Patient was educated regarding precautions to be exercised while using selective Beta-1 blockers for management of hypertension as follows:
- Avoid using selective Beta – 1 blockers along with any other medications that can cause slowdown of heart rate, such as, calcium channel blockers. Using them together can result in extreme slowdown of heart rate and can present an emergency.
- Observe compliance with any regular lab work ordered. As kidneys are the main source of elimination of these medications, renal function could be periodically monitored.
- 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.
- If a dose is missed, it should be taken at the earliest notice of noncompliance. If it is time for the next dose, the missed dose can be skipped. Compensating for the missed dose by taking an extra dose can pose serious risk for an episode of extremely low blood pressure and heart rate, thus precipitating an emergency.
