Decongestants are not for those with high blood pressure

Decongestants work by constricting blood vessels, which in turn shrinks the swelling in the nose and open nasal passages. While this constriction of blood vessels helps alleviate congestion, it may raise your high blood pressure temporarily after each dose. Some common decongestants include pseudoephedrine and phenylephrine. It is safe for those who actually have been diagnosed with NOT having hypertension (high blood pressure). The message is don't take decongestants if you have high blood pressure.

So if you have high blood pressure, don't take decongestants that constrict blood vessels. That goes for hemorrhroid topical medicines or suppositories that are supposed to shrink the blood vessels or varicose veins in your hermorrhoids. What they can also do is get absorbed into your bloodstream and constrict other blood vessels, causing your high blood pressure to temporarily worsen and go much higher. If you don't have high blood pressure, you probably won't have any problems. But too many people don't know when they develop high blood pressure as they age or why they develop it.

Maybe it's better to use non-drug methods to relieve your congestion, such as drinking warm liquids like chicken or vegetable broth, without added salt, if your blood pressure is high. Talk to your health care team, but just don't buy any over-the-counter drug if you have hypertension. You have no way of knowing if the drug works by constricting veins or other blood vessels all over your body once it's absorbed either as a topical ointment or as a capsule, pill, or suppository.

According to the Jan 5, 2005 Medical News Today article, "Decongestants Pose Potential Risk to High Blood Pressure Sufferers - Winter Cold Season Reminder," and according to the Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP) if you take an over-the-counter decongestant for a cold or flu, and if you already have high blood pressure, your blood pressure could shoot up extremely high. This also might affect you even if you have borderline high blood pressure. For most people without high blood pressure, there's little risk. But for the 65 million Americans with high blood pressure this may not be true.

According to the American Heart Association, people with high blood pressure should be aware that the use of decongestants may raise blood pressure and interfere with its treatment. This makes it particularly important that high blood pressure sufferers choose OTC medications wisely this season. Of those people with high blood pressure, nearly one in three, or 20 million, are unaware of their condition.

Check out the link between high blood pressure and decongestants usually taken if you get a cold or flu. Since cold or flu is caused by a virus, taking a decongestant if you have unknown or undiagnosed high blood pressure can really worsen your high blood pressure. Try some nutritional ways to relieve your cold symptoms instead of reaching for a pill, quick fix, or decongestant drugs.

The unhealthy thing to do is reach for an over the counter drug without knowing how it will affect your blood pressure. The nasal decongestant in over-the-counter drugs affects people with high blood pressure by constricting their blood vessels. You may not even know that over the years your blood pressure has risen into the hypertension range.

What Cold and Flu Drug Won't Raise Blood Pressure If You Have Hypertension?

Coricidin HBP(R), the only line of cold and flu medications formulated to be decongestant free for high blood pressure sufferers, is a safe and effective option for treatment of cold and flu when taken as directed. None of the four products in the Coricidin HBP line contain a decongestant, an ingredient that may raise the blood pressure of these patients or interfere with its treatment.

According to the CDC, Americans experience up to one billion colds annually, with the average adult suffering through two to four colds per year. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that five to 20 percent of Americans get the flu during each flu season, which typically lasts from November to March. For older adults, some people feel that for seniors additional heavy flu and pneumonia months also occur in May and October. Older adults still get pneumonia in the summer, and frequently after traveling long distances or using bus and air travel.