Introduction to Losartan
What is Losartan?
Losartan is a popular antihypertensive drug that is a non-peptide angiotensin II receptor blocker. Its active ingredient, losartan potassium, has high selectivity and affinity for AT1 receptors, which are involved in the main effects of angiotensin II. By blocking these receptors, losartan prevents and eliminates the vasoconstrictive effect of angiotensin II, its stimulating effect on the secretion of aldosterone by the adrenal glands, and some other effects. This drug is characterized by a long-term effect - a day or more, which is due to the formation of its active metabolite.
The main indication for the use of losartan is arterial hypertension. The drug helps to reduce the risk of associated cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with arterial hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy. This helps to reduce the combined incidence of cardiovascular mortality, stroke, and myocardial infarction. Additionally, losartan is used to protect the kidneys in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with proteinuria. Long-term use of losartan helps to slow the progression of renal failure, which is manifested by a decrease in the incidence of hypercreatininemia, the incidence of end-stage chronic renal failure requiring hemodialysis or kidney transplantation, mortality rates, and a decrease in proteinuria. Another indication for taking losartan is chronic heart failure. In this case, the drug is used as part of combination therapy, in case of intolerance or ineffectiveness of therapy with ACE inhibitors.
Lowering blood pressure in hypertension reduces the risk of fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular events, primarily stroke and myocardial infarction. These benefits have been seen in controlled trials of antihypertensive drugs from a wide range of pharmacological classes, including losartan. It should be noted that control of high blood pressure should be part of comprehensive cardiovascular risk management. This includes, when appropriate, lipid control, diabetes control, antithrombotic therapy, smoking cessation, exercise, and sodium restriction. Losartan can be used with other antihypertensive agents.
Forms of Losartan
Losartan is available in film-coated tablets in different dosages. Patients are offered dosages of 25 mg, 50 mg and 100 mg. The most common dosage is 50 mg. Recently, a dosage of 12.5 mg of losartan has also appeared on the pharmaceutical market. In addition to film-coated tablets, losartan is available as a suspension. Losartan suspension is used in children of 6 years and older.
How to Buy Losartan Online
Steps to Safely Order Losartan Online
In order to safely purchase losartan online, it is necessary to comply with a number of simple conditions.
First of all, you need to decide what dosage you need. This medicine is quite serious, so before using it, it is strongly recommended to consult a doctor. It is allowed to use losartan without a fresh doctor’s recommendation, if it was received earlier, the treatment was carried out for a sufficiently long time and was effective, and the patient’s concomitant diseases have not changed significantly.
Next, your task is to choose a reliable online pharmacy that offers losartan in the dosage and form you are interested in. Speaking about this stage of the purchase, it is necessary to emphasize that buying drugs online is as safe in terms of their quality as in regular pharmacies, but only on condition that the online pharmacy has a license to sell drugs and it has not expired. This is not a simple piece of paper or a formality, as some may think, but a vital document that imposes many legal obligations on the pharmacy. It guarantees that the products presented in it have undergone all the necessary certification procedures and are stored in proper conditions. Trying to buy drugs on message boards or forums is an extremely bad idea. Even if the seller doesn’t have any malicious intent, and this is unlikely due to the relatively low cost of losartan, no one can guarantee that an individual has provided the necessary storage and transportation conditions for the drug and that it is not expired.
The next point, which is important to pay attention to when buying losartan in online pharmacies, is the realism of the offer and the security of the transaction. Different online pharmacies offer losartan at a variety of prices. This is primarily due to the fact that this drug is produced by many different pharmaceutical companies that adhere to different pricing policies. Among them, there are also very affordable options. However, too low a price of literally a few cents should alert the buyer and scare him away from this offer. Don’t forget that there is no such thing as a free cheese. Encryption of the transaction page is a guarantee that the payment you make on the website of the online pharmacy will be delivered to the address and not intercepted by any third parties. If the payment page is not encrypted, it is better to choose another pharmacy. This situation may indicate both fraudulent intentions of the site owners and their carelessness, which may cost their clients money.
