Amlodipine side effects?

I also had extreme and fast hair loss. I quit taking it immediately. That was 7 months ago and my hair loss seems to be permanent. Additionally, what hair left grows extremely slow or not at all for periods of time. I have had only one hair "trim" in 7 months. I have gone to wearing wigs.

That's terrible about the hair loss.

Yes I plan to consult with my doctor today actually.

Ohh hun xxx

Shocking medication. I wonder who we can tell outside of our chats? Quite scary.

I'm hoping my head grows some new hair.

But....

Hi,

I told my doctor on a previous occasion that I figured it might be the Amlodipine since that's when it all seemed to begin, just shortly after I started it. She prescribed it in addition to my regular bp medication with which I never had any side effects.

All she said was 'No it wouldn't be the Amlodipine'.

I am calling her today and telling her that I'm stopping it.

My Doctor was surprised. By golly ! There was no way I was taking anymore of it!

She changed my medication.

Fingers crossed that the next type is ok...

When I told mine, she was hesitant until I showed her all that I found on the internet confirming.

Mine seemed surprised too. She said the drug was very tolerable and basically that I was mistaken. Well it might be tolerable for some people but I'm not one of them lol.

Lol my thoughts exactly. I can't actually 'show' her since there are no appointments because of this Covid 19 horror we're in but when I call and tell her I'm done with it I plan to tell her to look it up!

I think pharmacists actually are more knowledgeable than doctors when it comes to interactions and side effects.

Oh yes mine is very bad also.

I've had it for close to two months, and the blurred vision for about a month now. I just didn't know if it was the med or some other issue and since at the time they couldn't find anything to be actually causing any of it.. I came to the conclusion it likly was the medication.

I actually went off the medication because I had so many side effects and some were quite severe. The ringing in my ears was so bad for such a long time so I am very grateful that I really don’t even notice it anymore unless I think about it at night when I am trying to go to sleep. My worst side effect was severe muscle cramping in my neck. I was not able to work for over two months and it took a long time to figure out that it was this drug causing it. It took about a year and a half for all of the side effects to go away so it has been a long journey.

And my doctor was absolutely positive that it was not amlodipine especially since I was on the lowest dose. But everything kept getting worse and worse over the five months that I was on it and after two MRIs, one on my brain, a different doctor said I was describing some of the rare side effects of amlodipine. So I went off of it and within five days my worst side effect had decreased significantly. A toxicologist thinks I was not metabolizing the medication correctly and that it was building up in my bloodstream. It became very toxic for me and that is why my symptoms kept getting worse and worse until I finally went off of it. And like I said, it took a year and a half for all of the symptoms to go away about 95%. I still have tingling in my hands and arms but it is very mild now and I have minor ringing in my ears which I have heard once you get it it never completely goes away.

I'm on the lowest dose too.

Funny you mention the MRI on your brain because I suggested to the doctor that maybe one was in order for myself.

Never got around to it though.

A year and a half to mostly rid of your symptoms really must have been a journey for you. And yes I know some of the side effects never disappear completely. It's awful.

I have buzzing in my ears from it too which still persists. I figured once it was out of my system it would stop, and maybe hair would grow again. It takes horribly long for the body to be rid of drugs.

The MRI was given because they could not figure out what was wrong with me and thought I might have a tumor or something else. It was very scary! But after the MRI on my brain and another one on my neck came back normal finally another doctor noticed that I was describing some of the rare side effects of amlodipine. since I started getting better a few days after discontinuing the medication and since everything else was ruled out, it was determined that I did in fact have rare side effects from amlodipine. I also had a lot of blood work done to rule out other possibilities. Perhaps the one thing that really makes me mad about all of this is that I truly think I was misdiagnosed with high blood pressure. My blood pressure was high in the doctors office during three visits within a six week period and she put me on amlodipine. Once going off the drug I got a really good blood pressure machine for home and took my blood pressure every day for six months. My blood pressure was consistently within the normal range and I have continued to take my blood pressure weekly. In hindsight, I wish I had tracked my own blood pressure for a few months to see if there was a consistent pattern over a longer period of time. Or that the doctor would have made that suggestion before prescribing a medication that is so powerful. I know it works well for a lot of people but if it does not work well then it can be really bad!

It seems she jumped the gun treating you for high blood pressure based on 3 times in the office. I went through stress tests and a few visits to a cardiologist no less before I was put on bp medication.

And sometimes you're just nervous in a doctor's office so you're bp can naturally be on the high side. So I guess you went through all of that when you really should never have been given a bp med in the first place? Holy cow.

Yes she should have had you monitor it yourself at home for a while instead of giving you that poison (which is what I call it) right off the bat.

Oh and the cardiologist was years ago. Then I moved to a different city in the meantime, got a new family doctor and she's the one who put me on the Amlodipine.