Antihypertensive Drugs

Antihypertensives and Sexual life

This is a very common question that jumps to the brain once anyone male or female realizes that he or she is hypertensive and suffers from significantly high blood pressure.

Hypertension definitely affects sexual life. As the main erectile dysfunctions in males are derived from hypertension. High blood pressure decreases blood flow to the penis thus leads to erectile dysfunction. Many people think that this high blood pressure can’t affect female sexual life or has mild action on that but the truth is hypertension severely affects female sexual life as well as Male’s sex. Many studies approved that hypertensive females have got difficulties during intercourse results from low amount of secreted lubricating fluid and this leads to difficulty reaching orgasm.

Angiotensin II receptor blockers are chemical substances commonly used worldwide in treatment of high blood pressure. According to their name Angiotensin receptor blockers they have a blocking action on Angiotensin II receptors. This leads to remarkable decrease in blood pressure. To get the idea about how these type of drugs  work you need to know first about what is called Angiotensin.

A recent Dutch study showed that there is a relation between Beta Blockers as hypertension medication and bad feelings. Merel Kindt and her team used propanolo (INDERAL) to remove, talking in short term, the fear induced by painful memory.

This study about Beta Blockers opened the door for new thoughts to help patients suffering from anxiety and fears. The main question that jumped in all doctors minds now is how long this effect lasts and if it can affect memories that extends for years or the recent memories.

In this experiment Merel Kindt has induced a kind of fear in 60 students at Amsterdam University. This was done during 3 days. On day one students learned to relate spiders images with electrical shock. Fear was detected by checking how much each student’s eye blinked to the stimulus. The second day, same procedure took place but after giving the students propanolol or placebo (devided into two groups). In the third day students have tested again and Kindt found that propanolol group has been eliminated of physiological fears.

Indapamide (marketed by Servier as Natrilix SR)  is a thiazide-like diuretic. It inhibits Na/Cl reabsorption from the distal convulated tubules in the kidneys. It lower the blood pressure by inducing diuresis which means a fall in blood volume and decreasing on cardiac output. When taking for prolonged it causes lowering in peripheral resistance.

Indapamide may induces some side effects like fatigue, allergy, rarely skin rash, vertigo and hypokalemia (decreasing potassium level in serum).

Daily dosage is to be one tablet daily in early morning.

Indapamide is contra-indicated in patients having renal impairment, liver failure or hypokalemia.

Interaction activity shown with Lithium so it should be avoided to be taken with any Lithium therapy and nonantiarrhythmic drugs like bepridil, terfenadine, sultopride and vincamine.