Online Pharmacy Medicine Blog

Recently the FDA approved the blood pressure drug Benicar (olmesartan medoxomil) for use in children and adolescents 6 to 16 years of age. Benicar was originally approved in 2002 for the treatment of high blood pressure in adults.

According to stats from MSN,

Some 3.6 million children in the United States have high blood pressure, a number that’s risen in tandem with children’s weight, the company said in a news release. Obese children are three times more likely to have hypertension than non-obese kids, the firm added.

Hypertension is a growing issue in children and adolescence that must not be overlooked, but is throwing medicine at the problem really the answer this early on in life?

I believe that hypertension medication should be left as a last resort to treat high blood pressure in adults, and even more so in children. Parents should put their children on a good diet and exercise regime and remedy the problem/break the bad eating and health habits before they develop into a unhealthy lifestyle.

Hypertension medicine this early on in life will only mask the true problem, and may lead to even worse health later on down the road.

The FDA approved the medicine safe for children and adolescents with respect to how the medicine functions, but will allowing children to use hypertension medication be safe and beneficial for them in the long run?

What do you think?

Depending on what your body needs and the problems you are experiencing will determine what type of cholesterol medication your doctor will prescribe for you. These medications will help by:

• Lowering your LDL (bad) cholesterol
• Decreasing your triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood that also increases the risk of heart disease
• increasing your HDL (good) cholesterol which helps protect against heart disease.

One of the most common classes of cholesterol medication are statins. Statins decrease LDL and triglycerides and slightly increase HDL. Altoprev, Crestor, Lescol, Lipitor, Mevacor, Pravachol, and Zocor can all be found in this class.

Some of the side affects that you should look out for when using any of these statins are constipation, nausea, diarrhea, stomach pain, cramps, and muscle soreness.

According to the Mayo clinic

most cholesterol medications are well tolerated, but effectiveness varies from person to person. If you decide to take cholesterol medication, your doctor may recommend periodic liver function tests to monitor the medication’s effect on your liver. Also remember the importance of healthy lifestyle choices. Medication can help control your cholesterol — but lifestyle matters, too.

I think the main thing to remember when taking cholesterol medication is that it is not an end- all cure- all, and should be used in conjunction with a healthy diet. Often times once the user changes his diet, the medication can be decreased or is no longer needed.

The childhood obesity epidemic in the United States continues to worsen, as parents are resorting to greater reliance on prescription drugs for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes than ever before. As CVS Caremark reports in a new study:

…over a two-and-a-half year period ending in June 2007, the use of medications to treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes among children increased 15.2%…

“The increasing use of antidiabetic and antihypertensive medications in this younger population likely reflects the rise of pediatric obesity and a failure of lifestyle changes to control cardiovascular risk factors typically associated with adults,” said Josh Liberman, Ph.D., Vice President, Strategic Research CVS Caremark and lead author of the study…

The study was designed to document trends in the use of prescription medications indicated for the treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol among children and adolescents over a time period that spanned close to three years. Results found that the one-month prevalence of use of these medications increased 15.2%, from 3.3 per 1,000 youths in November 2004 to 3.8 per 1,000 youths in June 2007…

“There is growing recognition that childhood obesity is nearing an epidemic and, as a result, consensus treatment guidelines for the associated cardiovascular conditions and risk factors recommend the introduction of pharmaceutical treatments if life style and behavioral modifications fail to achieve desired results,” said Dr. Liberman…

The study looked at drug usage data for about six million U.S. children aged six to 18, based on CVS Caremark PBM pharmacy insurance claims records.