Finally, there is an obvious piece of advice, which, however, is sometimes neglected by inattentive customers of online pharmacies. It is necessary to correctly indicate all your contact information, such as email address, phone number, postal address, postal code. If there is an error in this information, your parcel will simply get lost in the depths of the postal network. Safety tips for purchasing medications online are generally all the same, no matter what drug you intend to purchase.
Where Can I Buy Losartan?
You can buy Losartan online in many online pharmacies, both large and small, both national and foreign, as well as international. The jurisdiction of a pharmacy is determined by its legal address, and international pharmacies are usually registered in countries or cities that are communication centers and facilitate the logistics of goods flows from different countries. Today, there are a large number of Losartan manufacturers. Almost every country has more than one company that supplies this drug to the pharmaceutical market, from Indian to American, from Chinese to Malaysian. The consumer can choose from a huge number of manufacturers whose products are supplied to a variety of online pharmacies. If you are a US resident, it will not be a problem for you to purchase Losartan from abroad. If you choose, for example, cheap generics of this drug from India, such an action as ordering drugs from abroad is not a violation of the law.
Dosages available online (25 mg, 50 mg, 100 mg)
Losartan is available in online pharmacies in dosages of 25, 50 and 100 mg. Less often, you can find tablets of 12.5 mg. It should be noted that the method of administration and dosage regimen in each specific case depends on the characteristics of the patient’s disease. The optimal regimen is determined by the doctor, and it is important to strictly adhere to the indications for use and dosage regimen in accordance with the dosage form of losartan used. The average dose for oral administration is 50 mg once a day. If necessary, it is reduced to 25 mg per day or increased to 100 mg per day. In the latter case, it is possible to use the drug not at once, but divided into two doses. A dosage of 50 mg is also an average-priced option for losartan.Purchasing Options and Availability
Benefits of Buying Losartan Online
Buying Losartan online is a purchasing method that has become increasingly popular in recent years, due to both the growing demand for online drug trading and the rapid development of this industry. Many patients prefer this method of purchase, rather than the usual purchase at a local pharmacy, due to many advantages, such as a more affordable cost, the ability to choose the most suitable drugs for you from a large number of those presented in the assortment, as well as the ability to buy this drug without a doctor’s prescription. Despite the fact that this drug has a prescription status, many patients have been successfully taking it for many years and are well aware of how it affects their body. Naturally, they don’t want to waste their time, money and effort on regular visits to doctors to renew the prescription. In this case, online pharmacies, especially those selling generic losartan from India, allow consumers to buy drugs over the counter without breaking any laws and without being subject to legal prosecution.
Losartan Price Comparison
Losartan is a drug that most patients take for a long time, because arterial hypertension and diabetic neuropathy - the main indications for taking this drug - are essentially chronic conditions and require constant drug monitoring. In this regard, it is especially important that the cost of the drug does not hit the patient’s budget too hard. Branded losartan is sold under the trade name Cozaar and is produced in the Netherlands. However, to date, the share of sales of this branded drug compared to generics is very small. This is due to the fact that generics are mostly much more affordable than the original drug, and at the same time they are not inferior to it in terms of effectiveness. Thus, a package of 30 tablets of the original Cozaar drug in a dosage of 50 mg costs about $145, and this is far from the most expensive offer on the market. Quite an impressive amount, especially considering that you need to spend it every month. The cost of generics varies quite a lot depending on the country and the pharmaceutical company that produces them. However, in general, buying generics is a win-win option for saving. 30 tablets of generic Losartan in a dosage of 50 mg cost on average from $4 to $10. Losartan cheapest price for a 30 pills supply is about $3.2. So the benefit is obvious, even if buying a generic is associated with some inconveniences, such as the need to wait quite a long time (within a week or ten days) for the order to arrive from a foreign online pharmacy.
