Patient was educated on precautions to be exercised while using arterial vasodilators as follows:
- Be aware of signs and symptoms of hypotension, to avoid any episodes of altered levels of consciousness and accidental falls. One should stay away from activities, such as, driving and operating heavy machinery, until they are used to the side effects caused by the arterial vasodilators.
- Take a blood pressure reading always before you take the pill. Maintain a log of every day blood pressure reading. If the blood pressure is too low, you can defer taking the medication for that dose. Notify your doctor, if more of such occurrences are happening, so that, your medication dose could be revised.
- Be aware of signs and symptoms of tachycardia, as extremely high heart rate, secondary to use of arterial vasodilators, can lead to palpitations of the heart and confusion.
- Try changing the positions very slowly, as sudden change of positions can make the hypotensive episodes even worse and precipitate accidents and falls.
