This medicine is used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure), myocardial ischemia (decreased blood supply to heart muscle) associated with stable (chest pain triggered by activity), or vasospastic angina (chest pain triggered with vasospasm of coronary artery).
Side Effects
Patients using this medicine may commonly experience headache, edema, fatigue, nausea, dizziness (lightheadedness), flushing (reddening of the skin), rashes, and gingival hyperplasia (overgrowth of gum). Patients may rarely experience alopecia (spot baldness), pruritus (itching), abdominal and back pain, hyperglycemia, increased urination, palpitations, and GI (stomach) upset.
Contraindications
This medicine is contraindicated in patients having history of cardiogenic shock (inability of heart to pump enough blood), aortic stenosis (narrowing of aortic valve opening), unstable angina (chest pain triggered by minimum or no activity), severe hypotension, unstable heart failure following MI, and hypersensitivity to dihydropyridines.