Q: What is the best time of day to take BP meds? AM after breakfast or PM before bedtime? Thank you.
A: Ask your doctor. Some drugs are better tolerated if taken at bedtime. If this is not the case with your medicines, take them when it is easiest for you to remember. It is best to take medicine at the same time of day every day. The goal is to have a constant level of the drug in your body.
Further Reading:
Blood pressure levels influenced by time of day and year – MedicalNewsToday.com
The Best Time to Take Blood Pressure Medicines – eHow.com
Actually, if you can accomplish it, the far more desirable goal is to constantly have no drugs in your body. For every “symptom” that drugs treat, they create additional “causes” of dis-ease to your body.
I was taking Beta blockers at one time for hypertension, and I hated them not only for the long-term damage to my heart that they would likely cause, and the detrimentally altered mental state they induced, but also because they made aerobic exercise extremely difficult. For many, beta blockers end up taking away this very effective remedy for high blood pressure, by slowing the heart rate and making exercise such drudgery that many people often just quit. To overcome these ill effects of beta blockers as much as possible, I would take them every afternoon after exercising, because I actually wanted the minimal amount in my body just before I began exercising. This at least helped me in the difficulty I had of getting my heart rate up to aerobic levels. So, the best time to take mediciation for those who feel that they must take them, is at times a matter of what is best for you and your personal lifestyle goals! Good luck, and all the best!!
Thank you very much for your comments which I always find most informative. I’m now doing my exercise in the afternoon too.
I would also love to be able to find ways to reduce the medication, your contribuyion on how you achieved it would be most appreciated. From Mo in Australia
I take my HB pill irbesartain 75mg in the evening before bed, with no ill affects my BP went very low at one stage and I kept falling over and had to be hospitalized to control it again and on my GP’s advice we agreed on that method.
At night before I go to bed, so it can work through the day my doctor said.