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After 3 yrs of being prescribed Amlodopine I am now off it.

Posted , 4 users are following.

carol83631
carol83631

After years of nice low blood pressure, 7 yrs ago, after my father died and I found my BP suddenly shooting through the roof to 160/120 (which I'm sure was caused by the stress of that and the fact that I was suddenly responsible for my mother)  my Dr put me on Lisinopril.After suffering side effects of Lisinopril (main one being constant cough) 3 yrs ago my Dr. put me on Amlodopine 5mg.

I began suffering side effects from the Amlodopine but because I am no spring chicken I just thought it was old age creeping up on me. The side effects I suffered were :- 

Having to use the toilet on average 3 or 4 times per night  (thought it was just part of aging)……since stopping Amlodopine its now down to once a night and sometimes I even manage to sleep straight through the night without waking.

Lethargy and severe tiredness….having to take several naps during the day and struggling to muck out my horses without having to stop and rest. I thought it was my age. Now I’ve stopped Amlodopine I am back to normal.

Bad nightmares and shouting in my sleep according to my husband - these have stopped now I have stopped taking Amlodopine.

Waking with severe headaches at about 4am EVERY night  (I took Amlodopine last thing at night)….headaches have now stopped.

Severe Urticaria and having to take Piriteze most evenings. Now only get it a couple of times a week instead of almost every evening  since stopping Amlodopine and I am hoping this will continue to improve.

Very severe bouts of indigestion and heartburn. On one occassion it was so bad I thought I was having a heart attack and rushed to my Dr who immediately did a cardiac test for me to reassure me I wasn't having a heart attack. These have also now stopped since stopping the Amlodopine.

I only discovered that Amlodopine was causing all the above symptoms after finding this site and decided to try stopping the drug and monitoring my blood pressure.

My BP on Amlodopine was averaging 126/75. I began by taking just 1/2 tablet per night and it went up to 128/76 then after a week on 1/2 tablet I decided to stop it competely and my BP went up to an average of 135/78. To my mind NOT particularly high at all.

After a few weeks of monitoring my BP I took the results and went to see my Dr. (a new one as my previous Dr had retired). She looked at MY blood pressure readings and agreed it wasn't very high at all and then looked at my records from when I was originally put on Amlodopine. She then said 'Im not entirely sure why you were put on Amlodopine in the first place as when you were put on it your BP was only 135/85'  :o (this was a reading taken after I had stopped taking the Lisinopril for a couple of weeks).

She then completely made my day.......in her opinion my BP OFF the Amlodopine was fine and she was of the opinion that I now didn't need ANY BP medication at all. She told me to keep an eye on my BP and only go back and see her if it went above 160/100 and in the meantime, if my BP did start rising, to try Garlic capsules as research has shown it helps to reduce BP.

 

2 likes, 7 replies

7 Replies

  • R0bert
    R0bert carol83631

    Posted

    I've been off Amlodopine for 5 weeks now and am hopefully back to normal, clear head, lethergy gone, long sleeps gone, sex drive back and that's only a few of the bad symptoms. I've written many posts on this previously if you check what people were saying, it really is disgraceful that this drug is permitted at all.
  • jane6
    jane6 carol83631

    Posted

    Thank you Carol for a really interesting post. I've just been prescribed Amlodopine 10 mgs after taking losartan for ten years. I think I must look in to alternatives as I seem to recall my father taking this particular medication. He wasn't allowed grapefruit which he loved. He developed AF and needed a pacemaker. Its all making sense.

     

  • mike92384
    mike92384 carol83631

    Posted

    Hi carol83632...So glad you're feeling much better. From what you tell us, it certainly seems that Amlodipine was the culprit for all your problems.

    You didn't state your age, but your bp reading of 135/85 are considered 'good' here in Canada. Even at an older age, 140/90 is quite acceptable here. It's also encouraging for you when your doctor said she didn't understand 'why' you were put on the Amlodipine in the first place...your bp was fine.

    I wish I could say the same for me, but unfortunately this is not the case. I'm blaming the Amlodipine for my burning feet/legs..but there's another condition out there which is rare, called Erythromelalgia..which I'm hoping I do not have.

    Congratulations on feeling much better!!!

    • carol83631
      carol83631 mike92384

      Posted

      Thank you Mike. Sincerely hoping that your burning feet/legs turns out to be down to the Amlodopine and not due to Erythromelalgia.
    • mike92384
      mike92384 carol83631

      Posted

      Thanks, Carol. I received some results back from Vascular Imaging. I have 'valvular incompetency' in the left leg...which translates to me that the valve in the vein isn't working properly? Actually, it is described as "Deep venous Insufficiency"...I'm suspecting now that the burning could very well be caused by this...but I know my right leg must be affected to a degree also, because the left leg (behind the knee) was aching very badly over the weekend...but so was the right leg in the same place).Although the left leg is mentioned as having this incompetency, I'm sure the problem may have surfaced in the right leg since the test (Nov. 14). 
    • carol83631
      carol83631 mike92384

      Posted

      Hope you have caught it before its too bad Mike. Seems like they can operate quite successfully for this condition (according to good old Dr. Google smile ). 

      Wishing you all the best and hoping you have a good xmas smile

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