Full Prescribing Information Site Map Contact Us Make Text Smaller Make Text Bigger Print This Page

Understanding High Blood Pressure > Treating High Blood Pressure
Treating High Blood Pressure

Treating High Blood Pressure

You might feel a little down if you have been diagnosed with high blood pressure—also known as hypertension.12 That is easy to understand. You were not expecting it. And left uncontrolled, high blood pressure can lead to serious health problems.8 Just how serious the risk is depends on your cardiovascular risk profile. The good news is that your high blood pressure can be effectively controlled by making some changes in your lifestyle and by taking medicine.3

Treatment Goals for Hypertension

It is always good to know what you are aiming for. The doctors from The Seventh Joint National Committee for Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (the JNC-7) worked together to come up with the following treatment goals for high blood pressure3:

  • If you have no other cardiovascular risk factors, your blood pressure should be less than 140/90 mm Hg. Do you understand your blood pressure reading?
  • If you have diabetes or kidney disease, your blood pressure should be less than 130/80 mm Hg

Diet and Exercise: Where Treatment Starts

You have probably already been advised to change your diet and to exercise more. And if you are like most people, you have probably beaten yourself up a little about not making changes. Give yourself a break. Changing habits is not easy. Most people need to try and try again. So do not give up. It is worth going over again. The ones who love you want you to stick around a long, long time. This will help.

The DASH—Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension—diet was developed just to meet the needs of people with hypertension.13 It helps correct most of the risk factors that you can control.3,8

The DASH diet consists of the following:

  • Cutting calories
  • Reducing your dietary salt
  • Increasing the number of fruits and vegetables that you eat and reducing the fat that you eat
  • Increasing the exercise you get to 30 minutes a day
  • Limiting the amount of alcohol you drink

The DASH diet has been proven to reduce blood pressure in men and women, minority groups, and even in those who do not have hypertension.14 Get your own copy of the DASH diet.

Adding exercise also helps. Even people with severe hypertension can benefit from moderate aerobic exercise.15 Some examples of this kind of exercise are16

  • Bicycling
  • Dancing
  • Golfing
  • Walking

The important thing is to find an exercise that works for you—or that you might even enjoy.

Medicines Used to Treat High Blood Pressure

For many people, even though they have tried, diet and exercise alone did not lower their blood pressure enough.3 There are a number of medications healthcare professionals use to treat high blood pressure.7 Sometimes more than 1 will be used at a time. Here is a quick review of the different types, starting with 1 of the most common:

  • Diuretics—also known as "water pills"—help the kidneys get rid of the salt and excess water that keep your blood pressure high

The following drugs reduce blood pressure7 in 3 different ways:

  1. Stop hormones from narrowing your blood vessels. When a hormone called angiotensin II forms in your body, it works to constrict or tighten your blood vessels. These drugs work either by preventing angiotensin II from forming or by blocking it from working.7

    There are 2 types of these drugs.7

    • ACE inhibitors—"ACE" stands for angiotensin-converting enzyme, a chemical compound that forms in your body. ACE helps create a protein called angiotensin II, which causes your blood vessels to constrict. This raises your blood pressure. ACE inhibitors prevent angiotensin II from forming, which prevents harmful effects on blood vessels. ALTACE® is an ACE inhibitor. Learn more about ALTACE®
    • ARBs—also known as angiotensin receptor antagonists. Instead of preventing angiotensin II from forming, ARBs block it to keep it from working
  2. Reduce nerve impulses to the heart or blood vessels.7
    • Alpha-blockers reduce the effect of nerve impulses to blood vessels, allowing the vessels to relax and let blood pass through more easily
    • Beta-blockers also reduce the effect of certain nerves. This helps your heart beat more slowly, which lowers your blood pressure and makes your heart work less hard
    • Alpha-beta-blockers combine the effects of both beta-blockers and alpha-blockers
    • Nervous system inhibitors control impulses from nerves and relax blood vessels
  3. Work on the muscles in the heart or blood vessels.7
    • Calcium channel blockers prevent calcium from entering heart and vessel cells, which lets vessels relax
    • Vasodilators also relax muscles in the blood vessel wall

More

Increase Your Treatment Satisfaction

If You Want to Feel Better About Your Treatment, Then Share This Information

Fact #1: People who work with their healthcare professionals end up more satisfied with their treatment.3,12 Fact #2: 4 of 5 people with high blood pressure have other heart-related or cardiovascular risk factors, too.11 Because high blood pressure can increase the danger of these other risk factors, you should know your cardiovascular risk.8 Then you can help your healthcare professional provide you with the best treatment.


The quotes presented on this Web site are representative and may not reflect actual patient experience.

Important Safety Information

Do not take ALTACE® during pregnancy, as death or injury to your unborn child may result. Do not take ALTACE® if you have experienced serious side effects related to previous ACE inhibitors.

Common side effects include persistent dry cough, dizziness, and light-headedness due to low blood pressure. Prescription ALTACE® is not for everyone. ALTACE® may cause swelling of the mouth, tongue, or throat, which could cause extremely serious risk and requires immediate medical care. There have been rare reports of low blood sugar in patients taking ALTACE® with medicine for diabetes. Please contact your healthcare professional if you have symptoms of low blood sugar such as sweating or shakiness.

Do NOT take ALTACE® if you are allergic to ALTACE® or other ACE inhibitors.

If you experience side effects that you think may be associated with ALTACE®, talk to your healthcare professional. DO NOT discontinue taking prescribed medication without letting your healthcare professional know.

References Privacy Policy Terms of Access