Blood Pressure medication can certainly provide relief for the sufferers.  But recently, I decided to inquire about the additional effects it brings with it.  This is only a partial list, but some of the common words and phrases I found are:  feeling faint, diarrhea, dry cough and joint pain. 

Those side effects while somewhat daunting didn’t even compare with these:  “depression, heart palpitations, impotence, damage to the liver and kidneys…” 

The benefits are then touted as still making the risks worth it. 

And maybe they are.  But I’m puzzled at how much benefit one gets from impotence and liver damage. 

Blood pressure drugs absolutely do have documented facts supporting their effectiveness.  I just have to wonder if that should be the end of the story or just part of it.

Leg cramping and tiring easily can be caused by a lack of potassium in the body.  The loss of potassium can be caused by an increased need to urinate.  And that, can be the result of diuretics – which are a popular hypertension treatment.

For others, particularly diabetics, diuretic drugs may force an increase of the blood sugar level. At this point additional drugs are required to add potassium to the body or to counter act the effects on the blood sugar level. 

A person who has been suffering from high blood pressure can now add blood sugar issues and heart problems to the now increasing list of health problems.

Given the array of drugs that can be prescribed, just how many other side effects might we actually be dealing with?

If we could just avoid the hypertension to begin with, we wouldn’t even have to bother worrying about the numerous side affects of the drugs designed to treat it, right?

Suddenly the thought of exercising and even eating a healthy diet doesn’t seem nearly as dreadful as is once did. 

Perhaps the television commercial did provide the exact remedy that I needed. I sat dazed in my chair for a few brief moments absorbing everything I’d just heard then I hesitantly put down my oversized bowl of popcorn, got out of my recliner, dusted off my sneakers and took a long, refreshing walk in the crisp night air while wondering just how far it actually is to the moon.