Blood Pressure Medicine (Cont.)

 

Calcium Channel Blockers (CCBs)
Calcium channel blockers keep calcium from entering the muscle cells of the heart and blood vessels. This reduces the heart rate and causes the blood vessels to relax. In turn, blood pressure goes down.
 
CCBs used as high blood pressure medicines include:
 
Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) Inhibitors
Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors) keep your body from making a hormone called angiotensin II, which normally causes blood vessels to narrow. ACE inhibitors prevent this narrowing, so your blood pressure goes down.
 
ACE inhibitors used to lower blood pressure include:
 
Alpha Blockers
Alpha blockers reduce nerve impulses to blood vessels. This enables blood to pass through the vessels more easily, resulting in lower blood pressure.
 
Alpha blockers used for treatment of high blood pressure include:
 
Alpha-Beta Blockers
Alpha-beta blockers work in the same fashion as alpha-blockers do, but they also slow down the heart rate (they are similar to beta-blockers in this way). This category of blood pressure medicine results in less blood being pumped through the blood vessels, and, as a result, the blood pressure goes down. Carvedilol (Coreg®) is an example of an alpha-beta blocker employed as a high blood pressure medicine.
(Blood Pressure Medicine Continued: Page 4)

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Written by/reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD