Some people think that Chinese medicine is to nourish the body, pure natural, no side effects.
Not really.
Chinese medicine has medicinal properties, has an effect, of course, there may be side effects, some Chinese medicines are toxic!
Patients with high blood pressure should also be careful when taking traditional Chinese medicine, because some Chinese herbal medicines can raise blood pressure
Very commonly used in a chinese medicine that can raise blood pressure, licorice.
The day before yesterday, the clinic met such a 61-year-old woman.
Hypertension for more than 10 years, has been eating levamlodipine, betalox (metoprolol), blood pressure is also controlled at normal levels. A few days ago, I was checked for "stomach disease" and "gastroesophageal reflux", and I drank soup medicine since March.
But since drinking the soup medicine, the blood pressure has been unstable and elevated. "High pressure" at 140 ~ 160mmHg, "low pressure" at 70 ~ 100mmHg, and add irbesartan, the levamlodipine is replaced by nifedipine extended-release tablets, eat twice a day, barely control blood pressure.
I took the medicine twice a day, and I had to take several tablets, so I came to the doctor and asked to reduce the number of tablets of antihypertensive drugs.
Take a look at the Chinese medicine prescription, the problem comes, each dose of decoction contains licorice, 9 to 12 grams.
Licorice is a flavored medicine that has the effect of "reconciling various medicines" in traditional Chinese medicine, and many prescriptions will add some to it. Licorice can also suppress cough and phlegm, treat stomach diseases, peptic ulcers. Patients treat stomach diseases, and the use of licorice is also normal. However, the ingredients contained in licorice can cause blood pressure to rise.
A long time ago, people found that licorice has a blood pressure-raising effect
It has been found that chewing gum containing licorice, or eating desserts containing licorice, can cause an increase in blood pressure.
Further research found that the chemical structure of some components in licorice is similar to the structure of adrenocortical hormones in the human body, which produces a corticosteroid-like effect, so that water and salt (sodium) are retained in the body, causing performance similar to the increase of aldosterone, "pseudoaldosteronism". The body has more water and more salt, the capacity of the blood is more, the same blood vessels, the volume increases, the blood pressure rises, and some people will also have edema. The components in licorice can also affect some enzymes in the body, which will increase the contraction of blood vessels, affect the relaxation of blood vessels, and increase blood pressure. Moreover, there are a considerable number of patients with high blood pressure, and the lack of certain enzymes metabolized in the body is easy to cause an increase in blood pressure after taking licorice.
Therefore, taking licorice and preparations containing licorice can cause an increase in blood pressure. Compound licorice mixture and compound licorice tablets commonly used in clinical cough and sputum, liver protection, glycyrrhizinate diamine commonly used in the treatment of skin diseases, glycyrrhizinate monoamine, etc., can cause increased blood pressure. These are indicated in the drug label. There are also clinical reports of such cases, and we have all seen them.
Therefore, when using licorice preparations for patients with hypertension, we must pay attention to monitoring blood pressure and use drugs with caution.
When patients with hypertension seek medical treatment, they must also tell their doctors about their history of hypertension.
In addition, ephedra is also an ingredient commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine and proprietary Chinese medicine, often used to relieve cough and asthma, or to clear plague and detoxify, and to promote lung treatment. Ephedra contains ephedrine, which can excite the sympathetic nervous system, speed up the heartbeat, and constrict blood vessels, so it can also cause an increase in blood pressure.
Many patients know that high blood pressure should be careful with "fuzzy nasal drops". It is because the ephedrine inside constricts the blood vessels, which can cause blood pressure to rise. However, it should be known that many proprietary Chinese medicines also have ephedra, and patients with hypertension should be careful when taking medicines.
Like Su Huang cough capsules, "Lianhua Qing plague capsules" that can be used for new crown pneumonia, etc., all contain ephedra, and patients with high blood pressure and heart disease should also be careful when using them. Therefore, do not arbitrarily take Lianhua Qing plague capsules as a preventive medicine for new crown pneumonia, and when you really take it, you must pay attention to monitoring blood pressure.
Now the hospital's prescription system has a warning design, if the antihypertensive drug and the proprietary Chinese medicine containing ephedra are prescribed on the same electronic prescription, it will pop up the window to remind the doctor to pay attention to the safety of medication.
The patient was treated as follows
* Discontinue taking Herbal Decoction. If you need to take it again, explain the high blood pressure to the Chinese medicine practitioner.
* Adjust antihypertensive drugs.
The patient's original use of levlodipine was good, and later changed to nifedipine extended-release tablets, which needed to be taken twice a day, and irbesartan was added.
Thus, the intake of nifedipine extended-release tablets was discontinued and replaced by a single-tablet compound preparation "valsartan" and "sartan" combined with "valsartan", 1 tablet per day, the content was equivalent to one valsartan, one piece of amlodipine; betalak continued to take. Adjust later according to the change in blood pressure.
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