Does Losartan Cause Anxiety?

High blood pressure and anxiety often come together. This relationship can be complicated, but treatment for both is readily available. Treatment of one condition can often helps the other issue go away as well. A common medication used for high blood pressure is Losartan, but does Losartan cause anxiety?

Because of this relationship, it is vital to be aware of how you are feeling. Any imbalance while treatment moves forward may cause issues down the line. You likely will not want to hesitate to say something when it comes to your heart health.

Treating high blood pressure with Losartan may have promising results. These results are primarily the case when it comes to those with anxiety because there are few complaints about anxiety-like side effects. If anything, it is possible for this medication to relieve a little bit of your stress.

What is Losartan?

The use of Losartan is usually for heart failure and high blood pressure, but it also has the ability to protect the kidneys. As a second choice for treating high blood pressure, it can take the place of other medications that cause an irritating, dry cough. Most side effects will go away after time and make it ideal in a lot of situations.

Side Effects of Losartan

Feeling or being sick, i.e., vomiting, nausea, or diarrhea.
Muscle or joint pain
Insomnia
Dry cough
Headaches
Vertigo or dizziness
Severe Side Effects
Irregular heartbeat, muscle cramps, weakness, pins, and needles
Sign of potassium and sodium changes
Whites of eyes turning yellow or yellow skin
- Jaundice is a sign of liver problems.
Feeling dizzy or faint, any bleeding, fever, sore throat, purple spots, and pale skin.
- Possible symptoms of bone marrow or blood disorder
Allergic reactions
- Wheezing
- Skin rash with red, itchy, blistered, swollen, or peeling skin
- Throat or chest tightness
- Lips, face, tongue, mouth swelling
- Having trouble talking or breathing

If you experience any signs of an allergic reaction, immediate treatment may be necessary. You should also report any severe side effects to your doctor. It is rare to have these reactions, but it is essential to address them if they do occur.

Losartan is unsuitable for people with certain conditions or circumstances. Letting your doctor know if any of these situations apply to you is critical. Before you ask about this medication, check this list for risk factors.

Risk Factors

Previous allergy to Losartan or similar medications
Kidney, heart, or liver problems
Electrolyte imbalance
Pregnancy, breastfeeding or trying for pregnancy
Low salt diet
Diabetes
Low blood pressure
Dehydration
Vomiting or diarrhea
Recent kidney transplant

If any of these risk factors give you pause, mention it to your doctor. They will then reassess what the best treatment is for you. The last thing they want is to prescribe something that may only make things worse.

High Blood Pressure and Anxiety

When it comes to anxiety, high blood pressure may sometimes play a role. In other cases, it may not play any role at all. The relationship between high blood pressure and anxiety is a little bit complicated.

Anxiety cannot, in theory, cause long-term high blood pressure. However, the intense, temporary spikes of high blood pressure during acute anxiety may cause blood vessel damage. Stress and anxiety can lead some to practice habits that exacerbate an unsteady blood pressure, too.

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, may be more likely to appear in those who struggle with alcohol use, overeating, and smoking. These habits may only cause more health complications in the long run. Because of these issues, it is vital to find other ways to cope with your anxiety.

Unfortunately, if anxiety is the only condition you are aware of, treating it with some medications may increase blood pressure. Because of this, it is critical to let your doctor know everything that could be a symptom. This information will help get an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

Dual Treatment

If treating your high blood pressure does not do anything for your anxiety, there are still options. Luckily, a lot of these treatments may be useful in cases of high blood pressure as well. Medication is not always necessary, but it is an option if all else fails or if the anxiety is bad enough that it needs immediate attention.

Treating Anxiety

Lifestyle changes
Alcohol management

Limiting your alcohol use or stopping entirely allows your body to recover from the damage done by drinking too much.
Quit smoking
Get the right amount of sleep.
- Try to accomplish this without sleeping pills or other sleep aids with adverse side effects.
Improve your diet, if needed
Exercise
Address negative thinking habits
Yoga and meditation
- Both options focus on breathing and getting in tune with your body and surroundings.
Acupuncture
Float tank
- This method can temporarily lower blood pressure and reduces anxiety. Researches need to do more studies to determine long-term effectiveness.
Medication
- Because of how some anxiety medications affect blood pressure, some may not be viable options. Many alternatives exist, though, so there is not much to worry about there. Just let your doctor knows if you have blood pressure problems to avoid those interactions as best as possible.
- On the other hand, some high blood pressure medications cause anxiety, so it is essential to cover all the bases in dual diagnosis situations.
Therapy
- Group therapy
- CBT or DBT
- Exposure therapy
- Hypnosis

Regardless of which method you and your doctor decide on, there will undoubtedly be results. It may require some experimenting and trial and error with several types of treatments. Everyone is different, especially when it comes to health and what works for them.

Conclusion

Anxiety combined with high blood pressure may be frustrating, but it can also be dangerous in the long run. However, treating one or the other has the potential to alleviate symptoms from both conditions. Losartan is a blood pressure medication that does not cause anxiety, but it does not precisely help treat it either.