High blood pressure - anyone have symptoms?

 you  have been only for 8 days how comes its possible ,it been told that once u start bp medication u need to take it for life long

Sorry just found your message. No I meant I have just started taking them and yes I think it will be for life I am taking them

Thanks for your reply, Derek. I can assure you I'm not obsessive about my condition. I am simply naturally worried about how I am feeling. I might have agreed with you saying I am suffering from anxiety, but I have experienced anxiety on occasions before, because of other things, and this feels very different believe me. It's worse. And if it was anxiety, to me the minute I took my medication those feelings would start to abate because psychologically I would feel as if 'help', in the form of my tablets, was on its way, meaning I'd got nothing to worry about any more, But I don't start to feel better for a couple of hours or so, which is when my meds would be starting to have an effect.  

I don't regularly forget to take my tablets. And if I do, it's probably down to me being human, and menopausal. But yes, I think I will do what you do and take them up to bed with me to take when I wake up. 

You don't actually mention your age or your BP. I'm assuming if you are menopausal you must be in your 50's? 

It's an Alpha Blocker and gave me some rather nasty side effects when I was precribed it for my prostate. One of the side effects was to put my heart rate up into the 140's within about three days of starting it.

Anyone taking it long term usually has problems if needing later cataract surgery.

"Doxazosin is in a group of drugs called alpha-adrenergic blockers. Doxazosin relaxes your veins and arteries so that blood can more easily pass through them. It also relaxes the muscles in the prostate and bladder neck, making it easier to urinate.

Doxazosin is used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure), or to improve urination in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia (enlarged prostate)"

OK, I did see on google that it was used for prostate problems too. My husband takes Alfuzosin for that which I think is probably in the same family. He also takes Atenolol for essential shake of the hand and has done for quite a number of years. What is the difference between an Alpha blocker and a Beta blocker, and why would anyone take both? I have to say he takes quite a cocktail of other stuff too but not related to heart or BP.

My 48 yr old son-i-law has hypertension and takes a full cocktail of stuff to control it including either an alpha or a beta blocker [not sure  which]. He used to be a very keen cyclist and walker then when he went on a strenuous walking holiday found he was unable to climb the fells much to his chagrin. He discovered it was the alpha/beta blocker that had caused the problem.

It does seem contradictory to take both.

I was on both at the same time in 2012 but then the alpha blocker was Tamsulosin . I had a prostate infection prior to my heart valve surgery as well as BPH and they had to use a supraubic catheter as they could not get the normal type in. A hospital urologist who did not even see me prescribed it.

The beta blocker was prescribed because I had gone into AF. My heat rate did not go up that time possibly because of the beta blocker,,, who knows. 

Alfuzosin is the preferred alpha blocker as it does not cause the eye problem that the two others do.

Has your husband considered laser surgery for his prostate if it is enlarged? You need a modern thinking urologist for that as the Fuddy Duddies still want to do Bloody TURPS. I had Green Light Laser Surgery (PVP) in 2005 but it grew back again and last year I had Thuluium Laser Surgery that is better as is HoLep Laser.

My husband would always do exactly as the dr said, no matter what: he would not query either a diagnosis or instructions for medication!  He's the dr so should know best !!!  I beg to differ! It's me who wants to know why he takes such and such and when he complains of aches and pains and general tiredness he just puts it down to age. I'm the one who looks at the known side effects of medication. To be fair he is 83!  All the same his attitude of total compliance where drs are concerned does baffle me. In all other respects he would question things but not where drs are concerned.The more I read on the internet about conditions the more I realise how much the drs DON'T know.

As for laser surgery, no I don't think he has ever mentioned it or more accurately no one has mentioned it to him.  What are TURPS? I have the feeling he just acepts the prostate  problem and will continue taking the pills.  2 years ago he had a UTI which he just thought was a continuation of the problem. It was only when he suddenly became delirious and shivery with a soaring temperature that I called an ambulance  and he was carted off to hospital and in intensive care for 4 days with septic shock. Up till then he just dismissed my concern. Stiff British upper lip and all that !!

