Why are so many seniors with low blood pressure still on risky meds?

Starting up on blood pressure meds is a little like checking into the Hotel California.

You learn pretty fast that there’s no way out.

If you or someone you love is on hypertension drugs, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

When you filled that first prescription, you may not have realized that you’d be on these meds for the rest of your life.

But a new study out of the UK has found that docs are keeping patients on blood pressure drugs even after their numbers have hit the normal (or even below normal) range.

And that can turn dangerous — and even deadly — in a hurry.

Hypertension hysteria

There’s no doubt that the mainstream has an obsession with over-medicating blood pressure.

But what researchers recently discovered about seniors and these drugs is almost unbelievable.

By examining the records of more than 11,000 people over 70, they found that low blood pressure (or hypotension), was, on its own, regularly associated with hospitalizations and death.

But that wasn’t all.

Of close to 2,000 people with low blood pressure, over half of them were still being prescribed drugs to lower it even further!

“Once medication is initiated, it’s not always regularly reviewed,” to see if any adjustments are needed, noted the study’s lead author, Professor Chris Farmer.

And something else that Farmer and his team uncovered makes this even crazier.

Close to 70 percent of those who had the lowest systolic (bottom number) readings — that is, under 100 — were still being directed to pop blood-pressure lowering meds!

And that’s not just a little error, but something that can have deadly consequences.

A study done by Yale researchers two years ago found that seniors taking these drugs were much more likely to have a fatal fall. The Yale team discovered that your risk rises around 40 percent after taking these pills for three years.

And they’re talking about falls that can break a hip or cause a head injury leading to a brain bleed.

In fact, the lead author of this study said the “harms” of blood pressure meds are just as serious as the heart attacks and strokes people hope to avoid by taking them.

Aside from the risk of falls, there’s another big reason why you don’t want to artificially push your blood pressure so low. It’s called your brain.

As we get older, blood pressure that is drugged to these rock-bottom numbers can literally starve the brain of blood. And that can send your risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s through the roof.

That’s why if you (or a loved one) are currently taking drugs such as diuretics, ACE inhibitors, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers or renin inhibitors, you need to stay on top of your blood-pressure readings.

And that’s easy enough to accomplish these days as you can find a wide variety of inexpensive home blood-pressure monitors to choose from.

But the most important question you should be asking is: do you really need to be taking these drugs in the first place?

If your Rx for blood pressure meds has been on auto-refill for longer than you can remember, it’s time to have a talk with your doctor about how you can get off them. And if need be, get a second opinion.

It could be one of the most important things you can do to keep yourself out of a hospital or nursing home… or worse.

Sources:
“Many elderly are prescribed antihypertensive medication despite already having low blood pressure” Oxford University Press, July 4, 2016, ScienceDaily, sciencedaily.com