Can i take benadryl with high blood pressure medication

Oklahoma Heart Institute Director of Interventional Laboratories, Dr. Wayne Leimbach, shares insights on allergies, heart disease and high blood pressure on our blog today.

Springtime brings not only beautiful weather and beautiful flowers, but it also brings high pollen counts and suffering to people with allergies. Many people often ask what allergy medicines can I safely take if I have heart disease or high blood pressure. Many allergy medications include decongestants that can raise blood pressure, create palpitations and interfere with some other heart medications.

Medications that often can be safely used by people with significant allergies include nasal corticosteroids. In addition, antihistamines are very effective. The antihistamines include fexofenadine (Allegra), cetirizine (Zyrtec), loratadine (Claritin) and diphenhydramine (Benadryl).

Often manufactures will include a decongestant with the antihistamines in order to provide additional control of the runny nose often seen with allergies. Manufacturers will often indicate which of the antihistamines also contain a decongestant by adding the letter D to the name of the medicine. These decongestants can be phenylephrine or pseudoephedrine or oxymetazoline.

For patients who have high blood pressure, rhythm problems (palpitations), or who have severe blockages in their blood vessels to their heart, these decongestants have the potential to cause problems. Decongestants can raise blood pressure or stimulate fast heart rhythms. Anyone with heart conditions or high blood pressure, before taking medications that include phenylephrine or pseudoephedrine, should consult their doctor to see if they can safely take such medicines. 

Therefore, advertised medicines such as Allegra, Zyrtec, or Claritin should be safe for most patients with heart disease and allergies; however, Allegra-D, Zyrtec-D, Claritin-D could cause problems for patients with allergies and heart disease. 

Decongestants can pose a dangerous risk to people with hypertension. Try these other steps to safely treat a cold or allergies.

Cold medicines are not off-limits if you have heart disease, but patients with high blood pressure, or hypertension, should check the label carefully when choosing a cold or allergy medicine.

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That’s because decongestants such as pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, phenylephrine, naphazoline and oxymetazoline can increase your blood pressure and heart rate. Make sure the cold or allergy medication you plan to take is free of those ingredients.

Decongestants can also prevent your blood pressure medication from working properly. And always check the active and inactive ingredient lists, because many medications are high in sodium, which also raises blood pressure.

For allergy sufferers with heart disease, medicines such as Allegra, Zyrtec or Claritin should be safe. However, medicines containing decongestants — including Allegra-D, Zyrtec-D and Claritin-D — could increase your blood pressure and heart rate or interfere with your heart medication.

Managing a cold with hypertension

If you can’t take a decongestant because of high blood pressure, there are other ways to reduce your cold or allergy symptoms:

• Take Coricidin HBP, which is free of decongestants

• Drink plenty of fluids — including water, juice, tea and soup — to prevent dehydration and clear mucus from your lungs 

• Take a pain reliever such as Tylenol or Motrin for fever, sore throat, body aches and headache

• Flush your sinuses with a saline spray to relieve nasal congestion

• Soothe a sore or scratchy throat with lozenges

• Use a vaporizer or humidifier if necessary to boost humidity

• Get plenty of rest

• Return to your doctor after five to seven days to make sure you’re on the road to recovery

Before taking any new medication

Always check with your pharmacist before you take a new medication, whether it’s for a cold, allergies or something else, to find out if it is compatible with certain medical conditions and your current drug therapy.

SEE ALSO: Millions More People Now Have High Blood Pressure. Why That’s a Good Thing

If you have a heart condition, be sure to discuss all medication choices with your cardiologist before taking anything.

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