Valsartan (Diovan, Prexxartan)
What’s going on guys i’m dr khan these are the angiotensin receptor blockers and this is namely lo sartan valsartan candy sartan tell me sartan all the sartans i’m gonna have this listed on the screen right now for you to look at but first let’s talk about how these medications actually work so we have a good idea of what it is actually doing to our body so what
They do is they open up our blood vessels when they open up our blood vessels that means that there is less pressure flowing through these vessels now there’s something called angiotensin ii when angiotensin ii attaches onto its receptor then it leads to contraction of these vessels now when these angiotensin ii receptor blockers these medications they actually
Bind onto the receptor and they prevent angiotensin ii from attaching onto this receptor this leads to opening up the blood vessels now guys just to understand this whenever there’s a pipe and the pipe is tight and the water is flowing through that pipe there is a lot of pressure in the walls now if the pipe opens up if the pipe opens up then there is reduced
Amount of pressure on the walls and this is the same principle by which these angiotensin receptor blockers actually act how valsartan actually acts how low sartan actually acts now let’s move forward now what are the uses of this medication apart from high blood pressure these medications are used if you have diabetes now when people have diabetes you tend to
Hurt your kidneys now these medications can actually prevent kidneys from going bad and they slow the worsening of the kidneys so this could be fairly important in people with diabetes the next benefit you have with this medication is on the heart now when you have a heart attack these medication actually prevent the heart from actually breaking down a little
Bit this is called remodeling it prevents the remodeling you don’t want the heart to remodel the heart is perfectly as it is if the heart remodels that means that the heart is losing its architecture so these medications are actually good for the heart especially after heart attacks now on to the adverse effects the side effects of this medication and there will
Be seven most important side effects number one is going to be hyperkalemia that means your potassium level is going high what is potassium potassium is an essential electrolyte in the blood it can be fairly dangerous if its levels go high now around three percent three to four percent of people actually get their potassium raised through these medications but
Your doctors should be watching out for that after they start this medication now number two is gonna be kidney problems it could actually hamper it could actually damage your kidneys now this actually happens in around two percent of the people and this could be significant that your doctor may end up stopping these medications so your doctor is always going to
Be checking for any kidney damage any decrease in the kidney function with any of these medication now these medication can also cause a cough a dry hacking cough that can be fairly irritating now this could happen in around two percent of the patients and people may need to stop this medication or change to a different type of the same medication for example if
You’re taking valsartan your doctor may switch you to low sartan and see if you are doing any better because these are such good medication your doctor wants to keep you on this medication and they may switch you around a little bit see how you are doing now the number fifth side effect is hypotension meaning low blood pressure of course if you are taking a high
Blood pressure medication it may lower your blood pressure or of course it could happen if you are lying and then you are sitting up and then standing if you do this too quickly you could cause yourself to lower your blood pressure quickly with this medication now in a very small group of people around one to two percent of the people it could be very significant
That your blood pressure drops very strongly that could lead you to actually stopping this medication and nothing may actually work so you may have to actually quit stop these medications now number six is going to be diarrhea people can develop chronic meaning long-lasting diarrhea that could last two weeks or even months on these medications of course very
Few people will actually have this problem with one to two percent of the people but if you have this problem then you have to keep note of this and if you are having diarrhea and you don’t know and your doctor does not know where it is coming from he suggests to the doctor hey i started this medication could this medication be the cause of my problems sometimes
These things are missed that is why i’m making these videos so we are all informed and we know what to do in case some of these things happen so make sure you keep diarrhea in mind when you’re starting any of these medications now number seven is a side effect that is rare fairly rare and i believe it is going to be handled pretty well it is cancer now this was
A recent scare where the fda the food and drug administration here in the u.s had to recall valsartan because during the process of putting this medication together there were some impurities there this impurity can potentially lead to cancer now don’t get scared the government has fixed this problem and a better form of valsartan is now available in the market
And even when it was recalled it was out of abundance of caution because to get one case of cancer about 8 000 people needed to take this medication continuously a heavy dose for about four years for one case of cancer to be produced in any case you can see how much research and monitoring goes on with these medication that the government the fda was able to
Pick up a case of cancer in 8 000 people after they were taking this medication continuously on a heavy dose for four years so have to be careful with this so that basically means that these medications are monitored very very closely but now this should not be a problem because this has been remedied and fixed now some extra side effects so you could have
Metallic taste a sore taste in your mouth you could have sinusitis your nose gets tight you could have flu-like symptoms some very rare reactions leading to swelling of the face called angioedema this could also happen this could be fairly significant and dangerous in case this happens go to the emergency department your doctor in the clinic cannot really do
Anything so now how to reduce these side effects well this medication you should start them off at a lower dose ask your doctor hey is this a low dose that i’m starting off with one the reason is because it takes actually a while maybe a few weeks even for actual blood pressure lowering effect of these medications so don’t be put on a high dose of the medication
From the get-go because then you run the risk of having these side effects much more pronounced and much more earlier okay now in what situations should you never take these medication so number one is going to be pregnancy do not take this medication when you are pregnant especially in the second or third trimester because this could lead to a condition called
Oligohydramnios basically meaning that the amniotic fluid the fluid that supports the baby in the womb is actually fairly low this could actually have toxic fatal effects on the fetus so this is very dangerous next if you are a breastfeeding female then don’t use this medication because it has been shown that this could be transmitted through the breast milk so
Just be cautious in that sense as well next if you have a condition called renal artery stenosis meaning the vessels the blood vessels that are going to your kidneys on both sides if they are tight then do not take this medication and this could cause kidney problems as well as blood pressure problems further and last do not take these medications along with ace
Inhibitors meaning lysine april in natural prayer ram april these medications should not be combined because they have a sort of a similar mechanism of action so don’t combine similar mechanisms together that could lead to more pronounced side effects we don’t want that anyways i wanted to go over this very important medication group angiotensin receptor blockers
So let me know what you think in the comments below have you had any of these side effects or have you had any other side effects that i may have missed and of course always let me know where you are watching this video from because i do believe i do have a global audience and i love to share this information so that we are all informed and sometimes we don’t
Want to miss things even the doctor can miss things but it is our health we need to know for ourselves so we can make better decisions and if you’re looking for a blood pressure machine that is fairly accurate i’ll have a affiliate link in the description below do check that out as well anyways let me know what you guys think let me know in the comments below
I would love to continue this discussion forward thank you so much my friends you
Transcribed from video
7 MAJOR Side Effects of Losartan | Valsartan and ARBs! Blood Pressure Medication Side Effects By Dr Khan Show – Blood Pressure BOSS !liveBroadcastDetails{isLiveNowfalsestartTimestamp2021-06-17T111529+0000endTimestamp2021-06-17T112638+0000}
