No, not the giant oil company. This:
Blood pressure medication is very often taken in the morning because it is a way to remember, but this may miss the maximum risk-window of having a stroke or heart attack, says Professor Foster.
“Very significantly, there is a circadian driven rise in blood pressure as we approach morning, caused by the release of cortisol and adrenaline –- this increases heart rate, combined with an increase in clotting factors.
“These normally clump together to form blood clots following injury, but they also work against us by producing clots that block blood vessels,” he adds. “The combined effects of a sharp rise in blood pressure between 6am and noon, and peak blood ‘stickiness’ in the morning, corresponds to the greatest chance of having a stroke or heart attack.”
In fact, there’s a 50 per cent greater chance of a stroke between 6am and noon than the rest of the day.
“Some studies have shown that when blood pressure medication is taken before bedtime, rather than in the morning, it’s more effective at regulating blood pressure and reducing stroke and heart attack risk. This is because such drugs have a long ‘half-life’, remaining at high concentrations for many hours in the body before they are broken down. So, counterintuitively, taking an antihypertensive before bed can reduce your risk of a stroke in the morning.”
An analysis of eight clinical trials, published in the journal Scientific Reports this year, found that the morning blood pressure surge was significantly reduced in patients taking medication before bedtime.
I should point out that some other Smart People disagree with these findings, but that’s the nature of the beast, innit?
I started taking all my meds at bedtime about three years ago, on the advice of my own doctor. I don’t know if this helps — how could I? — but his explanation at the time seemed very plausible. (I don’t remember it, but it had something to do with night-time metabolism and the absorption of medications.) He also suggested that I take my multivitamin tablet — I take an Old Fart kind, like Centrum — in the morning, for reasons I also forget (sorry).
Anyway, there it is. Make your own decisions according to your instincts and experience, as always.
I take some medicine for gastro issues and have heard take it every evening, take it in the morning, take it as needed, etc. The only important constant was to take it every day at the same time. Apparently you build up a base amount in your system and you can even skip a day with little consequence. I recently switched from evening mode to morning to align with my other meds and noticed no difference.
My BP meds I take in the morning and I notice a big difference from not taking it at all to taking it – the whole bend down, stand up, get dizzy thing is now cured. I can even skip a day or two and not notice it, around 3 days though I start to feel bad again. If the meds build up a certain concentration in the body, I don’t know that there’s a real difference between morning and evening. Either way, whatever works seems to work so keep at it.
Yes, agreed. I take mine at the same time every morning. My Doctor said that the consistency is much more important than timing. And I could never consistently remember at bedtime. So every morning with a glass of real fresh squeezed OJ, I take all my Meds. It’s worked well for 20 years, despite my wife’s opinion that Citrus Juices interact badly with some Meds — Apparently not mine.
I take BP meds morning AND evening. Doctor’s orders.
Higher dose in the morning as I’m more active during the day, thus more likely to need more to keep the BP in range.
My current Chiropractor is one who can ask your body questions about the herbs she puts in.
I was ambivalent on the effect, wife’s idea that I go get “tested”, till I compared by blood panels from my annual physical over at multi year time line. A lot of the gradients went from red/yellow to firmly in the green. I took that as a good sign and will continue the VooDoo shit for now.
If your annual physical includes a blood work up and you can access it, it is well worth the time to get several and compare them over time. Not sure what all the numbers mean but from years of running mechanicals they last longer in the green than they will pushing red lines.
YMMV. For what is worth I will be 71 in about a week so we shall see.
Interesting. I’ve always taken my medications at bedtime because a couple of them can cause drowsiness and mornings are too rushed, so I’m likely to forget them in my haste to get out the door.
Prilosec, vitamins, 81mg aspirin and BP meds in the a.m. Iron and statin in the PM.
My dad was a pharmacist .. with an unusual sense of humor. With all this talk of am and pm … I’m recalling one of his favorite medicine advertising slogans …
Doxidan in the PM for BM in the AM.
I’m on four different BP meds. They were having only limited effect when I took all of them in the morning, but then one of the many doctors I’ve dealt with suggested taking one of them (amlodipine) before bedtime instead of in the morning. Since I started doing that, my blood pressure has gone low enough that the docs no longer bitch at me about it.