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Even medications you take every day require extra caution in this kind of weather. In particular, blood pressure medications that dilate blood vessels can cause side effects.

Reporter Han Sung-hee explains.

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[Here is your blood pressure medication, I have prescribed it for you.]

Yeo Hyun-sook, a 63-year-old who regularly takes blood pressure medication, recently visited the hospital after experiencing severe dizziness.

[Yeo Hyun-sook / Suji-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province: I stood right up from the bed, and the room started spinning. So I couldn't get up and had to lie back down. I felt nauseous, like I was going to vomit...]br />
As of 2023, the number of patients prescribed blood pressure medication for 290 days or more a year reached 8.31 million.

Most blood pressure medications lower blood pressure by expanding blood vessels or reducing blood volume through diuresis, which expels water from the body.

The problem is heat wave conditions.

When our bodies sweat and expel water, reducing blood volume, taking blood pressure medication on top of that doubly decreases blood volume, which can lead to hypotension.

[Won Byung-seop / Suji-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province: (Lately) when I measure my blood pressure, it drops sharply. It drops quite a bit, so I thought that was strange...]br />
[Oh In-seok / Vice Chairman, Korean Pharmaceutical Association: Many symptoms associated with hypotension are extremely uncomfortable. Your body knows it automatically. You feel nauseous, lethargic, as if the ground is sinking, and dizzy.]

If blood pressure drops suddenly, dizziness increases the risk of accidents such as falls.

Even for hypertension patients, consuming salt in the short term can be helpful.

[Park Min-sun / Professor of Family Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital: When you feel completely drained, soaking fruit in a little saltwater helps raise both your blood pressure and sugar levels, allowing you to recover a bit more quickly.]

Caution is also required during heat waves when taking diabetes medications that cause dehydration by excreting sugar through urine, antidepressants that impair body temperature regulation, and prostate enlargement medications that dilate blood vessels.

If abnormal symptoms appear, you should consult medical staff immediately. Because each medication works differently, rather than arbitrarily stopping them, it is best to determine the dosage and whether to continue taking them through a consultation.

(Camera Reporter: Kim Hak-mo, Kang Dong-chul | Video Editor: Kim Jun-hee | Designer: Seo Seung-hyun)