Felodipine Facts: A Fast Plendil Review

If you’re someone who cares about your health, you are probably smart enough to learn everything you can about a drug your doctor has prescribed before you actually start taking it. If you’re suffering from angina or high blood pressure, and have been prescribed felodipine, as the Astra Merck medication Plendil, this review will give you a fairly good idea of what to expect.

Forms of Plendil

Plendil is manufactured as tablets, and is available in three different strengths: 2.5 mg, 5 mg, and 10 mg.

It should be stored away from any sources of heat or moisture, but should not be refrigerated.

Plendil Uses

Plendil is prescribed for those suffering from either the chest pain of angina, or hypertension.

Plendil belongs to the class of medication called calcium channel blockers, and relaxes the arteries by limiting the amount of calcium which reaches them. Calcium can build up on the arterial walls, leading to hardening of the arteries. This condition can eventually cause coronary disease or even heart attack and stroke.

Taking Plendil

You should follow your doctor’s instructions carefully when taking your Plendil. You can take it either on an empty stomach or with a meal, but you should never drink grapefruit juice while you are taking Plendil.

And you should swallow your Plendil tablets whole, because either crushing or chewing them will reduce their effectiveness.

Time Release Plendil

Plendil is manufactured in a time release formula, and ideally can be taken in the morning, when blood pressure is normally at its peak, so that it has worn off by bedtime, because blood pressure normally drops during sleep.

Plenidl Side Effects

Like all prescription medications, Plendil has been linked to various side effects. In Plendil’s case they include difficulty sleeping; diarrhea or constipation; dizziness; and skin flushing.

In rarer cases Plendil has caused fainting, heart palpitations, blurry vision; shortness of breath; and rashes.

Should you develop any of the more severe side effects from taking Plendil, notify your doctor right away.

Plendil and Other Medications

If you are already on any other medication, tell your doctor before you begin taking Plendil. This is especially true in the case of beta blockers, another class of medications for high blood pressure.

Combining Plendil with a beta blocker can reduce your blood pressure to a dangerously low level, so you need to let your doctor know that you are already taking one.

Cemetidine is a medication which can exacerbate Plendil’s side effects, and Plendil can exacerbate the side effects of digoxin.

If you are taking either cimetidine or digoxin, let your doctor know before taking Plendil.

Although a well-known 1995 study linked certain calcium channel blockers to an increased risk of heart attacks, the CCBs in question all contained nifedipine as their active ingredient. The felodipine in Plendil is formulated to lower that risk, and has been used safely since 1991.