Heart Disease and Heart Attack Forum - High blood pressure or heart failure?

Conditions and Diseases > Heart Disease and Heart Attack Forum > High blood pressure or heart failure?

What exactly is blood pressure in the first place? And how can you know if your blood pressure is either high OR low?...

Q: High blood pressure or heart failure?

asked by: DoctorQuestion on March 29th, 2007

I was wanting to know about the hydralazine and clonidine for my heart. The doctor first put me on bidil which I couldn't take due to side effect of massive headaches. Are these drugs used to treat blood pressure or heart failure? The doc. told me my heart was at the point it needed a little help now. My first echo showed only mild aortic regurgatation, the most recent one showed moderate regurgatation in aortic valve but now all the remaining valves also showed mild regurgation. I stayed tired all the time before being put on these drugs and now am wondering if the side effects of these drugs are making me even more tired? It's hard for me to function at this point. Also, at my age just how worried should I be about my heart? As you can see from the info. I provided I have other health issues also. Could the ischemic colitis and other digestive problems in any way be related to my heart condition?

Replies(1)

Dr. Nikola Gjuzelov , MD

replied on April 16th, 2007

Heart Disease & Heart Attack Answer A2559

Hydralazine and clonidine are medications used for treating high blood pressure. These medicines cause vasodilatation which decreases blood pressure. Treating high blood pressure indirectly helps treat chronic heart failure. High blood pressure can cause heart failure over time or can worsen the degree of the heart failure, especially when triggered by other causes such as valvular regurgitation. Treating high blood pressure is, in fact, the first step of treating chronic heart failure.
Tiredness and fatigue could be due to heart failure but can be also a side effect of some medicines you are taking (clonazepam, prometazine, clonidine…).
Without treatment, heart failure will worsen. You can consult a cardiologist and a cardio-surgeon about the valvular disorders.
It doesn’t seem likely that your digestive disorders are related to your heart condition.

DISCLAIMER: "Ask a Doctor" questions are answered by certified physicians and other medical professionals who volunteer their time on eHealth Forum. For more information about experts participating in the "Ask a Doctor" Network, please visit our medical experts page. You may also visit our Heart Disease and Heart Attack , for moderated patient to patient support and information.

The information provided on eHealth Forum is designed to improve, not replace, the relationship between a patient and his/her own physician. Personal consultation(s) with a qualified medical professional is the proper means for diagnosing any medical condition.

Learn About Us

Get Help

Join In

Do More

We comply with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health
information:
verify here.

The site is not a replacement for professional medical opinion, examination, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your medical doctor or other qualified health professional before starting any new treatment or making any changes to existing treatment. Do not delay seeking or disregard medical advice based on information written by any author on this site. No health questions and information on eHealth Forum is regulated or evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and therefore the information should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease without the supervision of a medical doctor. Posts made to these forums express the views and opinions of the author, and not the administrators, moderators, or editorial staff and hence eHealth Forum and its principals will accept no liabilities or responsibilities for the statements made. Schizophrenia health sitemap.
This page was last updated on January 1, 2009.
© 2008 eForums, Inc