What Can You Do If Your Allergy Medication Is Not Working
Allergy shots, also known as immunotherapy, may eliminate or lessen allergy symptoms if medications are ineffective or intolerable. Immunotherapy works by reducing sensitivity to allergens. Each shot contains a small, but increasing, amount of allergen. This challenges the body to build up tolerance over time. The drawbacks to immunotherapy include use of shots, cost and the fact it may take many months to complete.
Can You Take Mucinex With High Blood Pressure
Mucinex is safe to take if you have high blood pressure. This medication contains an ingredient called guaifenesin, which is an expectorant that helps you cough up excess mucus. If you’re ever unsure about the medication you’re taking when you have a cold, ask your doctor for advice. They can recommend specific brands like Mucinex and others that will give you the relief you need without the potentially dangerous side effects.
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Talk To Your Healthcare Provider About Options
Its best to start by asking your healthcare provider for their recommendations so you can be prepared before you are sick with a cold or the flu. They can give you a list of medications that are safe to address various symptoms, such as nasal or sinus congestion, fever, aches, or cough.
Your healthcare provider can also tell you which medications to avoid and may suggest several ways you can deal with these symptoms without medications.
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The Effects Of Decongestants On High Blood Pressure
Know the risks
According to the CDC guidelines, nearly half of the U.S. adult population has high blood pressure. If you suffer from high blood pressure, you should know that decongestants may raise your blood pressure and may interfere with the medications you take.
What is the impact of decongestant medicines on blood pressure?
Many over-the-counter cold medicines contain a decongestant that can affect your blood pressure. This can be concerning for people who already have a high blood pressure level.
Why should high blood pressure sufferers consider cold medicines without decongestants?
If you have high blood pressure, its important you choose a cold medicine thats decongestant-free like Coricidin® HBP. It effectively treats cold and flu symptoms without raising your blood pressure.
Can decongestants affect the efficacy of my blood pressure medication?
Yes. Taking decongestants during a cold may interfere with the effectiveness of your blood pressure medications. Its important to speak to your doctor or pharmacist about your medications.
What Can Uncontrolled High Blood Pressure Do
If the blood pressure rises sufficiently, it can lead to stroke, heart failure, heart attack, and kidney failure. It is vital to keep your blood pressure down, to measure it regularly to monitor your success in doing so, and to make an appointment with your physician to diagnose and monitor elevated blood pressure.
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Nasal Decongestants To Take With High Blood Pressure
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Cold Medicine To Avoid With Hypertension
There are lots of different types of cold and flu medications. Many of them combine decongestants, cough suppressants, and pain relievers . Although these ingredients can help you feel better, they might make heart disease and high blood pressure worse.
If you have high blood pressure, you should always talk to your healthcare provider before using OTC medications. There are two common ingredients that you should be particularly mindful of.
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Which Nasal Sprays Are Safe To Use With High Blood Pressure
Heart disease and stroke are two of the leading causes of death in the country, and high blood pressure increases the risk factor for both of these deadly conditions. What’s worse is that many people who have high blood pressure don’t even know they have it. Despite affecting 50% of men and 44% of women¹, there are few symptoms of high blood pressure .
If you’ve been diagnosed with high blood pressure, your doctor will likely have discussed changes you’ll need to make to your lifestyle in order to minimize its impact. Your doctor will know about any potential conflicts when giving you prescription medicine, but when purchasing over-the-counter medicine, youll need to be diligent.
In this article, we’ll help you understand how OTC nasal sprays may exacerbate your high blood pressure. However, given the severity of heart problems, you should also consult your doctor about your specific condition before taking new medications when you have high blood pressure.
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Mayo Clinic Q And A: Decongestants Sometimes Cause More Harm Than Good
DEAR MAYO CLINIC: Ive heard that nonprescription decongestants can have significant side effects. Is this true?
ANSWER: While many people rely on nasal decongestants to help ease symptoms of a cold or flu, these medications can sometimes cause more harm than good, especially if taken repeatedly. Examples of commonly used decongestants include phenylephrine and pseudoephedrine. Often, these ingredients are included in multi-symptom cold and flu preparations, such as Maximum Strength Mucinex D, Robitussin Multi-Symptom Cold, and Tylenol Sinus Congestion & Pain.
Taking a decongestant can temporarily ease congestion, but it can also create a slight increase in your blood pressure. If you already have high blood pressure, especially if its not controlled, this may be a concern. Decongestants also can interfere with the effectiveness of certain blood pressure medications. If youre on blood pressure medication, check with your doctor or pharmacist before taking a nasal decongestant.
Extended-release decongestants may be less likely to raise blood pressure than the immediate-release kind but can still cause problems. People who have conditions such as diabetes, benign prostatic hyperplasia , ischemic heart problems, thyroid disorders, glaucoma and seizures generally should avoid using nasal decongestants.
