Amlodipine (Norvasc) or atenolol (Tenormin)?

My husband has taken both in the past, and is still taking atenolol. He didn’t have any side effects from either one, and only stopped taking Norvasc because the base dropped it from their fomulary.

Atenolol is a beta-blocker so it works by slowing down the heart and reducing its workload. If you have asthma you shouldn’t take it.

Norvasc is a calcium channel blocker, so it works by relaxing the smooth muscle in the arterial wall, decreasing peripheral resistance and hence reducing blood pressure; in angina it increases blood flow to the heart muscle.

They do different jobs so it may depend on what the cause of the high blood pressure is. In order to fully control his blood pressure my husband actually takes five different drugs, each affecting a slightly different aspect of the vascular system.

@Darwin Thank you for your response.

I’m on amlodipine plus hydrochlorothiazide. They work for me, with no side effects, but not as well as lisinopril did. However, I had a chromic cough from the lisinopril and had to DC it.

They both work. But the initial drug of choice generally is a thiazide diuretic.

Thank you for your responses, @crisw and @Stanley.

i an 66 i have bee taling 50 mg tenormin for 12 yrs, can i change to norvasc

@ssssharif – The two drugs, as I said above, work to control high blood pressure in different ways. You would need to talk to your doctor about whether a change from a beta blocker to a calcium channel blocker would work for you.