Amlodipine

The exam loves to make you separate the two calcium-channel-blocker families: amlodipine is a dihydropyridine that acts on vessels, not the heart, so unlike the non-dihydropyridines verapamil and diltiazem it does not slow the heart rate or the AV node. Because it is long-acting with a gradual onset, it causes little reflex tachycardia — the dose-dependent ankle/peripheral edema is the real headline adverse effect, and that edema comes from capillary pressure, not fluid overload, so diuretics do not fix it. The parameter the answer hinges on before dosing is the blood pressure (hold for symptomatic hypotension), not the apical pulse.

Watch the classic trap of confusing it with metoprolol, which lowers heart rate and requires an apical-pulse check, held below 60 bpm — amlodipine has no such hold. Distinguish it from lisinopril too: amlodipine causes no dry cough and no hyperkalemia because it never touches the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. A clean hook: the “-dipine” suffix is the dihydro-PINE that dilates pipes.