1. Community
  2. Heart Health
  3. Amlodipine

Amlodipine

Posted , 12 users are following.

peta4
peta4

I was on 5mg Amlodipine for yrs and didn't notice significant side effects except for lack of energy and general feeling of fatigue. Following a spell of stress when my BP increased my Doc prescribed Ibersartan , then weeks later increased the Amlodipine to 10mg Since then I have had really bad tendonitis - with the pain creeping up to my calves at times. Acupuncture helped a little but it's still there on the tendons, and like many others the swollen ankles etc. Energy levels are low and I have a general lack of enthusiasm for anything. Is there an alternative to this medication?

0 likes, 22 replies

22 Replies

Prev
  • louise21984
    louise21984 peta4

    Posted

    It sounds like a typical pyramid building; one drug to counteract the effects of the others.

    The best way of reducing BP, according to research, is to exercise and lose weight.  In a report to the Royal College, a leading orthopaedic surgeon (a lady, forget her name but I've got it here somewhere) said exercise should be labelled as the miracle drug.

    There's a lady in my gym who suffers severely from osteoporosis and arthritis and other nasties, who was told she would be in a wheelchair within 10 years, so to expect it and to adapt to it.  She has to take hugely strong pain killers.  But she's not in a wheelchair.  She 'gymns' 5 days a week.

    • ian21671
      ian21671 louise21984

      Posted

      Louise, you are right in the sense that unless your high blood pressure was not due to some already existing chronic organ failure, it is best to try to reduce it by natural means. If however, this is not the case, then there are proven medicinal protocols how to lower it  The first line of treatment is usually just a diuretic and if this is insufficient, it is possible to add others. I don't wish to write a treatise on BP medication, but it is not true that one would be using one drug to counteract the effects fo another. There are sound biochemical reasons why a particular drug is prescribed, even as an adjuvant to  one previously prescribed, like for instance adding an ACE inhibitor to a diuretic.  Yet nothing is more promising than a lifestyle, proper exercise and  healthy nutrition started at a young age. A healthy body can regenerate itself without drugs. It is unfortunate that our present adult lifestyle, the thoroughly polluted environment, the sharply reduced nutritional content of even basic foodstuffs  and the strong pesticides are very difficult to fight against.The countless "diets"

      advertised was a panacea also don't help. But I would still not discount rproper medicaton by qualified and experienced phycians and pharmacologists.

       

  • louise21984
    louise21984 peta4

    Posted

    Have you read Dr Ellen Langer's bookk, Counterclock wise'?   She describes an experiment where she and her team took a group of older men fom a care home back into the ambience of the 1950s - very authentically done.  One group was to immerse itself in the life (living independently)  and the other was to reminisce on how it used to be in those days for them. (|They used separate houses and divided the men into two groups).  After a week the 'immersed' group looked physically younger and were measurably 'younger' too:  improved eyesight, reduced symptoms, independent walking, sharper cognition, abd - reduced blood

    pressure, and more.  

    I'm not sure about 'proven' medical protocols for BP -  protocols, yes, but proven?  BP is notoriously difficult to address effectively.  

  • ian21671
    ian21671 peta4

    Posted

    No one can blame you for not "believing" in BP medication. Perhaps a good textbook could enlighten you about the specific physiological and biochemical  reasons for using anti-hypertensive drugs. As I've said before if you have a complex set of organ failure symptoms, that is, several reasons contribute to high BP, then obviously it becomes an intractable problem. First you must understand the connections between the circulatory system and the renal sytem both of which could contain reasons for high BP. Multiple reasons which cause high BP (or even too low BP) can become problematic when trying to select anti-hypertensive drugs. Perfectly healthy people can have high BP and have so-called essential hypertension without any specific organ damage. In such cases - which accordng to medical liteature are the majority of high BP sufferers, BP medication is most effective. 
    • louise21984
      louise21984 ian21671

      Posted

      I'm a cognitive behavioural therapist; constantly researching and interviewing neuroscientists, physicians etc;, and write books on dementia (Lion Monarch.) Looking for things that affect the brain - depression (slows blood flow ... etc ) I do know about the renal system and other factors that affect BP.  My own BP is high - idiopathic ...  but I know I'm a hot reactor and it spikes.  Treating BP is like fishing for snakes in a well.
    • ian21671
      ian21671 louise21984

      Posted

      if you BP is high and it seems that you have essential hypertension, then BP therapy would work for you quite well. Everyone has spikes in BP quite normally, except that in some of us the spikes diminish quicker  I would definitely invite you for a snake hunt in a well, if you'd visit your GP for a starter in BP therapy.

      As a matter of interest,  did you have any experience in the genetics of dementia (notably Alzheimer susceptibility), such as E4/E4 allele presence in patients (as one of the factors in Alzheimer's disease?)

  • marshall96663
    marshall96663 peta4

    Posted

    I've been taking it for two years..Had very little side effects until last month..Fatigue extreme...When I'm at the gym can hardly do anything..Develope a persistent cough..Going to see my GP Monday..Have previously been on Lisinopril..Can handle some side effects but the fatigue makes me useless.
Back to top
Prev

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.