What are the possible side-effects or problems with nitrates?
The most common side-effects are a throbbing headache, flushing, and dizziness. (These may occur as the blood vessels ‘widen’ when you take nitrate.) They are unpleasant, but not serious. In particular, many people get a headache within a few minutes of taking a dose of GTN. If you develop these side-effects, they often become less severe with continued use of the medication. You should not take nitrates if you have various other disorders. For example: hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, aortic stenosis, constrictive pericarditis, mitral stenosis or closed-angle glaucoma. (This is the less common form of glaucoma. Nitrates are fine if you have the more common type of glaucoma called open angle glaucoma.) Nitrates interfere with some other drugs which may cause problems. In particular, you should not take sildenafil (viagra) or similar drugs used for erectile dysfunction (impotence) if you are taking a nitrate. Other side-effects or problems are uncommon. Read the information leaf