UTI's and kidney infections are quite common when the prostate stops the bladder from emptying properly. I had several early last year before the procedure.

TURP = Transurethral resection of the prostate.

"It is used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). As the name indicates, it is performed by visualizing the prostate through the urethra and removing tissue by electrocautery or sharp dissection"

It requires several days in hospital. The laser procedures are mostly day surgery... home for lunch. My first one was in Newcastle and as I had to travel back to Scotland by train they kept me overnight in case I had any retention problems. Home by train and went to the races the next day.  Last year in Sussex they again kept me over night as I was still passing blood. The blood comes mostly from the trauma to the urethra during the procedure.

The Newcastle surgeon did a PVP for a 92 year old with a very large prostate as it is he said a very gentle operation compared to a TURP.

I hope that our husband asks for copies of all the letters going to his GP and keeps you in the loop.

To be fairJ I will be 80 in a few weeks and I don't as Americans say 

 " Take no s**t from no one" Usually letter from Consultants to my GP start "Mr X is very well informed about his condition" The last one I went to see said 'How did you learn about that'  when  I commented on a Hypertension Trial for a new treatment I had tried to get on at Imperial College. He then said that I had told him much more than had been in my GP's letter.  

My GP in Edinburgh said that I knew more about this than he did when I asked him to arrange for a new type of blood test to check for prostate cancer and then told him how to interpret it when the results came back from the Lab.

I am 57, and just about through the menopause. I am unfortunately diabetic too. Since my dose of amlodipine was raised to 10mg and doxazosin to 4mg, I have piled on weight, just can't seem to stop eating. My legs are terribly swollen, and I feel bloated all over. I feel quite a mess at the moment  I find that doctors aren't very amenable to changing medication, and in my experience tend to brush off side effects as being all in the mind. I had very bad side effects with lisinopril some years ago, but the doctor I was seeing then didn't agree and was nasty with me and refused to change them for a while, only reluctantly agreeing when I was pretty much in tears. That's when the saga with amlodipine started. I was on 5mg initially and it's gradually gone up to 10mg with the doxazosin added later. I don't think I've had one day of feeling well since. I think it's called feeling half dead. I am limited to what I can take because of my reaction to lisinopril and the fact that I am diabetic.

I have also started to suffer with something which I believe is lichen planus in my mouth and on my legs, for which I will be seeing a dermatologist in a couple of weeks for confirmation. This rash apparently can be associated with amlodipine, and if the dermatologist agrees with this, I will then see my GP and lay my cards on the table about how I feel. I'm not very good at standing up for myself, especially after dealing with temperamental GP's, but I would feel more confident if I had the backing of the dermatologist. I know I need to change tablets; it's getting full backing by my GP and finding the right ones.

My blood pressure can go as high as 190/120 in stressful situations, like going to hospital. Must admit I haven't taken it for a while at home, but when I feel poorly as I mentioned in my first post, it's usually around 150/95 or slightly higher. 

I started off with Atenolol and Amlodipine. Such were the mumerous side effects that I pleaded to be taken of them. With Lisinopril I was started on 2.5mg, increased to 5mg. When it was upped to 10mg my face flushed, my lips tingled and a big blood blister looking thing appeared n the back of my throat. Evidently a 'classic' reaction.

Next was Securon SR 240mg (verapamil). That initially made me sensitive to heat and sunshine and very constipated but I stayed with that for nearly twelve years.

Then enalapril was added and I came out in a rash. I went to a dermatologist who took one look and said, Drug induced rash, are you taking Enalapril???

Next Losartan that once I got over the initial dizzy spells I have been taking since November 2001. It was substituted to Irbesartan, Ramipril and Perindopril at various times and they put me into Zombie mode.

Diuretics give me pelvic pain and practically halt my urine output. And of course none have actually got my BP to the levels that is should go to.

 

I'm really impressed by your knowledge and will pass the information on. He hasn't had any flare ups or UTI's for 18 months which he attributes to the medication that he takes. Other than the Alfazosin he also takes a low dose antibiotic, I forget the name of it. This was introduced when after the initial UTI he had 2 further bouts of the same thing, resulting in hospitalisation but fortunately not IC.Seems to have settled down for now.