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Help For Sinus When I Have High Blood Pressure
Many people suffer from sinus trouble, whether it is a temporary sinus problem or chronic sinusitis. Sinus congestion can cause breathing difficulties, and the extreme congestion leads to sinus headache. Prolonged sinus congestion can lead to sinus infections. There are treatments for congested sinuses, but if you have high blood pressure you must be careful about which treatments you use, as some may actually raise blood pressure.
If you are experiencing serious medical symptoms, seek emergency treatment immediately.
Medications To Avoid If You Have High Blood Pressure
Blood pressure is best understood as the force of blood pressing against the walls of your arteries. A person can be diagnosed with high blood pressure, also called hypertension, when their blood pressure is consistently greater than 140/90 mm Hg.
When a persons blood pressure is too high, their hearts need to work harder which can cause serious damage to the arteries. Over time, uncontrolled high blood pressure increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and kidney disease.
Some medications can increase your blood pressure, so its important to be aware of which medications to avoid if your blood pressure is already elevated. If you are unsure of whether a medication might impact your current blood pressure state, your physician or pharmacist are the first resources you should consult. Often, they will be able to recommend an alternative product that will not affect your blood pressure.
Oral Nasal Decongestants
Oral nasal decongestants like Sudafed and Sudafed PE can increase blood pressure by elevating your heart rate and causing blood vessels to narrow, also known as vasoconstriction. Pseudoephedrine and phenylephedrine can also be found in many cold, cough and flu combination products. If you suffer from cold, cough or flu symptoms, try Coricidin HBP products.
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Concerned About Your Blood Pressure? Our experienced team can answer your questions. Find an available appointment today.
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Coricidin And Benadryl: Alternatives That Wont Affect Blood Pressure
If youre looking for a safe cold medicine for high blood pressure, consider Coricidin. Coricidin is an over-the-counter multi-symptom product marketed specifically for patients with high blood pressure. It comes in many varieties and contains different active ingredients that target coughs, colds, chest congestion and allergies.
For runny nose, drainage, or allergy symptoms, you may want to consider diphenhydramine, marketed under the brand name Benadryl. Diphenhydramine is an antihistamine that will help keep your sinuses clear. Drowsiness is a common side effect of this medication, so it is best taken at bedtime. For non-drowsy antihistamines, consider Zyrtec, Claritin, and Allegra.
Guaifenesin, the active ingredient in Mucinex, is an expectorant that helps you cough up mucus when congested. This medication is also safe to use if you have high blood pressure.
Cough And Cold Medications
Many cough and cold medications contain NSAIDs to relieve pain. As mentioned above, NSAIDs may increase your blood pressure. Cough and cold medications also frequently contain . Decongestants can make blood pressure worse in two ways:
- Pseudoephedrine is a specific decongestant that can increase blood pressure.
What can you do? Avoid using cough and cold medicine that contains NSAIDs or decongestants, especially pseudoephedrine. Ask your doctor for suggestions about other ways to ease congestion symptoms, such as antihistamines or nasal sprays.
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Pseudoephedrine And High Blood Pressure Interaction
In 2005, a study showed that pseudoephedrine increased systolic blood pressure and heart rate, but had no effect on diastolic blood pressure.1 They also found that higher doses and immediate-release formulations of pseudoephedrine were associated with higher blood pressures.1 In addition, the study revealed that patients with well controlled hypertension had higher systolic and diastolic blood pressures after taking immediate release pseudoephedrine formulations.1
Shopping Smart For The Heart
The next time youre staring down the long shelves of the cough and cold aisle, look past the list of symptoms in bold letters and make sure you consider the active ingredients in the smaller print.
If you suffer from hypertension, your heart will thank you.
And dont forget, theres more to decongesting than taking medication: drink more liquids, try using a humidifier, consider rinsing your sinuses with a saline solution and get lots of rest.
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Learn What Works For You
If you have high blood pressure, educate yourself before you decide to take over-the-counter medication:
- Read labels
-
Many over-the-counter medicines are labeled safe for people with high blood pressurekeep a watchful eye out for these labels. Also be sure to look out for medications that having a warning label such as Do not use this product if you have heart disease, high blood pressure, etc.
- Avoid excess salt
-
One reason many over-the-counter meds increase blood pressure is due to large amounts of salt . If you have high blood pressure, aim for 1,500 mg of sodium or less per day, including sodium found in many over-the-counter medicines.
- Keep an eye on your blood pressure
-
When you begin taking an over-the-counter medication, make sure to monitor your blood pressure if you have or are at risk for high blood pressure.
- Play it safe
-
Talk with your doctor about any over-the-counter medications you take or plan to take if you have high blood pressure.
How Do I Know Which Antihistamine To Take
Because there are so many antihistamine products, both over-the-counter and prescription, and because they are used to treat so many different conditions, you may need help figuring out which medication to take. For minor ailments, you can probably take over-the-counter products. You can read the package labeling and match your symptoms to the labeled symptoms. Also, never hesitate to ask the pharmacist. They are highly schooled in the actions and effects and side effects of drugs. You may need to try different antihistamines to find the best medication to manage your symptoms.
If you need a prescription antihistamine, you and your healthcare provider will work together to figure out what medication will be best for you. Many drugs interact with antihistamines, so your healthcare provider will want to know what medical conditions you have and medications you are currently taking. They will also want to know if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant or are breastfeeding. Some antihistamines are not recommended in pregnancy because they may cause birth defects in very high doses. Antihistamines can pass into breast milk, so you should consult with your healthcare provider before using antihistamines if you are breastfeeding.
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What You Should Use
If youre reading this and are concerned about what options are there for you when you head to the pharmacy, DePalma said that you should look for alternative treatments like an intranasal steroid or oral antihistamines to lessen your congestion.
Also, instead of medications with ibuprofen, go with cold and flu medications that have acetaminophen, which wont have that cardiovascular risk, she said.
Dr. Steven Nissen, a cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic, who was not affiliated with the AHAs guidelines, told Healthline that the heart risks with these kinds of drugs have long been known.
We used to see these kinds of drugs in weight-loss products where people whose blood pressure was spiking from taking them. The risks are there not just for nasal congestion, he said. Anything that constricts the blood vessels and raises blood pressure is never a good idea.
Nissen echoed DePalma that the best alternatives are to take a decongestant nasal spray that will have much less effect on blood pressure.
He added that the best thing you could do is to just not take these drugs at all.
Since concerns originally surfaced regarding these medications, Nissen said they have become less of a go-to for people searching for relief from their colds than they used to be.
Over the years, theyve moved away from the easy availability of store shelves to behind the pharmacists counter.
Do Antihistamines Cause Dementia
Long term use of some antihistamines may increase your risk of dementia. Diphenhydramine blocks the effects of a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. This neurotransmitter is vital for memory and learning. Diphenhydramine increased the risk of dementia by 54% in one 3,000 patient study followed for seven years.
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Cold Medicine For High Blood Pressure
If you have high blood pressure, it’s important to make smart choices when choosing medications for a cold or cough. When it comes to over-the-counter remedies for a cold, decongestants can be the most concerning for those with high blood pressure. This medication works by narrowing the blood vessels in the nose, but it may also narrow other blood vessels, causing blood pressure to rise. Read on to learn more about cold medicine for high blood pressure so you can make the right choice for your health. Always speak to your health care provider or pharmacist before using a new medication.
What Decongestant Can I Take With High Blood Pressure
Ask U.S. doctors your own question and get educational, text answers â it’s anonymous and free!
Ask U.S. doctors your own question and get educational, text answers â it’s anonymous and free!
HealthTap doctors are based in the U.S., board certified, and available by text or video.
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Habits That May Be Raising Your Blood Pressure
DALLAS, Feb 20, 2019 With nearly half of American adults having elevated blood pressure, its important for everyone to understand that some common habits may affect blood pressure, making the condition more difficult to control.
Thats why the American Heart Association is providing quick reference tools for health care providers to guide their patients in discovering BP raisers that are often hiding in plain sight:
Improper measurement: Mistakes taking blood pressure can lead to false high readings. Ideally, patients will follow up in-office measurements with regular checks at home to rule out white coat hypertension, which occurs due to anxiety in a clinic setting. In either place, patients should be asked to prepare for a blood pressure reading by emptying their bladder, avoiding cigarettes or caffeine for half an hour before the measurement, and sitting quietly for a few minutes before taking a reading. During the test, a patient should rest the arm being measured on a surface thats chest level, feet should be flat on the floor, and no talking.
Over-the-counter medications: Common pain medicines called NSAIDs, such as naproxen and ibuprofen, can increase blood pressure. Ask patients what they use to treat minor aches and pains. Drugs such as acetaminophen are less likely to increase blood pressure. Decongestants are also known BP-raisers. People with heart concerns should limit or avoid them, particularly if their blood pressure is uncontrolled.
What You Need To Know About Pseudoephedrine:
Brands of common over-the counter decongestants that contain pseudoephedrine: Allegra-D, Alka Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine Liqui-Gels, Aleve Cold and Sinus Caplets, Benadryl Allergy and Sinus Tablets, Claritin-D Non-Drowsy 24 Hour Tablets, Robitussin Cold Severe Congestion Capsules, Sudafed 24 Hour Tablets, SudoGest, Wal-phed 12 hour, Suphedrine.2
Indications: nasal congestion, sinus congestion, and Eustachian tube congestion
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