Saving Money On Blood Pressure Medication
By www.menhealthonline.biz
For years, people who have been troubled by both high blood pressure and diabetic kidney problems have believed that the more expensive blood pressure medications gave them an added benefit in the form of protection for their kidneys. So, they tended to spend extra dollars on expensive blood pressure medications even though cheaper generic equivalents were available. The less expensive generics, they were being told by their doctors, did less to help keep their kidneys healthy.
But a recent study on blood pressure medications and their relationship to kidney health has cast doubt on conventional wisdom.
The study, conducted in the United Kingdom, suggests that the more expensive blood pressure medications offer no more benefit to the kidneys than the less expensive generics. The real key, the study seems to say, is finding a medication that brings blood pressure down.
Dr. Raymond MacAllister at the Centre for Clinical Pharmacology at University College in London was quoted by HealthDay Reporter as saying, "In patients with high blood pressure who are at risk of progressive kidney disease -- particularly diabetics -- it doesn't matter which blood pressure drug you use, provided you get good control of the blood pressure."
The current guidelines for treating blood pressure in patients with kidney disease, especially diabetics, calls for the use of two types of drugs -- angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin-II receptor blockers (ARB). These are considered to be first-line