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Why Is My Blood Pressure Still High When I Take Medication For It?
Question: My blood pressure is 150/102 and has been for weeks. I'm taking 40mg of Benazepril and 50mg Metoprolol and it won't go down. I've had a complete workup on my heart and it's fine. What else could be causing my blood pressure to stay up.
Brief Answer:
different possible causes
Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic
It would be concerning to have a blood pressure that does not seem to be responding to medication.
To check the accuracy of home machines, I usually ask patients to bring their machines in so that I can check the blood pressure on both office and home machine.
This would be the best way to determine if your machine is accurate, or if you know someone whose machine has been shown to be okay, cross check with their machine.
If your blood pressure is high then you may need additional medication eg hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ). In some persons unresponsive blood pressure is due to excess fluid volume or sodium, the addition of a diuretic helps to reduce it.There is a combination of benazepril and HCTZ.
There are some persons with resistant hypertension, this is high blood pressure that resists treatment.
Other causes of persistently high readings include illness, other meds (Eg cough/cold medication), stress, abnormal levels of some hormones eg thyroid or cortisol, kidney disease
It would normally take very very high blood pressure or blood pressure that remains high for months and years to induce a stroke but it should still be reassessed.
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
different possible causes
Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic
It would be concerning to have a blood pressure that does not seem to be responding to medication.
To check the accuracy of home machines, I usually ask patients to bring their machines in so that I can check the blood pressure on both office and home machine.
This would be the best way to determine if your machine is accurate, or if you know someone whose machine has been shown to be okay, cross check with their machine.
If your blood pressure is high then you may need additional medication eg hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ). In some persons unresponsive blood pressure is due to excess fluid volume or sodium, the addition of a diuretic helps to reduce it.There is a combination of benazepril and HCTZ.
There are some persons with resistant hypertension, this is high blood pressure that resists treatment.
Other causes of persistently high readings include illness, other meds (Eg cough/cold medication), stress, abnormal levels of some hormones eg thyroid or cortisol, kidney disease
It would normally take very very high blood pressure or blood pressure that remains high for months and years to induce a stroke but it should still be reassessed.
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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