New drugs for treating hypertension are expensive. How can we save money without reducing the effectiveness of the drugs?

A friend who suffers from high blood pressure told Huazi that when he went to the hospital for treatment, the doctor prescribed him a new compound drug for treating high blood pressure, called amlodipine folic acid tablets, which has a good blood pressure lowering effect, but is not cheap. The friend asked Huazi if there was a cheaper alternative?

Huazi told his friends that this new drug for treating hypertension is actually a compound preparation of two drugs, amlodipine and folic acid. It can be bought separately and taken at the same time, which does not reduce the original efficacy of the medicine and can save money.

1. Compound drugs can improve medication compliance. Hypertension is the "culprit" of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, but it is also preventable and treatable. As long as you take antihypertensive drugs regularly and control your blood pressure, you can avoid harm to your body. However, more than 70% of hypertensive patients need two or more antihypertensive drugs in combination to effectively control their blood pressure.

Taking several medicines at the same time is prone to forgetting or missing doses. Many people's high blood pressure is not well controlled because of poor medication compliance. Therefore, making multiple drugs into compound drugs, which may originally require taking "a handful" of medicines, only requires taking one pill, which can greatly improve medication compliance and ensure the effectiveness of treatment.

There are many common compound antihypertensive drugs, such as amlodipine folic acid tablets, enalapril folic acid tablets, and various compound drugs composed of "prils" or "sartans" and hydrochlorothiazide, which can simplify the medication process. The disadvantage is that they are relatively expensive.

2. Why do you need to take folic acid for high blood pressure? A friend has another question: Amlodipine is a blood pressure medicine, but folic acid is not. Why do they need to be used together? Huazi said that the combination of the two drugs is used to treat "H-type hypertension". H-type hypertension refers to hypertension combined with hyperhomocysteinemia.

Homocysteine ​​is an intermediate product of amino acid metabolism. In some clinical studies, elevated homocysteine ​​levels increase the risk of cerebral infarction. Therefore, for patients with type H hypertension, it is necessary to control homocysteine ​​levels while controlling blood pressure. Folic acid can promote the metabolism of homocysteine, significantly reduce its level, and reduce the risk of cerebral infarction.

3. Buy two drugs separately and take them at the same time For people with strong self-management ability, you can buy two drugs separately and take them at the same time. For example, amlodipine folic acid tablets contain 5mg of amlodipine and 0.8mg of folic acid in one tablet. As long as you buy the same dose of amlodipine and folic acid separately and take them at the same time, the drug effect is the same, but the price will be much cheaper.

It should be noted that folic acid tablets are available in 0.4mg, 0.8mg, and 5mg sizes, with 100 tablets per bottle and 5mg per tablet being the cheapest. Although it is not easy to split into small doses, the same dose has the same effect. If taken together with the national centralized procurement of amlodipine tablets, the cost of medication can be reduced to a few tenths of that of compound drugs.

The same applies to other combination antihypertensive drugs. For example, for enalapril folic acid tablets, you can buy enalapril tablets and folic acid tablets separately. If it is a combination drug of pril drugs or sartan drugs with hydrochlorothiazide, you can also buy the two drugs separately and then take them according to the dosage.

Some friends may worry that the quality of drugs will be different if they are produced by different manufacturers. In fact, there is no need to worry. Now most drugs have passed the uniform evaluation. As long as they are produced by a regular national pharmaceutical factory, the quality is guaranteed. The same drugs have the same efficacy as long as the specifications and dosages are the same.

In summary, combining two or more drugs into a compound antihypertensive drug can improve medication compliance and better control hypertension. Many hypertensive patients have elevated homocysteine ​​levels, and adding folic acid will better prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

However, compound drugs are expensive and will increase the cost of medication. On the premise of ensuring regular medication, you can buy two drugs separately according to the dosage of the compound drugs and take them at the same time, so that you can achieve the same effect at a lower price and reduce the cost of medication. Drugs must be used under the guidance of a doctor. If you have any questions about medication, please consult a doctor or pharmacist. I am pharmacist Huazi, welcome to follow me and share more health knowledge.