Hypertension Medications Can Increase Your Risk of Being Affected by Mental Disorders

Contents:

• Medical Video: High Blood Pressure | Hypertension | Nucleus Health
  
• Overview of depression and bipolar disorder
  
• What are the medications for high blood pressure that can cause side effects of mental disorders?
  
• Does this mean I have to stop taking medication for hypertension if I don't want to suffer from depression?
  
• As a result, if the medication for high blood pressure is not taken regularly?
  

Medical Video: High Blood Pressure | Hypertension | Nucleus Health

In 2008 there were nearly one billion people worldwide who suffer from uncontrolled high blood pressure, and that number is expected to increase to more than 1.5 billion by 2025. According to WHO, high blood pressure or hypertension is estimated to cause 7.5 million deaths worldwide every year. The increasing number of people with hypertension, the more people who take medication for high blood pressure. According to the latest research, one of the side effects of hypertension drugs can cause mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder. Why is that?

Overview of depression and bipolar disorder

Depression and bipolar disorder are two types of mood disorders that are included in mental illness. Generally both people with depression or bipolar disorder will experience a loss of interest in life, even to the point of losing their "appetite" for everything they once loved. However, like two sides of a coin, both are the opposite medical conditions.

Depression is a psychiatric disorder that makes a person feel sad sadness continues to be at its lowest point, and very desperate to lose motivation and enthusiasm to undergo daily activities.

On the contrary, bipolar disorder is characterized by a change in the erratic extreme mood, we are familiar with the term mood swings. Bipolar disorder makes the sufferer feel very very happy and overexcited at one time (often called mania), and then can experience unequal sadness at a later time (called the depressive phase). This mood change cannot be predicted.

Although until now researchers have not found out exactly what causes bipolar disorder, they believe that genetic factors play a greater role. Two chemicals in the brain, serotonin and norepinephrine, fall apart in someone who has bipolar disorder. While depression is more influenced by various things, ranging from genetic factors, hormonal changes, drug use, trauma, to chronic stress.

What are the medications for high blood pressure that can cause side effects of mental disorders?

A recent study in Scotland, examined nearly as many as 145,000 people aged 55 years on average who were prescribed medication for high blood pressure. Participants were grouped into four groups based on the class of hypertension drugs consumed, namely angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers (CCB), and thiazide. The researchers also had 112,000 people who did not take any hypertension drugs as a control group. In a five-year period, researchers found as many as 299 people suffered from mood disorders namely depression or bipolar.

When researchers compared the four most common classes of drugs for high blood pressure, they found that people who consumed the drug classcalcium channel blocker (CCB) - amlodipine, clevidipine, diltiazem, felodipine, isradipine, nicardipine, nifedipine, nimodipine, and nisoldipine - and beta-blockers (atenolol, propranolol, metoprolol, nadolol, betaxolol, acebutolol, bisoprolol, esmilol, nebivolol, and sotalol) showed an increase the highest risk symptoms of depression and / or bipolar disorder.

Meanwhile, participants who took class drugs angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) - azilsartan, candesartan, irbesartan, losartan potassium, eprosartan mesylate, olmesartan, telmisartan, and valsartan - have lower risk to suffer from mood disorders compared to the control group. Participants who took thiazide drugs had the same risk as the control group.

Does this mean I have to stop taking medication for hypertension if I don't want to suffer from depression?

Certainly not. Researchers straighten out that you should not immediately panic to conclude to stop taking your hypertension medication for fear of these side effects. Not yet known exactly what caused the connection between the two. Therefore, further research is still needed to be able to understand the various possible effects of drugs for high blood pressure.

There may still be other factors that contribute to the mood disorders and hypertensive sufferers should continue their treatment because it is important to maintain their blood pressure.

Stopping taking high blood pressure without your doctor's knowledge will affect your overall health. Don't also take medication only when you feel a complaint, so that when the complaint improves or the drug runs out you don't control back to the doctor to refill. Medications for hypertension must be taken regularly.

As a result, if the medication for high blood pressure is not taken regularly?

Irregular treatment can cause blood pressure to rise again. This up and down blood pressure can have adverse effects on health, ranging from an increased risk of complications to heart disease and stroke to the ability to think.

So do not ever stop taking medication for hypertension even though there are side effects of the drug. These side effects are very rare and not everyone experiences them. The doctor prescribes medication for you knowing that the benefits will outweigh the risk of side effects.