Side effects of Tablets

Mrs O , thanks for replying ,,, perhaps misery does love company but when you live with these terrible symptoms it helps to know you are not alone ! The side effects you mention are horrendous and it seems so cruel when no one is able to help ! I too have been called awkward and heartsink and offered a consellor to help me cope with dificulties ! I can take Bisoprolol but it does not keep my BP down far enough ! I too have had the swollen ankles and terrible debility ,and many more symptoms ! My kidney function has gone up and down but so far my kidneys seem ok ! I was put on isosorbide which made my gums bleed so had to stop that ,i then tried Candesartan and for part of the day i was ok then it all started ,the muscle ache etc ! Can i ask what you are doing now in the way of tablets ? .I was sent back to Harefield where they did all the tests for essential hypertension  and they were normal , the consultant said he did not want me to be ill taking tablets but so far he has not been able to give me anything i can take , and i think he too does not want to know ! I did say my BP was only high sometimes but i think its high most of the time so the risks of whatever rise all the time ! It has made me very depressed as its on my mind all the time ! How do you cope ? i do have fibromyalgia and i think that may be the cause ! it also is no fun so at the moment i just do not know where to turn ! I thought about DR Lobo but his secretary said he would want to repeat all the tests and privately that costs thousands ,, im now too old to have a private insurance as i could not affoord it ! she said ask you Dr to refer you to his NHS lot at Barts , but its now i need help ! I think it terribke that there are hardly any Drs trying to find out more about the people who are intolerant ,in fact it has made me very angry ! Scientists get paid a lot yet this is overlooked by all the medical profession ! I hope you are coping , i feel for us both and anyone like us !

A GP I once had said that he only knew one person more intolerant to drugs than me and that was his wife.

I wonder what he did to help his wife ? He is obviously wrong but i suppose intolerant people are still in the minority so get brushed off or overlooked ! I just wish i was not one of the minority !

Sadly she now has Alzheimer's and he is her carer and she is not that old.

That is sad, its a horrible thing to get !

Gwen, I think you may be being a little unfair on your Doctors here, remember when they try to control out blood pressure they are altering some fairly basic and important processes in our body. Unwanted effects are very common and there are differences in the way different people respond. A good example is in the fact that ACE inhibitors were discovered by studying snake venom.

One of the problems is in the fact that lowering blood pressure is desirable because it lowers risk of several serious conditions, these are risks not actual diseases and it is a bit pointless reducing risk if it makes people ill anyway. So one thing to consider is trying to reduce these risks using other strategies, the risk of heart disease and stroke is also reduced by statins or even some foods like Benecol or fish oil supplements. Again some people find certain suppliments help, CoEnzyme Q10,is popular and people also use L Arginine, garlic, vitamine B or magnesium suppliments. To be honest I suspect that some side effects are directly related to BP reduction, if they work they to carry risks of side effects.Recent work has also suggested that we may be trying to hard in the BP targets, particularly in the over 60's.

While Dr Lobo is active in research he doesn't have access to anything magical, he just uses a bit more guesswork.

I think what Colin describes is something people are trying more often, the use of multiple drugs (often 4 - 6) from different classes at very low dosages. You can get a much better effect and it reduces any specific dose related side effects, splitting dosages can help and even altering the time drugs are taken. Most people take drugs in the morning, but really this is only important in those with a diuretic action. If side effects occur soon after taking drugs, taking that drug at night might let you sleep through them. Having said that this really is just tinkering around the edges, you mention fibromyalgia and I suspect this might make neuromuscular side effects more likely.

There is in fact a huge amount of research going on, its a huge problem but being unable to offer solutions is frustrating for your Doctors not just you. They hate feeling helpless but dont think this means they are disintrested or dont care. I'm sorry that you feel so helpless but maybe thats the reality, it sounds as if you have explored virtually every option and know the subject. Just remember that your controlling a potential risk, it might increase that risk a bit but that might be a price worth paying. I would be wary of spending a large amount of money if I was over 60 with a systolic pressure that wasn't consistently over 160, I don't think the benefits outweigh the cost.

