Bp medication help

[SErick507]

Hey everybody just looking for some opinions. I took lisinopril for 5 months for High BP 10mg for 3 months, 20mg for 1 month and 15 mg for 1 month. During taking it I was having tons of bad side effects such as insomnia, dizziness, numbness/tingling, chest, back and side pain, muscle twitches, and blurred vision. I would go to the doctor (cardio and GP) for this stuff and no serious issues were found and they always said it wouldn't be the lisinopril. They were going more of the psychological route (depression and anxiety). About 3 weeks ago I stopped taking lisinopril all together and the past week I've been feeling really good. I would say 90-95% of the issues are gone. I'm now going to be trying a new BP medication and I'm wondering if you guys have any good experiences with certain BP medications. I asked for no ACE inhibitors but any others that have been effective with few side effects? Your thoughts on anything would be much appreciated.

 

[Freddie]

What is your new BP medication?

 

[SErick507]

Idk yet i'm goin to see the cardio tomorrow...It's proly gonna be a Beta blocker or Calcium channel blocker.

I'm just tryin to see what what are some that people have had favorable experiences with.

 

[Lionheart]

SErick507,
I was on Ace inhibitors, calcium channel blockers and beta blockers and they all had minor side effects that I didn't like. I'm now on an ARB (Benicar) and have no know side effects and it controls my BP pretty well. But be aware that in addition to lowering BP, some of the medications have other benefits that may be useful depending on our circumstances.
Best
John

 

[DeuxofUs]

I was on lisinopril for a few months but it gave me a bad cough.... I knew that was a side effect but it didn't kick in for a few weeks. I had to change to Diovan (non-generic) but it works well.

I am also on metoprolol as well... I have HIGH blood pressure but it's controlled by the two medicines very well.. actually, my blood pressure is slightly low.

 

[SErick507]

Yeah, I got the cough too when I was on 20mg, Thank you for your input.

 

[Bill B]

Cough is common. I'm on 40mg a day and can't say I've had any side effects at all. This is combined with Metoprolol SR 100 mg, and recently HCTZ 12.5mg was added since my BP wasn't very well controlled. Still, no notable side effects. I guess I'm lucky.

Although your side effects go beyond what are usually reported with these drugs, you have good enough reason to blame the lisinopril based on the reversal when it was discontinued. It's hard to argue with that. Sure, placebo effects (in your head) can be quite powerful, and there's no real good way to evaluate that except perhaps to have someone slip you fake lisinopriol tablets to see if you get the same symptoms. Anyway, I'm glad you asked for something else rather than to try to tolerate these problems. There are so many options for BP meds, everyone should be able to find something that works for them without notable side effects.

 

[Bryan B]

I have taken beta blockers, ace inhibitors, and calcium channel blockers either currently or in the past.

Beta Blocker: main side effect lethargy but has worked great at keeping heart rate down, only fair at keeping BP down

Ace Inhibitor: main side effect tickle cough that subsided with time but worked great at keeping BP down, not much help with heart rate

Calcium Channel Blocker: no side effect that I noticed and worked Great at keeping BP down, not much help with heart rate

These are just my individual experiences with the drugs. I am currently on a beta blocker and heart rate is great but BP has gone from perfect right after surgery to borderline high now, so I may need to add an additional BP med to lower my BP.

 

[Herb_Webb]

I don't like any of them. I took vasotec for years then lisinopril. Changed my diet and my BP normalized. My cardiologist wants me on a cocktail of 3 drugs now for atrial flutter and other issues. Well I'm cooperating temporarily while I get back on track. In a nutshell job stress, poor eating, weight gain and things went downhill a bit. Now I'm taking magnesium supplements, eating better (I follow a food combining diet) and feeling better.

Nutrition is often the las thing Dr's look at. There are exceptions and one is Sherry Rogers who has written several books including one called "The High Blood Pressure Hoax" which I have on order. I just read "Is your cardiologist killing you" and its an eye opener. The side effects of most drugs are not immediate and over time reduce our health and bring on new symptoms which leads to another prescription. She backs up her statements with published research that gets ignored due to the drug companies hold on the medical world.

Regardless of your choice, best of luck and best of health
have fun
Herb

 

[Bina]

I totally agree with Herb, start with diet and lifestyle analysis, then move onto a well known and reliable med.
Mine is Metoprolol, which I don't like, but it's what I am stuck with for now.

 

[Debster]

My mom had problems with several bp meds (Altace was a major prob) but she is on Diovan now and that has worked wonders....keep us posted!

 

[Duff Man]

Ya know SErick, I was on a blood pressure medicine for a long time and I felt alot like you described. When I finally saw a hypertension specialist about it, he said I was OVER medicated. He wanted me to discontinue one of my medications all together. I felt significantly better when I discontinued one of the medications.

I propose you find out what your real blood pressure is and log it over time.

You need to be sure the cuff you and the doctor's office are using is sized appropriately for your arm - especially make sure that it's not too small. If the cuff is too small, it will give you erroneously high readings. The reason this happens is because in a missized cuff, the air bladder doesn't wrap all the way around the arm, and it takes more pressure to occlude the blood vessels - hence giving you a false high reading. My hypertension specialist at UofM said this problem can skew the readings as much as 30 points, and an average of 15-20. So make sure the cuff's bladder wraps around the entire arm. If you are overweight, there is a very good chance the cuff is too small.

