‘YES, BP DRUGS COULD CAUSE IMPOTENCE BUT…’, SNR NURSING OFFICER ASSURES

A Senior Nursing Officer at the Church of Christ Mission Hospital in Kumasi, Mrs. Patricia Ataa Adjei, has confirmed that indeed, some hypertension medications could cause impotence in men. 

However, there is a remedy for such side effects if the patient would promptly report back to his care giver. More so, BP patients should look beyond sexual performance by prioritizing their health and life and adhere to their medications.

According to her, observations made by clinicians over time has revealed that, some men living with Hypertension refuse to take their medications with the fear that, the drugs would render them impotent. Such tendencies, according to the Senior Nursing Officer, lead to worse consequences for such patients with time since their conditions deteriorate after a period.

Mrs. Ataa Adjei gave the advice in an interview with ‘Ashanti Today’ at Asokwa near Kumasi after a health education forum.

Mrs. Patricia Ataa Adjei, who was one of the Resource Persons, noted that, High Blood Pressure is one of the non-communicable diseases that have serious complications but especially some adult male patients do not take serious.

She said, some patients refuse to follow their prescribed medications against the sickness on grounds that, the drugs could cause them impotence.

The Senior Nursing Officer said, even though there is some truth in the claim, there could be a counter medication if such adverse conditions are promptly reported to physicians.

“Yes, it is true that some of the BP drugs have effects on the male potency. But that, notwithstanding, it is about your health and you need to take care of your health. So you being able to perform well in bed and later in life you don’t know how long it might take, it might affect you to the extent that you might get stroke, which is one of the complications of hypertension”, she explained.

Mrs. Ataa Adjei continued “Sometimes, it is the doctor monitoring you, it has to do with you the patient and the care giver, the communication between you two. There are some drugs that the doctor would give to you to counteract that side effect so that you will be taking the BP drugs alright but that other drug the doctor added will stop the premature ejaculation or you not been able to perform well.”

The forum was organized by the Asokwa Congregation of the Church of Christ to educate the members about some of their rights and responsibilities when they visit the hospital.

The forum focused on the Patients’ Charter that has spelt out the rights and responsibilities of healthcare seekers as well as the obligations of the facilities and their staff at any given time. The event was also used to sensitize the members about High Blood Pressure known to be a very common ailment among especially the adult population.

Touching on the consequences of the failure of patients to take their drugs, Mrs. Ataa Adjei warned that, an uncontrolled High Blood Pressure could result in different fatal consequences including heart failure.

“When a person gets a BP and it is not well controlled, in one way or the other, it has some effect on the kidneys so that, the kidneys cannot do their job as a normal person who does not have hypertension will perform. One other complication too has to do with heart failure. As the BP keeps increasing and it’s not being controlled well, so that the daily action of the heart, pumping blood for circulation throughout the body becomes a tedious work for the heart to do. So at a point in time, the heart fails to pump effectively the way it should do under the normal circumstances”, the Senior Nursing Officer pointed out.

She encouraged patients to seek from their healthcare givers every information about their health conditions, the prescribed medications, what caused the sicknesses and or ask for alternative medication if they desire.

However, the Senior Nursing Officer advised that, for the physician to provide the best diagnosis and treatment, patients also have a responsibility to give to the care giver every relevant information needed for the provision of the complete healthcare.

The Preacher in charge of the Congregation, Evangelist Frank Adjei, explained that, the health forum is one of the many social issues of greater concern to the public including members of the Church and that the church has equal obligation to seek the wellbeing of the members.

As a result, pertinent issues including financial investment and customer relations have as well been planned this year to empower the members to live decent lives to enable them worship God diligently.