--- title: Hydrochlorothiazide Is Being Recalled for a Labeling Mistake description: One lot of the high blood pressure medication hydrochlorothiazide is being recalled for a potential labeling mistake, the FDA says. canonical: https://time.com/5381366/hydrochlorothiazide-recall/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-29T12:11:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:42:10.632Z article:section: Health og:title: A High Blood Pressure Medication Is Being Recalled After a Potentially 'Life-Threatening' Labeling Mistake og:description: According to the FDA og:url: https://time.com/5381366/hydrochlorothiazide-recall/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaced63237796014e/698938f6bc6cfc2d963e6d3c/prescription-bottle.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5616 og:image:height: 3159 og:image:alt: Prescription drug bottles sitting on countertop og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A High Blood Pressure Medication Is Being Recalled After a Potentially 'Life-Threatening' Labeling Mistake twitter:description: According to the FDA twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaced63237796014e/698938f6bc6cfc2d963e6d3c/prescription-bottle.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A High Blood Pressure Medication Is Being Recalled After a Potentially 'Life-Threatening' Labeling Mistake > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=445d3ea9-05ca-4d39-9b46-7a2066d8bac9&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Almost Half of Americans Have High Blood Pressure Under New Guidelines [Watch (HLS stream): Almost Half of Americans Have High Blood Pressure Under New Guidelines](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/j1hFpYxT.m3u8) (1:46)  _Published 2017-11-14. In the first change to blood pressure guidelines in 14 years, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology say that the threshold for high blood pressure should be lower_  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Aug 29, 2018 12:11 PM UTC  A generic prescription bottle in fronts of other medications. A generic prescription bottle in fronts of other medications. DNY59—Getty Images/iStockphoto  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Aug 29, 2018 12:11 PM UTC A potentially “life-threatening” labeling mix-up spurred a nationwide recall of a high blood pressure medication, [the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced](https://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm618583.htm). Accord Healthcare is voluntarily recalling a single lot of 12.5-milligram hydrochlorothiazide tablets, after a pharmacy reported finding a 100-count bottle that actually contained spironolactone tablets, according to the FDA. The rest of the lot (PW05264) has been recalled due to the “potential mix-up of labeling,” but Accord says the remainder of its drugs are unaffected. Both hydrochlorothiazide and spironolactone can be used to treat high blood pressure, but because spironolactone causes the body to flush out excess water and sodium and store potassium, the FDA warns that patients who mistakenly take it instead of hydrochlorothiazide could experience hyperkalemia, or elevated potassium levels. The effects of hyperkalemia, according to the FDA, range from “limited health consequences to life-threatening situations in certain individuals.” No patients have reported adverse effects in connection with the recall, the FDA says. Those who are prescribed Accord’s hydrochlorothiazide tablets should make sure that the pills are a light orange color with a letter H on one side, and a number 1 on the other. Consumers are urged to report any drugs that do not match that description, or check with their pharmacist.  Hydrochlorothiazide tablets. Photo via FDA ## Transcript [00:31] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [01:24] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [01:40] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5381366/hydrochlorothiazide-recall/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5381366/hydrochlorothiazide-recall/"},"headline":"A High Blood Pressure Medication Is Being Recalled After a Potentially 'Life-Threatening' Labeling Mistake","datePublished":"2018-08-29T12:11:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:42:10.632Z","description":"According to the FDA","url":"https://time.com/5381366/hydrochlorothiazide-recall/","keywords":["Recalls","onetime","healthytime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaced63237796014e/698938f6bc6cfc2d963e6d3c/prescription-bottle.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaced63237796014e/698938f6bc6cfc2d963e6d3c/prescription-bottle.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Prescription drug bottles sitting on countertop","caption":"Prescription drug bottles sitting on countertop","creditText":"DNY59—Getty Images/iStockphoto","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/recalls/","name":"Recalls"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5381366/hydrochlorothiazide-recall/","name":"A High Blood Pressure Medication Is Being Recalled After a Potentially 'Life-Threatening' Labeling Mistake"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Almost Half of Americans Have High Blood Pressure Under New Guidelines","description":"In the first change to blood pressure guidelines in 14 years, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology say that the threshold for high blood pressure should be lower","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/j1hFpYxT/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-11-14T15:20:48.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/j1hFpYxT.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5381366/hydrochlorothiazide-recall/","duration":"PT1M46S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5381366/hydrochlorothiazide-recall/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```