Do blood pressure-lowering drugs cause pancreatitis?
On One Hand: Some Drugs Can Cause PancreatitisPharmacological approaches to lowering blood pressure feature thiazide diuretics and beta blockers, according to the book “Pharmacology,” by Richard Lehne. Two of the most widely used drugs in these categories are hydrochlorothiazide and propranolol, notes Lehne. Both can cause pancreatitis, according to “Mosby’s Nursing Drug Reference.”On the Other: Other Drugs Bear No Link to PancreatitisFalling into a dozen categories, blood pressure drugs work in different ways with different adverse effects, according to the book “Medical-Surgical Nursing,” by Joyce M. Black et al. “Mosby’s Nursing Drug Reference” says that pancreatitis does not appear as a side effect for all of them.Bottom LineOnly a subset of blood pressure drugs has pancreatitis as a possible side effect. That subset, however, is important as it includes the widely used thiazide diuretics and the beta-blocker propranolol. Moreover, it encompasses other drugs, including furosemide a
