Blood Pressure Check

Pain relievers could turn out to be godsend in situations when the discomfort is uncontrollable. But, scientists from the Tel Aviv University have revealed that pain relieving medications may increase blood pressure levels in the body.

Though most of us already know the side-effects of consuming such medications, their use is still widespread. The authors believed that it is the responsibility of health care practitioners to weigh the benefits and risks of pills. Patients need to be well informed of the potential threats arising from using such medicines.

Prof. Ehud Grossman of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Sheba Medical Center remarked, “In diagnosing the causes of hypertension, over-the-counter drugs like ibuprofen are often overlooked.”

Nevertheless, the investigators asserted that blood pressure spikes could be ignored in case of highly effective medications. However, this did not mean that signs of hypertension could be overlooked while using drugs with more benefits.

The team added that there are many ways to resist high blood pressure experienced by popping pills. One of it is by inclusion of anti-hypertensive drugs as a therapeutic alternative. Physicians can even prescribe lower doses of the drug to counteract the side-effects of the same. While conditions like kidney failure are usually blamed for high blood pressure, the role of over-the-counter pain relievers seems to be neglected often.

The study is published in the American Journal of Medicine.