Hypertension medication and training

GuyStevens said:

Hi all,

Is anyone here a competitive cyclist but also on medication for high blood pressure? Does it impact upon your training at all?

What is the general advice surrounding hypertension medication and training?

Thanks.

The only ones that don't have much effect are ACE inhibitors or ARB's. Alpha blockers, Beta blockers, and diuretics all cause major problems. Calcium channel blockers aren't too bad but can still effect HR, cause significant edema, etc.

BTW high intensity training will generally lower BP (when not exercising) much more than endurance training.

mises said:

Alpha blockers, Beta blockers, and diuretics all cause major problems.

When you say 'cause major problems', do you mean they can have side-effects (in which case the medication would be altered) or that they would inhibit training?

What I want to know is, should I have to take medication, and providing I have no adverse reaction to it, can I train as hard as before?

(for information, my hypertension is not lifestyle related)