Thanks  for this Laroxe , maybe i am being a little hard on Drs but after a year of them not really knowing what to give me i am fed up ,not only of side effects but of having no life ! When i trained as a nurse in the 60s a BP of 160 over 80 was normal for anyone over 60 , so you are righ i think now the 120 70 for older people is a target that may not be reached ! I did know about the snake venom !!!! and that  makes me wonder what is in these drugs ! My fibro myalgia dose make muscle pain more likely and sometimes now i have to try to work out what it all is ! Im surprised you say there is a lot of research going on as the only one i have read about in the London area is Dr Lobo and his team , but i suppose at a lot of teaching hospitals there must be ! No he does not have a magic bullet but he does try with his methods , something the Gps cannot do ! I wish i could take one and sleep at night but i still get all the side effects and am worn out now ! all the side effects will probably kill me anyway ! I take a garlic capsule and a probiotic and a fish oil capsule , i used to take q10 so must try it again , i did try magnesium but the kind i had upset my stomach so have to look for a different type ! Yes perhaps it is daft to spend a lot of money when there is no guarantee anything will work ,, I am under a consultant at Harefield so will ask my Dr if she can get me a sooner appointement ! It was him who picked up my high BP but i had had it taken by my dr the week before and it was ok ! I wonder if the fact i had waited 4hrs that day and it was hot maybe gave a false reading ?/ he put me on Bendrofluazide and i had terrible side effects from it and then on it went till now ! I wish i was a scientist and could just rustle up a tablet that anyone could take ! Oh for a bit of magic !

 

Hi Laroxe, you are absolutely right. the problem is we dont consider /emphasize on non-conventional methods which in fact are so important to adopt for natural healing. I am a medical practitioner and undergoing through phases of uncertainty If you can read my posts you can easily make out the desperation I have. Please read out my column in a news paper about  non conentional treatments.

Doctors should discuss herbal medication use with heart disease patients

Physicians should be well-versed in the herbal medications heart disease patients may take to be able to effectively discuss their clinical implications, potential benefits and side effects - despite a lack of scientific evidence to support their use, according to a review paper published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Herbal medications do not require clinical studies before being marketed to consumers or formal approval from regulatory agencies, so their efficacy and safety are rarely proven. In the U.S., herbal medications can only be found unsafe by the Food and Drug Administration after they have caused harm. Still, they remain popular among heart disease patients for their potential cardiovascular benefits. A recent survey said 1 in every 5 people will take an herbal or dietary supplement in their lifetime.

Sky has no limit we have just researched only 20-30% medicine we have to go way long....

Take care......

Hello Mrs O ,, i just wondered if you are having any more sucess with tablets ? I am still struggling with them and am even more fed up !

Hello Gwen, I thought I was finally having success with just one pill, Losartan Potassium - the only pill not to give me any noticeable side effects, but present health scares are making me wonder.  

When stopping a second BP pill just before Christmas, I was advised to double the dose of Losartan.  I had been on 50mg for over 3 years.  Since doubling the dose to 50mg twice a day, I have had several UTIs (most unusual for me) and numerous antibiotics.  However, none of the doctors seem to agree with me querying the Losartan.  

I am going into hospital next Monday for an operation to remove what the consultants think on ultrasound is a tumour on my bladder which could possibly be the reason for the UTIs.   As if that wasn't enough, at my pre-op assessment today I discovered that my sole kidney function has suddenly dropped 10 points in the last week or so from 38 to 28, so taking me from Stage 3 kidney disease to Stage 4.  I have been given an emergency appointment with a kidney consultant tomorrow and wonder if he will either reduce the Losartan back down to 50mg or stop it altogether.  However, after having tried so many other pills with horrid side effects, who knows?

So, I'm sorry, Gwen, but I really haven't found a panacea for high blood pressure yet! 

I tried to get one one of Dr Lobo's BP trials but failed. I then made the mistake of not taking up his PA's offer to be referred to his BP clinic at Barts as it was quite a long journey.

You could Google " hypertension referral centre" to find one near you and try to get your GP to refer youthough she will probably not know of their existance.

Hi Colin , thank you for this , i too have been thro about 20 drugs and reacted to them all ! What are you taking now or are you lucky enough to be able to do without /?? I did read about Dr Lobo and what he does so i rang his secretary ! if you get a private app he will want to carry on and do tests so that would cost a fortune ! And if you only have one app i doubt there is a lot he can do ,, i did ask if he could prescribe if you saw him once and she was not sure ! she said to ask about being referred to his NHS programme at Barts but that would tke time and only some get on it ! I saw he uses patches and low doses so why cant they all try that ! I am at rock bottom now and my gp is saying i may have to wait till i go back to Harefield which is 6mths from now ! i hope you are feeling better than me !

Hello Derek , yes perhaps you should have taken up the offer at Barts ! i think we talked before re tablets , you are able to take some it think ,lucky you ! I think my GP does know about the Hypertension clinic but im sure she will say they only do what she does ! i get angry at her attitude ,, at first she was ok then as i kept saying i could not take whatever her attitude changed ! Its a terrible situation where no one appears interested ! DR Lobo seems to be the only one in the London area ! I feel like going home to Scotland ,but would they be able to help ? probably not !