There's an emotional aspect to hypertension too. You need to make sure you're not having white coat syndrome by taking your bp at home.

When you take your blood pressure at home, use a monitor validated by AAMI like the omron 700 series. Avoid the wrist or finger models. Make sure the cuff is large enough for your arm so the bladder fully encompasses it. Make sure you're seated for several minutes before you begin. Keep your arm at HEART LEVEL even if you need to prop it up with a pillow. Take the reading 3 times, but do not look at the reading until after the third one. Only record the third reading unless your doctor says otherwise.

Here's an article from the University of Michigan's hypertension clinic on home blood pressure monitoring and other good nuggets of info: http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/guides/homebp.htm

 

[Bryan B]

deleted due to spelling errors, edit post errors, and lack of delete button

 

[Bryan B]

deleted due to spelling errors, edit post errors, and lack of delete button

 

[Bryan B]

I don't like any of them. I took vasotec for years then lisinopril. Changed my diet and my BP normalized. My cardiologist wants me on a cocktail of 3 drugs now for atrial flutter and other issues. Well I'm cooperating temporarily while I get back on track. In a nutshell job stress, poor eating, weight gain and things went downhill a bit. Now I'm taking magnesium supplements, eating better (I follow a food combining diet) and feeling better.

Nutrition is often the las thing Dr's look at. There are exceptions and one is Sherry Rogers who has written several books including one called "The High Blood Pressure Hoax" which I have on order. I just read "Is your cardiologist killing you" and its an eye opener. The side effects of most drugs are not immediate and over time reduce our health and bring on new symptoms which leads to another prescription. She backs up her statements with published research that gets ignored due to the drug companies hold on the medical world.

Regardless of your choice, best of luck and best of health
have fun
Herb

Herb you make some valid points so do not take this personally. I do agree that many times doctors over prescribe BP medication, but there are several factors to consider. If a patient's BP is high due to being overweight, smoking or other controllable variables will the patient do something to change their lifestyle. If they do he can reduce or eliminate the BP medication. Is their high BP caused by a physical condition that is not controllable and giving the patient BP medication is less risky than letting them live with hypertension. I just don't want people to think that because a doctor puts them on BP medication he is doing so just to get kickbacks from the pharmaceutical industry. Many times high BP is due to heart related problems out of the control of a patient's lifestyle. High BP needs to be controlled whether it's by a change in lifestyle or by using medication. Seeing how this is a heart related forum my guess is that many of the members here that have high BP have it due to heart conditions that are out of their control. Also hypertensive medication is prescribed to valve patients (pre and post surgery) to prevent further damage before surgery and to slow down the process of valve deterioration after surgery, especially those with tissue valves.

 

[Rick]

I am on 10mg daily of Altace, which I understand is the highest long-term dosage, for three years now and BP was lowered to target point. At first, I had some cough and my hands would go numb when I was asleep. MD said the cough could be the Altace but the numbness was something else. Eventually both went away, a month or so, and keeps my BP well. Also take Coreg and Lipitor. I think some lethargy and somewhat decreased libido are the only consequences but on the other hand, the rate of valve deterioration appears to have slowed down for now. I think the benefits outweight the side effects. The only concern I have is long-term. How to avoid kidney or liver damage? I am 40 and may need to on this for many years -- this I worry about. Anyways, that is my experience.

 

[Rick]

Why did you request no ACE inhibitors?

 

[Bryan B]

Weird. I tried to edit some spelling errors and a few left out words and every time I tried to edit the post it created a new post. I also couldn't find a delete button to get rid of the unwanted posts. I know there used to be one. Sorry about that.

 

[Eva]

I don't like any of them. I took vasotec for years then lisinopril. Changed my diet and my BP normalized. My cardiologist wants me on a cocktail of 3 drugs now for atrial flutter and other issues. Well I'm cooperating temporarily while I get back on track. In a nutshell job stress, poor eating, weight gain and things went downhill a bit. Now I'm taking magnesium supplements, eating better (I follow a food combining diet) and feeling better.

Nutrition is often the las thing Dr's look at. There are exceptions and one is Sherry Rogers who has written several books including one called "The High Blood Pressure Hoax" which I have on order. I just read "Is your cardiologist killing you" and its an eye opener. The side effects of most drugs are not immediate and over time reduce our health and bring on new symptoms which leads to another prescription. She backs up her statements with published research that gets ignored due to the drug companies hold on the medical world.

Regardless of your choice, best of luck and best of health
have fun
Herb

Unfortunately very few doctors are contienscious these days. We are lucky that our PCP is the type who encourages patients to changes their diets first before prescribing a medication. He prescribed BP for my hubby but pushed him to abstain from salt, processed food, to walk daily to lessen the stress. Applying all those, my hubby's BP is normal now and has not take any BP medication in the last 4 years.

The book you mentioned Herb is interesting. I shall buy one soon. Thanks for sharing the info.

After the surgery I was put on Lisinopril. When I started feeling dizzy, we cut down on the dose a little bit at a time and stopped it completely. I avoid salty and processed food.

Now I take Toprol to bring my HR rate down, but it brings my BP down more than my HR which I do not like, but I am sticking with it.

Good luck.

 

[neil]

on bisoprolol 2.5 x2 lisinoprol 20 x2 bendroflumethiazide 2.5x1 .. sometimes makes me feel kinda off but if thats the worst it can throw at me i will take it, most of the time feel great,