50 mg of Losartan is cheaper than the same drug in a dosage of 25 mg, in terms of the cost of a milligram. As for the drug version with the highest dosage – 100 mg – this is the most advantageous option for the price of one tablet. However, you should not assume that this form of drug release is suitable only for those patients who take one tablet with such a high dosage once a day. It is also suitable for those who prefer to divide the dosage of 100 mg into two doses. It is also a good choice for patients who take losartan in a dosage of 50 mg. Splitting one tablet with a dosage of 100 mg into two parts is more advantageous than buying tablets of 50 mg. The situation is similar with dosages of 25 and 50 mg. Patients who are prescribed losartan in a dosage of 25 mg often buy tablets with a dosage of 50 mg and divide them into two parts. Another advantage of this approach is the ability to change the dosage of the drug at the beginning of treatment. Suppose your doctor prescribed you 50 mg of losartan, but this drug was not effective enough for you, and you need to increase the dosage. By splitting the 50 mg tablet in half, you can add another 25 mg to your regular dose, for a total of 75 mg of losartan. This allows you to have more flexibility in your treatment regimen rather than jumping straight to 100 mg.
In order to compare offers on the pharmaceutical market and choose the most suitable option for you losartan in terms of cost, country of manufacture and specific manufacturer, you can use aggregator sites of online pharmacies. They are convenient because instead of wandering through various separate sites of pharmacies that you still need to find, you are offered to see many options of the drug on one online page. You can also set up filtering of search results in the form of a cost limit or by marking the desired delivery conditions, its term and price. In some cases, especially when ordering a large number of drugs, delivery from online pharmacies is free or for a purely symbolic cost. Aggregators of online pharmacies are also convenient because they show the rating of pharmacies, thereby reflecting their popularity and reliability for consumers. If desired, you can easily get acquainted with more detailed information about the pharmacy, such as the date of its foundation, the number of user reviews and these reviews themselves.
Can You Buy Losartan over the Counter?
Officially, losartan is a prescription drug, and in many countries, including the United States and most European countries, its dispensing from pharmacies is indeed quite strictly regulated. In order for a person to buy the drug in an offline pharmacy, he must show the pharmacist a current prescription. Depending on the specific location, the requirements for the prescription may be more or less strict; for example, somewhere they may ignore the fact that the prescription has recently expired. However, in general, it is not very easy to buy losartan without a prescription in local pharmacies.
As for purchasing this drug over the counter in online pharmacies, it is much easier to do so. This applies to both the original drug and its generics. If you are going to buy Cozaar without a prescription, pay attention to the instructions for use. Read it carefully, even if you have previously taken this drug and bought it on a doctor’s prescription. Refresh your knowledge of the drug to be prepared for side effects and check whether you are taking any other drugs that don’t combine well with losartan.
Many online pharmacies allow you to buy prescription drugs over the counter, especially if you go to pharmacies whose legal address is located in countries where pharmaceutical legislation is not as strict as in the United States. For example, most Indian online pharmacies limit themselves to asking consumers to confirm in a pop-up window that they are familiar with the prescription status of the drug. Some simply notify about this with a special inscription on the product card, without requiring any action from buyers. This imposes a certain responsibility on the buyer, but makes it possible not to depend on a prescription when purchasing this drug. For most people with arterial hypertension, buying losartan is a routine action, and visits to the doctor are an annoying necessity, which many are happy to get rid of. It is noteworthy that, despite the fact that losartan is a prescription drug in the United States, if you manage to buy it without a prescription, you personally will not bear any responsibility for this. Losartan is not a drug that is on the strictly monitored list because it is not a psychotropic drug or even a strong sleeping pill.
Side Effects and Considerations of Different Losartan Dosages
Like most other drugs, losartan has certain side effects and contraindications. Thus, from the cardiovascular system, the patient may experience dizziness, orthostatic hypotension, from the metabolic side – hyperkalemia. The body can react to taking the drug with allergic reactions, the digestive system – diarrhea and increased ALT activity. From the central nervous system, headache is possible, rarely – dizziness. More specific side effects include impaired renal function and myalgia. Adverse reactions increase in direct proportion to the increase in dosage. The most severe side effects are recorded when taking a dosage of 100 mg per day. In patients with a history of liver disease, losartan should not be taken in a dosage of more than 50 mg. In case of impaired renal function, a reduction in the dose of the drug may also be required.
