Hi, my father has been suffering from high blood pressure for a really long time. The drugs his doctor prescribed are helping him most of the time. However, on few occasions he experienced episodes when the blood pressure would go so up that the drugs couldn't help. At this time he would end up in the emergency room where he would get some iv antihypertensive therapy. This kind of treatment was very helpful. I was wondering why his doctor doesn't prescribe these drugs as a regular therapy. Why aren't iv antihypertensives used on every day basis?
Hi, hypertension is a chronic illness that unfortunately requires life time treatment. Hypertension crises are described as a drastic elevation of blood pressure that demands immediate treatment. These episodes can have serious effects on brain, heart and other organs. The intravenous drugs are used in these cases for couple of reasons. The most important one is that when applied this way antihypertensive medicines work very fast and blood pressure can be dropped so that the complications are avoided. The reason why the iv antihypertensive drugs are not used as a regular therapy is very simple. First of all it would be very complicated for your father to go to emergency room every time he has to receive the therapy. More importantly these are very potent drugs and are not meant for everyday treatment. They should be taken under strict doctor's observation.