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Bendroflumethiazide Side Effects
And What To Do
The following Bendroflumethiazide side effects may occur while on this excellent blood pressure medication. Despite these side effects this medication remains very useful and it is superior to many other blood pressure medications in efficacy. Do not stop using it except it becomes very necessary or on the advise of your doctor.
Bendroflumethiazide tablet is often taken as a once a day 2.5mg blood pressure medication in an adult. It exerts its strong antihypertensive effect at this low dose, without causing much disturbance in body chemistry.
Increasing the dose beyond this will lead to various biochemical changes including excessive depletion of body salt, increasing blood lipid concentration and triggering a high level of uric acid.
It is advised that this medicine be taken in the morning so as to minimize night time sleep disturbance that comes from having to wake up several times to pass urine.
This medication is generally very safe when taken at the prescribed dose. Even at that, some side effects do occur, and the degree of such side effects varies from one person to the other, even at the same dose. Generally, many persons take bendroflumethiazide years after years without noticing any side effect. The following are common and not so common side effects that one could develop due to bendrofluazide.
Postural Hypotension
This is a common side effect of bendroflumethiazide. Patients often complain of dizziness and light-headedness on standing up from a lying or sitting position when taking this medication. This symptom tends to be reported in the first few days to weeks after commencement of treatment and do resolve with time.
It is due to the powerful effect of bendroflumethiazide in bringing down the blood pressure, coupled with failure of the autonomic nervous system to adjust to this lowered blood pressure on standing up. With time though, this necessary adjustment kicks in.
Should this occur to you, do not despair. Teach your body to deal with this. When getting off the bed, do it in little steps. Sit on the edge of your bed first, for a few minutes from the lying position for example, before standing up. If standing from sitting position, do so gradually, giving your autonomic nervous system enough time to adjust.
If this does not help, you need to see your doctor. He may decide to change your medication, or add another medication (fludrocortisone) to help with this side effect of bendroflumethiazide.
Depletion of Body Salts
This is perhaps the most well known of the bendroflumethiazide side effects. A small number of patients taking bendroflumethiazide develop life threatening loss of sodium and or potassium salts in the body. These manifest in conditions referred to as:
- hyponatraemia
- hypokalaemia
- hypercalcaemia
- Hypomagnesaemia and
- Hypocalciuria.
This may result in symptoms like confusion, muscle weakness, nausea, vomiting, seizures and even coma.
Where any of the above symptoms exists while taking bendroflumethiazide, urgent medical attention is warranted.
Precipitation of Gout
This is another one of the commonly seen bendroflumethiazide side effects. Because of the water losing effect of bendrofluazide, uric acid levels in the blood becomes concentrated. In those who have an inborn tendency to develop gout, or those already known to have gout, this increased uric acid level concentration will trigger an attack of gout.
For individuals who are not vulnerable to gout attack, they remain asymptomatic, and this raised level of uric acid is not known to have any significant consequences to their health.
Gout is a form of inflammation of the joints caused by accumulation of microcrystalls in the synovium of the joint. It is associated with raised level of uric acid in the blood, though uric acid levels may be low during attacks as well.
The symptoms of gout include severe pain and redness of a joint, often the big toe or knee joint.
If you take bendroflumethiazide and comes up with a troublesome gout attack, your doctor will most likely stop this medication and put you onto another blood pressure medication.
Impaired Blood Glucose Levels
For patients who are overtly or covertly diabetic, prolonged use of thiazides in general, and bendroflumethiazide in particular leads to an impaired secretion of insulin by the pancreas and resultant impaired glucose tolerance.
This may manifest with symptoms of diabetes, like increased thirstiness (polydypsia), passing a lot of urine (polyuria), weakness, and weight loss, despite a big appetite. A urine test may show abnormal presence of glucose and blood glucose level will be higher than normal.
This is classified as belonging to the group of metabolic bendroflumethiazide side effects and should not cause worry, if patient is not showing significantly deranged deviation in glucose tolerance as well as been asymptomatic.
Impotence
Impotence, now referred to as erectile dysfunction (ED), reduced libido, and problems with ejaculation are well described side effects of bendrofluazide (bendroflumethiazide).
The exact cause of this is not known.
Other rare but important bendroflumethiazide side effects include:
- Pancreatitis
- Allergic reactions
- Photosensitivity reaction leading to skin rash
- Reduced blood platelet count (thrombocytopaenia)
- Reduced white blood cell count
- Irregular heart rhythm (cardiac arrhythmia)
Bendroflumethiazide Side Effects: Have Your Say:
Do you have a great story or experience about this medication and its side effects? Do you think you may be having a side effect to bendroflumethiazide? Share it! Let's know how you feel.
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