Do antihypertensive drugs affect sexual function? Doctors tell you!

Many people are suffering from high blood pressure. In order to quickly stabilize blood pressure, many people will prepare antihypertensive drugs. You can take some medicine when the blood pressure is high, and the effect is still very good. Some people worry that antihypertensive drugs will affect sexual function. Experts say that there are many kinds of antihypertensive drugs now, and different antihypertensive drugs have different ingredients, so the effects on sexual function are also different.

1. Will taking high blood pressure medicine affect sexual function?

The effect of antihypertensive drugs on sexual function. Because different antihypertensive drugs have different effects on sexual function, sexual dysfunction is more common in hypertensive patients. It may be a local manifestation of hypertensive vascular lesions and vascular endothelial damage, which is closely related to age and psychological factors, and seriously affects the quality of sexual life of male patients.

Another survey showed that the incidence of sexual dysfunction in hypertensive patients after antihypertensive treatment was higher than that in untreated patients (35% for the former and 17% to 23% for the latter), indicating that sexual dysfunction in hypertensive patients may also be related to drug treatment, and different antihypertensive drugs have different effects on sexual function.

Long-term use of diuretics to lower blood pressure can cause erectile dysfunction, decreased libido, and ejaculation disorders in men. β-receptor blocker antihypertensive drugs (such as propranolol, etc.) mainly affect libido, while calcium antagonist antihypertensive drugs (such as nifedipine, etc.) mainly cause decreased libido and ejaculation disorders. Antihypertensive drugs such as calcineurin inhibitors (such as captopril, etc.) have no obvious effect on sexual function. α1 receptor blocker antihypertensive drugs (such as prazosin, etc.) can improve ejaculation disorders, but do not affect erection and libido.

2. If patients with high blood pressure are really worried that medication will affect sexual function

Then the following antihypertensive drugs that do not affect sexual function can be used: angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, such as Captopril (captopril) and Lotensin (benazolidone); certain calcium ion antagonists, such as Verapamil and Diltiazem (diltiazem), etc.; angiotensin II receptor antagonists, such as Diovan (valsartan) and Cosun (losartan), etc.

3. Notes:

Patients with high blood pressure should know that sexual function can be restored if medication is stopped in time, so do not blindly take so-called aphrodisiac drugs. Drugs such as "Viagra" (sildenafil) for treating male sexual dysfunction can treat impotence and improve the quality of male sexual life; but special attention should be paid not to take it together with nitrate drugs (such as isopropylamine) to avoid drug interactions.