Why do people with high blood pressure get swollen feet? Will it cause adverse consequences?

Dipine antihypertensive drugs are widely used in clinical practice and are very suitable for elderly hypertensive patients. While reducing blood pressure, they can also play a role in anti-atherosclerosis. Dipine antihypertensive drugs are a "big family" with many members, such as nifedipine, levamlodipine besylate, and felodipine.

Dipine antihypertensive drugs are essentially calcium channel blockers, that is, by preventing calcium ions from entering the vascular smooth muscle cells, the blood vessels are expanded and the effect of reducing blood pressure is achieved. Years of clinical research and medication evaluation have shown that dipine antihypertensive drugs have no absolute contraindications, and their safety is relatively high. However, no matter how effective a drug is, it will inevitably have more or less side effects. The common side effect of dipine-type antihypertensive drugs is swelling of the feet. Foot swelling is not caused by drugs that have destroyed tissues or attacked other organs, but is inherent to its pharmacological effects. Dipine antihypertensive drugs have a very good effect on the expansion of small arteries, but the expansion of small veins and capillaries is very limited, which may cause fluid accumulation. When people stand and move during the day, body fluids are likely to accumulate in the lower extremities under the influence of gravity. At night, when people lie down, the reflux pressure of the lower extremities will decrease, and the edema will gradually subside. Therefore, the situation of "foot swelling at night and recovery in the morning" occurs.

Will swollen feet cause adverse consequences?
Usually not, because the edema caused by dipine-type antihypertensive drugs mostly occurs in the early stage of medication and often disappears on their own. If the degree of swelling of the feet is not severe, you do not need to pay attention to it and you can continue to take the medicine. If the swelling is obvious and affects daily life, you can consider switching to other types of antihypertensive drugs or combination drugs.

Can patients with high blood pressure have swollen feet, can they take diuretics? In general, edema caused by heart failure and renal failure stems from increased blood volume in the body. Diuretics can help reduce blood volume and achieve the purpose of reducing swelling. Dipine antihypertensive drugs do not cause blood volume increase, so diuretics are not recommended. Of course, in addition to the factors of foot swelling, elderly hypertensive and obese hypertensive patients can also consider adding diuretics to lower blood pressure. Patients taking dipine antihypertensive drugs should avoid standing for a long time during the day, and put their legs up as much as possible during bed rest to promote the return of venous body fluid in the lower limbs to relieve edema.