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When we treat high blood pressure, we often need to be extra careful, especially when it comes to medications. Doctors found that some patients made two serious mistakes when taking amlodipine, which led to unintended consequences and almost killed them!
1. Don't make two mistakes by taking amlodipine, and be careful of cerebral infarction
Lao Wang is a 45-year-old engineer with a busy schedule and a lot of pressure. Recently, due to work pressure and irregular daily routine, his blood pressure gradually increased, and after the doctor's diagnosis, he was diagnosed as a hypertensive patient.
He was prescribed amlodipine, a common calcium channel blocker used to treat high blood pressure. One day, Lao Wang suddenly felt a splitting headache and dizziness, he thought it was a temporary discomfort caused by work pressure, so he arbitrarily increased the dose of amlodipine.
At this time, he was infected with a cold again, and he simply took clarithromycin again. After eating, Lao Wang felt weakness in his left limb and slurred speech, and was rushed to the hospital. After examination, the doctor found that Lao Wang suffered from cerebral infarction.
What caused Lao Wang, a strong man, to suffer from a cerebral infarction at once? Just because Lao Wang was taking amlodipine and made two mistakes.
First, Lao Wang increased the dosage on his own. This is because amlodipine reduces the influx of intracellular calcium ions by blocking calcium channels on cell membranes, thereby reducing the excitability of heart and vascular smooth muscles, dilating blood vessels, and lowering blood pressure. This effect is achieved by affecting the tone of the smooth muscles on the walls of the blood vessels.
However, when patients increase the dose of amlodipine without consulting their doctor, they are actually changing the intended way the drug is used. This inappropriate behavior can cause blood pressure to drop rapidly to dangerous levels, affecting the blood supply to all organs throughout the body, especially the brain. Because the brain is highly dependent on the blood supply, excessively low blood pressure may lead to insufficient blood supply, which can lead to cerebral hypoperfusion, which is an important cause of cerebral palsy.
Cerebral palsy is a serious neurological disorder caused by ischemia and hypoxia in the brain. Symptoms may include limited motor function, muscle stiffness, and significant decreased coordination. More alarmingly, even a mild drug overdose can trigger a series of adverse effects, such as headache, dizziness, palpitations, etc. These symptoms can be a precursor to cerebral palsy, and once they appear, you should seek professional medical attention immediately.
The second is that Lao Wang and clarithromycin were taken together and caused cerebral palsy. This is because clarithromycin belongs to the macrolide class of antibiotics, and its role is to inhibit the synthesis of bacterial proteins, thereby killing or inhibiting bacterial growth.
The problems caused by the interaction of these two drugs in the body mainly involve changes in drug metabolism, drug concentration, and drug efficacy. While Lao Wang was using amlodipine, clarithromycin may interfere with the metabolism and clearance of amlodipine by affecting the drug-metabolizing enzyme system of the liver, resulting in an increase in its plasma concentration. This causes amlodipine to become too potent and causes an excessive drop in blood pressure, which affects the blood supply to organs throughout the body.
Especially in the brain, which is very sensitive to blood supply, cerebral palsy may occur due to insufficient blood supply.
Therefore, when taking amlodipine, you must judge according to your body and understand whether you can take amlodipine.
2. Who can't take amlodipine
Amlodipine is a widely used calcium channel blocker, however, amlodipine is not suitable for everyone. The following 5 types of people should not take it!
1. People with allergic reactions
Allergic reactions can manifest in a variety of ways, with amlodipine causing anaphylaxis likely to be primarily on the skin. One of the common symptoms is a rash, which may manifest as erythema, pimples, or patches on different parts of the body, while the skin may feel itchy. This allergic rash may appear quickly after taking the medication.
In addition, itching is another common allergic reaction, and patients may feel itchy skin all over the body or locally. More severely, allergic symptoms of shortness of breath may occur, manifested by difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, which may be related to allergic bronchospasm or other respiratory reactions.
Swelling of the face or lips is also a severe allergy symptom that manifests as swelling of the skin of the face, eyelids, lips, etc. This swelling may be accompanied by a localized burning sensation.
