Patient was educated on precautions to be exercised while taking losartan as follows:
- Use of losartan carries a small chance of damage to the skeletal muscle. This can result in breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue. Protein molecules released into the blood from this skeletal muscle injury enter the kidney to be eliminated in urine. But, as these molecules are large, they will not be filtered through the kidneys into the urine and get blocked, thus damaging the kidneys and leading to kidney failure. Notify your doctor, if you experience any unexplained muscle pain, malaise, and weakness.
- 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. Also, notify your doctor, if your blood pressure continues to be high despite taking the medication, or if it is getting any worse further.
- 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.
