"Because nifedipine acts rapidly, especially when given as liquid-containing capsules, symptomatic hypotension and/or orthostatic hypotension can occur and can be associated with rapid heart rate. The practice of breaking nifedipine capsules to speed drug delivery may exacerbate these adverse effects. Indeed, there is no evidence that this approach to administering nifedipine has efficacy in preventing clinically significant endpoints but may increase the risks of adverse events and unpredictable reductions in blood pressure, especially in patients with severe hypertension or coronary artery disease...
Broken capsules of nifedipine administered sublingually (actually swallowing the contents works faster) has been very extensively used in the treatment of hypertensive urgencies. However, this approach leads to particularly unpredictable large falls in blood pressure that may have severe adverse consequences in terms of tissue ischemia. These include stroke or acute myocardial infarction."
Source: Melmon and Morrelli's Clinical Pharmacology, 4th ed. 2000, p. 83, 90.
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