Blood pressure medicines: how does each one bring it down?
Relax the arteries, lose salt and water, or turn down the hormones that squeeze the vessels.
Select any card for the reasoning, what to watch for and an exam tip.
Blood pressure medicines
Key points
One drug is often not enough: most people need two or three, added one at a time.
Titrate each drug to its optimum or maximum tolerated dose, and check adherence, before adding the next.
Never combine an ACE inhibitor with an ARB.
A beta-blocker with a thiazide should be avoided for routine hypertension in people with, or at high risk of, diabetes.
Key takeaway
A and C relax the arteries in different ways; D makes the kidneys lose salt and water. The add-ons at step 4 act on the nerves to the vessels and heart.
Members’ explainer
Open this explainer with Pro or Saver
All 44 visual explainers come with membership, along with every clinical question, the EMQs and the mock exams.