Doctors often recommend avoiding amlodipine or other drugs in people who have known allergies to these drugs to prevent allergic reactions. In some cases, allergies may not be significant, so you need to keep an eye out for any allergy symptoms when you first start using amlodipine or other medications.
2. Patients with bradyheart rate
Amlodipine slows the heart's pulsatile force by blocking specific types of calcium channels on cell membranes. Calcium channels play a key role in heart cells, where they mediate the entry of intracellular calcium ions, which triggers cardiac contractions. By inhibiting this process, amlodipine slows the heart's pulsatile force, reduces the heart's contractions, and in turn reduces the heart's ability to pump blood.
Therefore, for patients who already have bradycardia, if they use drugs that slow down the heart rate, it may lead to excessive slowdown, causing symptoms such as dizziness, fatigue, and even fainting.
3. Patients with atrioventricular block
The heart, as the body's powerhouse, relies on a delicate electrical signaling system inside for every beat. This system acts like a network of wires inside the heart, ensuring that electrical signals travel smoothly from the atria to the ventricles, thus maintaining the heart's coordinated beat. But atrioventricular block, a disease of heart conduction, is like a malfunction in this network of wires, causing signals to be blocked during transmission and disrupting the heart's normal beating rhythm.
When atrioventricular block occurs, the heart's conduction pathways are blocked, and the transmission of electrical signals between the atria and ventricles is no longer smooth. At this point, if the patient is taking drugs such as amlodipine, these drugs may adversely affect the already damaged conduction system, further disrupting the heart's electrical signaling and increasing the risk of adverse events in the heart.
4. Patients with severe cardiac insufficiency
The effects of amlodipine on the heart may have some effect on cardiac function. For patients with severe cardiac insufficiency, the use of amlodipine may increase the burden on the heart and cause serious consequences such as heart failure because the heart is already in a weak state.
5. People with severe impaired liver function
Amlodipine is metabolized in the body primarily by the liver, so in patients with severe hepatic impairment, drug metabolism may be hindered, leading to the accumulation of the drug in the body. This may increase the toxicity of the drug and further damage to liver function.
Amlodipine has such a large population restriction, is it better to import it?
3. Is there a difference between imported amlodipine and domestic amlodipine?
For amlodipine, whether imported or domestic, its pharmacodynamic components and main mechanism of action are the same, and they all belong to calcium channel blockers, which are mainly used for the treatment of hypertension and coronary heart disease. Therefore, there is no essential difference between the two in terms of therapeutic effect. If you have to compare the differences between the two, there are mainly the following three points.
1. Drug quality and manufacturing process
Imported drugs are often subject to stricter quality control and production supervision, as imported drugs need to meet more stringent international drug quality standards. Foreign pharmaceutical companies usually follow higher levels of manufacturing practices such as GMP. In contrast, although domestic drugs also meet national standards, there may be some differences in regulatory standards.
2. Price differences
The price of imported drugs is generally higher, which is related to factors such as their manufacturing costs, quality standards, and international shipping. Domestic drugs are generally relatively affordable. However, the price does not always reflect the merits of the drug, and patients should consider their own situation and the doctor's recommendation when choosing a drug.
3. Side effects and reactions
Although the main ingredients of the drugs are the same, individual patients may have different reactions to imported or domestically produced drugs.
As a practical example, Mr. Li is a patient with high blood pressure, and after the doctor's diagnosis, he prescribed two kinds of amlodipine of different origins, one is an imported drug and the other is a domestic drug.
After Mr. Li started using imported drugs, he felt dizzy and fatigue for the first few days, and then gradually adapted, and his hypertension was effectively controlled. Later, when he switched back to the domestic medicine, Mr. Li noticed that compared with the imported medicine, he felt some stomach discomfort after taking it, and the effect of blood pressure control was relatively poor.
This is because Mr. Li himself may have had a particular physiological response to certain ingredients or pharmaceutical preparations, and this difference may have caused him to have different experiences with the two drugs.
summary
In the medical process, scientific medication, compliance with doctor's instructions, and regular physical examination are the keys to maintaining good health. I hope that through this lesson, everyone can be more rational about drug use and avoid paying a painful price because of carelessness.