How quickly will Ramipril bring down the blood pressure?
Patient: Hello. Sorry bothering you, but I am concerned about the condition of my partner. He is having a constant headache the last 2 weeks. We went to doctor, who measured his blood pressure along with other checks. My friend's blood pressure stayed constantly around 165/115. He was sent to do Chest X-Ray, blood test, urine test, ECG. Unfortunately it will take 2-3 weeks to get the results. Meanwhile he was prescribed to take Ramipril once a day. There are 5 days passed, and his headache is not disappearing. We are going later to the doctor to check the blood pressure again. I am so concerned that I don't know how long it will take my friend to get rid of this terrible headache. Could you tell me how long it takes for Ramipril to affect the high blood pressure to lower? Thank you very much! Doctor: Hello, Thanks for posting your query on Healthcare Magic...* Brief Answer: Other causes of headache must be excluded, Ramipril is a long acting drug and it would take on or two weeks maximum to fully act.*Explanation: My opinion is that high blood pressure on many occasions is an indication for control .That happens on many levels. First, be sure that high blood pressure is not secondary to any other diseases as Cushing or renal failure.Then ,Diet with low salt and less fat content is crucial. Exercise and other healthy activities are also a mean to control blood pressure. If all that dose not help, medications are a must .That is usually decided by your doctor according to your condition and comorbidities .Some drugs that are perfect for patients are not necessary good for others.Regular blood pressure monitoring is as important as starting treatment so that we could assess efficacy of the medication we started.I suggest my patients the following : headache may be a symptom of hypertension but we should exclude other causes of headache such as teeth problems, eye, ear and neck stiffness.*Conclusion: I suggest you take simple analgesia such as paracetamol , acetaminophen .   If you have any further questions I will be happy to help, If not, you can close the discussion and rate the answer. Wish your partner good health.