"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
news
Brian Gaff expressed precisely :
All I will say is don't let them prescribe Ramopril, as it gives you a
nasty cough. there are other medications to dilate blood vessels that
work just as well. However they really need to find out why the pressure
is high. In my case its my liver being hard to push blood through, but
I'm sure there are lots of other issues.
Brian

I have to take one of those per day, beginning last Thursday -I don't have
a cough.

They began me on Amlopodine 1 per day, 18 days ago.

I don't think the Ramopil dilates, the Amlopodine was supposed to do
that - so they said.

I too am on Amlodipine and Ramipril. I was expecting the cough for the
latter,
but no, it only affects 10% of patients according to the leaflet.

Nobody knows why the elderly get high blood pressure, which makes me dubious
about taking pills to reduce it. Both these medications relax
the blood vessels so that the heart doesn't have to pump so hard and is
under
less strain.

It sounds plausible but I can't find any evidential studies to prove it. I
could argue that if the blood vessels are expanded, their walls would be
thinner and weaker, and might burst at a lower pressure. So although my
blood pressure is lower, my chances of having a stroke are the same!

When I was searching for academic papers, I came across an outfit called
Cochran. Their mission is to create an index of independent global medical
evidence on all sorts of topics. One is the question of whether giving
medication for mild hypertension to the elderly increases their chances
of survival. They could find nothing much, so I gave up looking also.
--
Dave W