The treatment of essential hypertension still consists of the judicious combination of two or more agents. The chemical nature, pharmacology, side effects and relative merits of two groups of drugs are reviewed: (1) agents interfering with the synthesis, storage and release of endogenous catecholamines and (2) oral diuretic agents. Rauwolfia compounds, bretylium tosylate, guanethidine, alpha-me...

Several drugs are known to cause a lupus-type syndrome.1 Methyldopa causes positive anti-nuclear antibody reactions, but only two previously reported cases of a methyldopa-induced lupus-type syndrome have been described.23 We report a case of this syndrome which failed to resolve fully on withdrawal of the drug, and which has features of a mixed connective tissue disorder (MCTD). CASE HISTORY A...