I did a lot of research when my prostate first started to trouble me and corrosponded with an American Urologist who had written a now outdated book on the prostate.

There was also a prostate NG with hundred of contributers including a few doctors. I also got a lot of information from the urologist who did my PVP. I was one of his early patients and he was giving preference to men who would feed back information after their operation.

I have had a UTI for the past week, my GP called it a bladder neck infection. I thought that after my last operation that would be a thing of the past. Last day of Nitrofurantoin tomorrow so hopefully it will be gone.

Amusingly the first person to warn me that my prostate was slightly enlarged was the well named Miss Waterfall at Kingston Hospital.

Hope the UTI sorts itself out. At least you are well informed so would know if it wasn't doing. My other half now takes a permanent low dose of antibiotics to guard against a recurrance of his earlier problem.  Trouble is he is far too ready to put a problem down to an enlarged prostate. and not recognise the signs of infection. 

One a day 5mg Cialis helps with flow and has a better side effect than Tamsulosin:-)

Actiually it hasn't. I'm inclined to think that it is prostatitis. I suggested that to the doc but from his basic check of my urine sample he went for a UTI. I don't expect that he bothered to send it to the Lab.

Tamsulosin is what he takes, I think. What are the known side effects of it?

Most of it should be in the packet insert but I don't think that it mentioned the effect on the eye iris and the difficulty if you need to have cataract surgery in the future.

I was told In the February that I had small cataracts that were about five years away from needing to be operated on. From June I was taking Amiodarone and Tamsulosin for six months and I developed floaters ( Amiodarone) and blurred vision (Tamsulosin). By the time I saw an eye consultant I had stopped Amiodarone and the floaters had gone. I was surprised when she said that my cataracts needed doing now. The surgeon then often has to do the catarct operation in a different way. I was noton it long enough for it to hve had that effect.

It also affects the male sex life by reducing orgasms and causing retro ejaculation or no ejeculation at all. You need to plan ahead and not take it for a couple of days:-)  

Nothing to do with prostate problems or hypertension either but my husband was called to the drs after a series of blood tests recently "To discuss a statin". He was dead against them but went along anyway to listen to what the dr said, I went too, to back him up in case the dr adopted bullying tactics. Thankfully he didn't. But after the dr had put his reasons [which amounted to medicine by box ticking if you ask me] he said 'NO' . This has to be a FIRSTt!! The reason for the statin of course was the new NICE guidelines of >10% and his was 50% !! That was due in the main to his age but he has low BP, cholesterol of 4.9 [certainly not high], and no diabetes he refused.

Had your husband recently had any blood tests or was he just picked out with others in his age group.

So long as he did not ask him to sign a DNR as well:-)

 

He made an appt with the practice nurse for an ecg as he felt as though he had a 'plank of wood' in his chest before getting up in the morning.

this was at the end of June and seems to have disappeared now. Anyway after telling him he had no business asking for an ECG as it was for the dr to do that she gave him one anyway and took some blood at the same time. Some time later the receptionist rang and asked him to go for further blood tests which he did. This time he fetched the printouts which it transpired was a full blood count. Next he was asked to go for another ECG and the nurse took this into the dr who said he wanted to see him 'to discuss statins'.  At this point he became alarmed at what I was reading out to him about statins. Anyway, we both went together and the rest is history as they say!

No, he didn't ask him to sign a DNR but you never know, he might have doneit for him - it has been known I believe!!

Perhap they get a kickback on the money saved when the crash team are not called:-)

When I went for the pre assessment before my second cataract operation last October the nurse asked if I wanted to be resuscitated if anything went wrong.

Bloody right I do, I replied and asked what possibly could put me in that situation during a simple ten minute procedure.

We are asking every one now she said.  I had not been asked that when the previous eye was done in July nor when having prostate surgery  two months before that. 

Ha! That's one way of keeping the population down whilst opening the flood gates to the rest of the world I suppose