat hypertension? What are the differences between them?

In order to help everyone better understand how to deal with the side effects of these two drugs, we first need to understand how these two drugs treat high blood pressure and what effects they have.

The blood vessels and heart muscle of the human body are composed of a type of muscle called smooth muscle. The state of this muscle will affect the relaxation and contraction of blood vessels, as well as the beating of the heart.

The state of smooth muscle is very closely related to the concentration of calcium ions inside and outside the smooth muscle cell membrane.

Calcium ions will combine with troponin , triggering the cross bridge on the thick myofilament to combine with the thin myofilament and send sliding, thus causing smooth muscle contraction.

So it can be said that the contraction and relaxation of smooth muscle are achieved by calcium ions passing through the calcium ion channel of the smooth muscle cells.

And amlodipine and nifedipine are both calcium channel blockers . They can block the calcium ion channel on the smooth muscle cell membrane, preventing the influx of calcium ions, making the smooth muscle contraction unable to proceed normally.

This reduces the strength of myocardial contraction , reduces myocardial oxygen consumption , and at the same time relaxes blood vessels.

The reason why high blood pressure occurs is closely related to the abnormal working state of the heart.

When the myocardial contraction intensifies for some reason, the heart's pumping function will be enhanced, causing the patient's blood vessels to receive more impact from the blood. This is the process of hypertension.

High blood pressure will not only cause blood damage to blood vessels. During the occurrence of hypertension, the patient's heart is in a high-load working state, the oxygen demand of the myocardium cannot be met, and it will also cause the patient's myocardium to be damaged. damage.

The two drugs amlodipine and nifedipine can come in handy at this time.

They can not only reduce the contractility of the myocardium, but also reduce the myocardial demand for oxygen and reduce the damage caused by insufficient oxygen to the myocardium. At the same time, as the heart muscle function declines, the speed at which blood is pumped out will also decrease, and blood pressure will be controlled accordingly.

So, amlodipine and nifedipine can well help patients control blood pressure, and have a certain effect in treating angina pectoris.

As a drug that is often mentioned at the same time, there is naturally a certain correlation and similarity between these two drugs. They are both calcium channel blockers, and their efficacy is basically the same.

However, amlodipine came out later than nifedipine and is a third-generation calcium channel blocker. Nifedipine is a first-generation calcium channel blocker.

After taking nifedipine, the effect is faster, but the action time is relatively short; while after taking amlodipine, the effect lasts longer. Therefore, these two drugs are complementary to a certain extent in terms of the time they take to take effect, and are often mentioned at the same time.

2. What are the effects of long-term use of amlodipine and nifedipine on the human body? How should we respond?

Although these two drugs are good choices for treating high blood pressure and angina, their impact on the human body cannot be ignored. Next, let’s talk about the harm these two drugs may cause to the human body and how to deal with them.

, peripheral edema

These two drugs can cause vasodilation in the human body, and one of the possible consequences of vasodilation is peripheral edema. Vasodilation will increase capillary pressure, and water in the plasma will penetrate into the tissue fluid , causing edema.

Taking nifedipine as an example, about 10% of patients will experience varying degrees of lower limb edema after taking nifedipine. However, it should be noted that the edema caused by long-term medication is not only manifested in the lower limbs. Edema occurring anywhere in the limbs should be considered as a consequence of medication.

Treatment method: For patients with peripheral edema, they can be treated with the diuretic under the guidance of a doctor. This can eliminate edema in a short time and reduce the impact of edema on human health.

, Heart palpitations

Long-term use of nifedipine and amlodipine will have an impact on the sympathetic nerve of the human body.

The sympathetic nerves will regulate the working status of the human heart, causing the patient's heart rate to be abnormal and cause palpitations.

Treatment method: When palpitations occur, you can consider taking some drugs that have the effect of relaxing blood vessels under the advice of a doctor, such as: beta blockers , metoprolol and other drugs.These drugs can lower blood pressure to a certain extent, improve the blood supply to the myocardium, and alleviate the symptoms of heart palpitations.

. Constipation

Intestinal peristalsis is of great significance to the normal defecation of the human body.

But amlodipine and nifedipine are both calcium antagonists. These two drugs will inhibit intestinal peristalsis to a certain extent, causing long-term users to have difficulty defecation and even constipation.

solution; When there is difficulty in defecation, patients can consider taking , lactulose oral solution, , and mosalib citrate tablets and other drugs. These drugs can improve the symptoms of constipation to a certain extent and help patients defecate. If it is really serious, you can consider changing the drug.

However, it should be noted that no matter what kind of adverse reactions occur, you must stop taking the medication immediately to prevent further harm to your health.

And those taking the medicine should go to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment immediately to determine the next diagnosis and treatment plan.

Regular review is also very necessary, which can help doctors understand whether drugs have had a negative impact on the patient's health.

3. In addition to taking medicine, what other actions should patients with hypertension take in their lives?

Although taking medicine can help patients control high blood pressure, if you want to truly control blood pressure, you still have to start with daily life. Weight control and active exercise are common methods used to control high blood pressure.

In addition, there is a close connection between high blood pressure and excessive salt intake. Patients with high blood pressure should pay attention to maintaining a low-salt eating habit.

Finally, patients with high blood pressure must learn to control their emotions. Overly excited emotions can cause blood vessels to constrict and the heart beating frequency to increase. This will further aggravate the condition of high blood pressure and even lead to serious diseases such as cerebral hemorrhage .

After the doctor’s treatment, Lao Wang’s swollen left leg improved. Lao Wang’s case reminds everyone that although amlodipine and nifedipine are good drugs for treating hypertension, you must consider the harm they cause to the body when taking them.

Especially for those patients who take these drugs for a long time, it is necessary to take necessary measures to deal with the harm that nifedipine and amlodipine may cause to the body. In this way, high blood pressure can be controlled at a lower cost.

References

【1】 Control blood pressure and pay attention to health. Source: Shaanxi Daily 2022-06-02

[2] Normally high blood pressure and antihypertensive drugs are not recommended. Source: Health News 2022-05-18

[3] High blood pressure can be prevented and controlled. Source: People's Liberation Army Daily 2021-12-05

[4] The thicker the waist, the higher the blood pressure. Source: Health Care Times 2021-11-11