12 Myths About the Blood Pressure Medication Amlodipine

Amlodipine (Norvasc) is a common medication used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure). It’s a calcium channel blocker, a class of medications that work by blocking calcium from entering the cells of your heart and blood vessels. This relaxes blood vessel walls and lowers blood pressure. 

Amlodipine has been around for decades. The FDA first approved it in 1987. Because it’s very safe, and people tolerate it well, it’s one of the first-choice medications for treating high blood pressure. 

Even though amlodipine has a proven track record as an effective treatment for high blood pressure, it’s often misunderstood. Here, we’ll debunk 12 of the most common myths about amlodipine.

Myth 1: Amlodipine is a blood thinner

This is incorrect. Amlodipine doesn’t thin your blood. Instead, it relaxes and widens blood vessels, allowing more blood and oxygen to reach your heart. It also lowers blood pressure, which can prevent health issues like heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease. 

Myth 2: Amlodipine is bad for your heart

This isn’t true either. Studies show that amlodipine reduces cardiovascular events, including heart attacks. It also treats certain kinds of chest pain (angina) related to spasms in the heart’s blood vessels. For people with coronary artery disease, it’s a helpful alternative when a beta blocker doesn’t work or causes side effects.

Myth 3: Amlodipine is a beta blocker

Amlodipine isn’t a beta blocker. It’s a calcium channel blocker. Beta blockers, like metoprolol and carvedilol, block the effect of adrenaline on your heart and blood vessels. Beta blockers lower blood pressure by lowering your heart rate and relaxing blood vessels. 

Calcium channel blockers, like amlodipine, work differently. They block the movement of calcium into your heart and blood vessels. This helps lower blood pressure without slowing heart rate. (More on this below.) 

Myth 4: Amlodipine lowers your heart rate

Amlodipine doesn’t lower your heart rate. Unlike beta blockers and other calcium channel blockers, like diltiazem and verapamil, amlodipine usually has little to no effect on your heart rate. Instead, amlodipine primarily lowers blood pressure, either by itself or when taken with other medications. 

Myth 5: Amlodipine isn’t as good as newer blood pressure medications

This is not true. Certain blood pressure medications that were commonly used in the past are now considered outdated. But amlodipine is still considered a safe and effective blood pressure medication. 

According to the 2025 report from the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines, calcium channel blockers like amlodipine are still recommended as a first-choice treatment for high blood pressure. Other first-choice treatments include thiazide-type diuretics, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs).

Myth 6: Amlodipine isn’t good if you have diabetes

This isn’t correct. The 2025 AHA/ACC guidelines recommend calcium channel blockers, like amlodipine, as one of the first-choice medications for managing high blood pressure in people with diabetes. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) also supports amlodipine as a first-choice medication for high blood pressure. But there are times when amlodipine isn’t the best option. 

If you have diabetes along with albuminuria (a sign of kidney damage) or coronary artery disease, amlodipine isn’t your best option for high blood pressure. In these situations, the ADA as well as AHA/ACC recommend ACE inhibitors or ARBs.

Myth 7: Amlodipine is bad for your kidneys

No, amlodipine isn’t bad for your kidneys. In fact, studies show that amlodipine and other similar calcium channel blockers may protect the kidneys in people with high blood pressure better than beta blockers and diuretics. Amlodipine is perfectly safe for people with kidney disease and usually doesn’t make kidney function worse.

Myth 8: Amlodipine increases cancer risk

Amlodipine doesn’t increase your risk of developing cancer. The concern about a possible connection between amlodipine and cancer stemmed from a study published in the 1990s. It reported that women who took calcium channel blockers for 10 years or longer had a higher risk of breast cancer.

But larger and more recent studies have provided strong evidence that calcium channel blockers, like amlodipine, don’t cause cancer.

Myth 9: You can’t take amlodipine with any cholesterol medications

This is only partially true. Amlodipine mildly interacts with simvastatin and lovastatin. Taking amlodipine with either of these statins can lead to increased risks of muscle-related problems, such as muscle aches. Simvastatin and lovastatin doses lower than 20 mg can usually be taken safely with amlodipine. 

There are plenty of other statins that don’t interact with amlodipine, such as:

• Atorvastatin

• Rosuvastatin

• Pitavastatin

• Fluvastatin

• Pravastatin

In fact, amlodipine is combined with atorvastatin in the medication amlodipine / atorvastatin (Caduet).

Myth 10: If you take amlodipine in the morning, it will wear off at night

No, the effects of amlodipine don’t wear off in 24 hours. When you take amlodipine in the morning, the dose lasts all day and all night. So, one dose of amlodipine a day is all you need for a 24-hour effect.

Myth 11: It’s best to take amlodipine at bedtime

Not necessarily. Recent research hasn’t found a benefit of taking amlodipine at night versus the morning for most people. Taking amlodipine at night appears to be just as safe (and effective) as taking it in the morning.

Because one dose of amlodipine works to lower blood pressure for a full 24 hours, it shouldn’t matter much what time you take it (morning versus evening). The most important thing is that you try to take amlodipine when you’re most likely to remember it. Try to take it at the same time every day.

There may be one situation where taking amlodipine at bedtime may help. For most people, blood pressure drops during sleep. But not everyone experiences this blood pressure drop at night. In those cases, it may be helpful to take blood pressure medication at bedtime. Your healthcare team can help you figure out if this applies to you. 

Myth 12: Amlodipine has been banned and recalled

Amlodipine hasn’t been banned or recalled. It’s unclear where this rumor started. Part of the confusion may be due to the discontinuation of combination medications that contain amlodipine. For example, amlodipine / perindopril (Prestalia) was taken off the U.S. market. But this was due to commercial reasons, not safety concerns or a recall. 

Frequently asked questions

Why trust our experts?

Written by:

Alice Perlowski, MD, MA, FACC

Dr. Alice Perlowski is a board-certified cardiologist and fellow of the American College of Cardiology. She has seen patients and supervised trainees in the academic and private sector, with focuses in interventional cardiology, vascular medicine, preventative cardiology, and women’s heart health.

Edited by:

Alex Eastman, PhD, RN

Alex Eastman, PhD, RN, is a California-based registered nurse and staff medical editor at GoodRx, where he focuses on clinical updates and Latino health.

Reviewed by:

Farzon A. Nahvi, MD

Farzon Nahvi, MD, is an emergency medicine physician and author of “Code Gray: Death, Life, and Uncertainty in the ER.” He works at Concord Hospital in Concord, New Hampshire, and teaches at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.

Our editorial standards

Meet our experts