Losartan interactions and contraindications
With the simultaneous use of Losartan with diuretics in high doses, arterial hypotension is possible. With the simultaneous use of potassium preparations, potassium-sparing diuretics, the risk of hyperkalemia increases.
With the simultaneous use of indomethacin, the effectiveness of losartan may decrease.
There are reports of the development of lithium intoxication with the simultaneous use of lithium carbonate.
With the simultaneous use of orlistat, the antihypertensive effect of losartan decreases, which can lead to a significant increase in blood pressure and the development of a hypertensive crisis.
With the simultaneous use of rifampicin, the clearance of losartan increases and its effectiveness decreases.
In elderly patients with a decrease in the volume of interstitial fluid (including those receiving diuretics) or with impaired renal function, the combined use of NSAIDs, including selective COX-2 inhibitors, with ARA II (including losartan) can lead to deterioration of renal function, including the possible development of acute renal failure. These effects are usually reversible. Renal function should be monitored periodically in patients receiving losartan and NSAIDs.
In general, concomitant use of RAAS inhibitors should be avoided. Blood pressure, renal function, and electrolytes should be closely monitored in patients receiving losartan and other drugs that affect the RAAS.
Contraindications to losartan include hypersensitivity, concomitant use with aliskiren in patients with diabetes mellitus, and children under 6 years of age.
Customer reviews and experiences
Losartan is a drug that is generally popular among hypertensive patients and receives good reviews. Most patients find it sufficient to take one tablet per day with a dosage of 50 mg. Some patients note in their reviews that the drug had no effect on them. However, they write this only one or two doses later. It should be noted that losartan has a cumulative effect, and in order to assess whether the drug really helps or not, at least 2-3 weeks are needed. According to consumer assessments, the manufacturer and the country of manufacture do not have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the drug. Some patients note that taking losartan causes drowsiness, dizziness, and a feeling of heaviness in the legs. Most likely, such reactions are due to individual high sensitivity to the drug. On the websites of online pharmacies, there are consumer reviews that taking losartan helps to improve the functioning of the cardiovascular system, reduces tachycardia and improves overall well-being.
FAQs about Losartan
How much does Losartan 25 mg lower blood pressure?
Losartan helps to maintain uniform blood pressure control throughout the day after oral administration. The antihypertensive effect of this drug corresponds to the natural human circadian rhythm. The decrease in blood pressure at the end of the action of a 25 mg dose of losartan is approximately 70-80% of the effect at the peak of the drug, which is achieved 5-6 hours after administration. Taking losartan once a day leads to a statistically significant decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure. However, the drug does not have the same effect on all patients. Such factors as the patient’s weight, the degree of arterial hypertension, the level of physical activity, individual sensitivity to the drug, as well as the presence or absence of diseases that contribute to impaired absorption of substances in the intestine are important.
What time of day to take Losartan?
Losartan is best taken once a day, in the morning, at about the same time every day, regardless of food intake. The tablet should be swallowed whole with water. However, some doctors recommend taking losartan in the evening, before bedtime, because it is important to maintain normal blood pressure at night. This situation is usually observed in people with severe hypertension. The most modern approach to treating such patients is to take the daily dosage in two doses, morning and evening. In any case, you should consult with your doctor about which dosage regimen is most beneficial for you.
Losartan 25 mg for weight loss: Is it effective?
Losartan does help with weight loss by lowering cholesterol levels in the blood. This drug helps reduce so-called bad cholesterol and triglycerides, as well as fatty deposits on the walls of blood vessels. This leads to some acceleration of metabolism, so taking this drug can help with weight loss. However, this drug is not officially approved for use for weight loss.
Safety and legal concerns about buying Losartan online without a prescription
Losartan is a prescription drug in the United States, so many patients who intend to buy it from an online pharmacy without a prescription have questions about the safety and legality of such an action. By purchasing Losartan online without a prescription, you are not breaking any laws in the United States of America, as long as the purchase is made from a pharmacy registered in a country that does not require a doctor’s prescription. In simple terms, the US authorities don’t care how you buy Losartan, as long as you don’t do it in the United States. However, even if you are sold this drug without a prescription in the United States, the pharmacy will be held responsible, not you.