These comments are made for the purpose of discussion and should NOT be used as recommendations for or against therapies or other treatments. An individual patient is always advised to consult their own physician.
Tenormin
Question: My friend is on tenormin, and went off to a conference
forgetting his medication. He decided not to bother to do
anything about it for the four days he is away, because he
“feels fine”. (this is only day 2 without the tenormin). He is 39
years old. Can this be dangerous?
Answer: Beta Blockers are common drugs used to treat many different problems. They are very
effective in treating hypertension, angina, rapid heart beats, preventing migraine headaches,
and have been used to treat stage fright and occasionally anxiety. They also have similar side
effects. Beta Blockers come as selective and non-selective. The non-selective beta blockers
can cause some bronchospasm and asthma. The selective blockers can also, but much less
frequently. Tenormin is a selective beta blocker. Common side effects to both selective and
non-selective beta blockers are fatigue, slow heart rate, nausea, nightmares and difficulty
sleeping, impairment of insulin release, depression, and occasional skin rash. These drugs
should never be stopped abruptly and require a tapering if discontinued. However, it is less
of a problem if one is younger and not taking the medication for angina pectoris.
High Blood Pressure
Question: I have high blood pressure and have been prescribed 100mg Tenormin daily. I was on Lotensin and Tenormin but they took the Lotensin away last month and increased the Tenormin from 75mg/day to 100mg/day. My question is, I experience memory loss of the short term type. I can remeber last year very good, but last night not so good. Also I have lost the desire for sex, not just physical but mentally. Is there another hypertension drug without these severe effects. I am a 47 year old white male, I have had surgery to repair and popiteal aneurysm in my left leg and am now diagnosed with lymphadema. ps I have been married for 26 years to the same woman, she understands that sex maybe won’t come back.
Answer: Blood pressure pills are notorious for decreasing both sexual drive and sexual performance. Although men get more publicity, there is lots of research showing that women have nearly identical problems. The best advice is to substitute different blood pressure pills until your blood pressure is controlled with no effect on your sexual performance. The class of drugs that generally causes fewest side effects are the ACE(angiotensin converting enzyme) inhibitors-like Lotensin. Calcium channel blockers also generally have less depression of sexual performance. I’d discuss this very frankly with my physician-generally patients and doctors avoid this issue and focus only on the blood pressure numbers.
