Written By: Debjani Arora | Updated : September 25, 2018 3:04 PM IST
Drugs prescribed to treat hypertension or angina can increase cholesterol levels. © Shutterstock
To keep your heart healthy it is necessary to keep a tab on your cholesterol levels. Too much of bad cholesterol or LDL cholesterol and too less of HDL or good cholesterol could be bad for your heart health. Increase in bad or LDL cholesterol can also increase triglyceride levels which can lead to plaque deposition in the walls of the heart and increase risk of cardiovascular diseases like blood pressure, hypertension, heart attack, etc. Sometimes, treating heart patients can become tricky. Often medications prescribed to treat heart ailments and backfire. Certain medications, prescribed to control heart ailments can increase cholesterol levels. These medications are:
Diuretics: These are a group of medications that are commonly prescribed to treat hypertension and reduce risk of heart failure. However, this class of medication can also increase your total cholesterol levels. Besides an increase in LDL levels they are known to increase triglyceride levels and lower HDL or good cholesterol levels. Some diuretics which are known to increase cholesterol levels are thiazide diuretics (including hydrochlorothiazide, chlorothiazide, metolazone) and loop diuretics (including furosemide, torsemide, bumetanide). Prolonged use of diuretics can lead to increase in levels of cholesterol. So, if you are taking diuretics get your cholesterol levels checked and talk to your doctor to titrate your doses. To counter the problem at times doctors either change the medication completely or reduce the dose.
Beta-blockers: This group of drug was first introduced in the year 1970 and since then it is widely used to treat hypertension, angina or other heart irregularities. In the past few decades prescribed beta-blockers have saved millions of lives. However, these pills too have their side-effects and one of them is increase in cholesterol levels. Beta blockers also have been noted to decrease HDL levels and elevate triglyceride levels. Not all beta-blockers have this effect and some which are devoid of this problem are
So, if you are on beta blockers talk to your doctor about its pros and cons.
Drugs for hypertension: Apart from diuretics and beta-blockers other drugs prescribed for hypertension like prazosin captopril and methyl dopa are also known to increase cholesterol.
So, if you are on drugs to treat any kind of heart ailment make sure you do your tests regularly to keep a check on your cholesterol levels. It is only through blood tests that your doctor can check if you have elevated cholesterol levels. If the drugs you are taking in affecting your cholesterol levels a safer or alternate option is usually suggested.
