Ace Inhibitors

Ace Inhibitors Ace inhibitors are medicines given to treat blood pressure and certain type of heart disease. Angiotensin is an enzyme which activates the heart causing harmful effects like stroke and heart attack. Ace inhibitors suppress the activity of Angiotensin thus inhibiting the activity. Some of the commonly prescribed drugs for hypertension are captopril, perindopril, andramipril and lisinopril.

The medicines of ace inhibitors produces common side effects like dry cough, headache, hypotension, dizziness, nausea and fatigue. In some cases, ace inhibitors are known to increase the pain associated with inflammation of joints. Among these, persistent dry cough is the serious adverse effect of taking ace inhibitors, which is found to increase the bradykinin levels. Some patients report side effects like lack of taste and rashes on skin which is commonly found while taking drug captopril. In rare cases, kidney functions may get disrupted on constant intake of ace inhibitors drug. It may affect the normal renal blood flow thus resulting in renal impairment. It also constricts the artery of the kidney which increases the glomerular filtration rate. This is more particular on persons who take ace inhibitors along with diuretic drugs.

Ace inhibitors can induce retention of potassium causing hyperkalemia. In rare cases, there may be profound increase in the rate of bradykinin level resulting in angioedema. Pregnant women should not take ace inhibitors for controlling blood pressure since it can cause genital abnormalities in the child. Sometimes, taking ace inhibitors along with pain relieving drugs like ibuprofen may cause side effects.

However ace inhibitor drugs are powerful in controlling hypertension and congestive heart failure.