Beta Blockers Blood Pressure Meds Pharm
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Controlling high blood pressure, or Hypertension, is something doctors deal with on a frequent basis. Millions of people are suffering from some sort of hypertension. In some instances, high blood pressure can be controlled with changing eating habits, losing weight, or getting more exercise. But for many, exercise and a healthy diet may not be enough to control high blood pressure. For these patients, medication is prescribed to lower the blood pressure. The most common type of hypertension medication prescribed today is known as Beta Blockers.
There is two different ways to lower blood pressure. You can take the pressure out of the arteries through diuretics and Ace Inhibitors. Then there’s a way to decrease the rate of conduction in the heart. One of the ways to do this is through the use of Beta Blockers.
Beta-blockers are a chronotropic drug that blocks the SA node from contracting too much, thereby reducing the heart rate and relieving pressure. Beta-blockers blood pressure meds block the beta-adrenergic receptor. The beta1 and beta2 receptors are the receptors in the heart that that instruct the heart to retract. When betas are stimulated, they retract more quickly, and increase the heart rate. When you block the beta-receptors, you reduce the amount of retraction in the heart, thereby decreasing the blood pressure.
There are four main issues pertaining to the administering of beta-blockers. These side effects can be potentially dangerous to the patient. Learning these indicators and observing them in your patients is key to understanding how beta-blocker blood pressure meds are affecting, or not affecting your patient. Trending your patient is an important way to monitor how the medication is working. This requires measuring blood pressure over a period of time and comparing the results.
We want to slow down a patient’s heart rate, but not so much that it endangers them. Bradycardia, or “brady” means that your patient’s heart rate drops below 60. If a patient takes too many beta-blockers, or other medications in combination with beta-blockers, they can combine to slow the heart rate too much. Having a heart rate lower than 60 is a clear indication that too many betas are being blocked, and can put the patient in danger.
Since an extreme decrease in blood pressure is a possible side effect, measuring a patient’s blood pressure is an important indicator to determine how a patient is responding to medication. If the patient’s blood pressure drops too low, this can cause serious issues. So blood pressure must be monitored closely to ensure the patient is responding to the medication as planned.
Bronchi Constriction is another condition that can develop while using beta blockers. Any time you block beta1, you are probably going to block beta2 as well. This could result in not enough blood being delivered to the lungs and could cause shortness of breath.
Understanding the difference between beta-blocker medication and other anti-hypertension meds, is important to nailing the topic on your nursing exam. If you remember four indicators too look for, you should have no problem addressing this on your next test.
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