Amlodipine side effects and effectiveness
Posted , 3 users are following.
hi everyone, i just had my baby via c section on december 22/2020. i developed hypertension post surgery. My legs where very swollen i couldn't bend my knees. My blood pressure was 180/88. i went to the OB triage and they put me on lasix, potassium, and amlodipine 5mg.
i stayed on amlodipine 5mg for maybe two weeks with no significant decrease in blood pressure. My pressure stayed around 160 systolic. My diastolic number isn't high usually anyway, i've never worried about it. So, my OB decided to increase the dose to 10mg, and i did notice a good response to this dose. But after a week, i started experiencing muscle cramps/spasms/contractions and joint pain, all in my legs. i'm very miserable due to this side effect but since i'm breadtfeeding i dont have many options here.
So, after three weeks, my blood pressure was stablized between 125-135 systolic. i told my OB that i would like to decrease the dose to 5mg due to side effects. The 5mg was as effective as the 10mg at this point, though initially in the starting of yhe treatment i wasnt responding well to the 5mg.
i started exercising and eating healthier and cutting down on salt and processed food. i told my CPC ( not OB this time, since i'm > 6 weeks postpartum), that i will like to decrease the dose to 2.5mg since my blood pressure was pretty good, she said i can give it a try. i stayed on Amlodipine 2.5mg for a week plus the exercise and the good diet and my blood pressure was under control. Then, after one week, i decided to come off the med completely! omg big mistake! i stopped Amlodipine for two or three days and then i get a horrible rebound in my blood pressure, and a huge increase in my diastolic number which has been always below 85! My pressure shot up to 180/99!! i called the Dr. on call bcz it was on a sunday and he told me to get back on the 2.5mg. I did, but my blood pressure that day was still high, i called the Dr. again and told him that my blood pressure has not come down, he told me to take another 2.5mg, i started taking 5mg once a day now, it's been three days, and my pressure is still high 157/98, it looks like i can't get the diastolic number down!
My question is, how long should i stay on the 5mg to see change? should i increase the dose to 10? i'm very scared to stay as high as 157-160 for a week until the 5mg reach its full effect. And, unfortunately, after getting back on 5mg, i woke ip yesterday with severe right knee pain, which was swollen and inflamed! i might need to come off Amlodipine all together. how fast is it safe to switch meds tho? i dont want my body to freak out! it's already freaking out!!
0 likes, 5 replies
anders70981 sallyRN
Posted
Amlodipine is about 2 weeks to reach its full effect. I assume that you are also very stressed about the increased blood pressure. Making it even higher. If you call your doctor she will put you back on 10mg. I think the rational decision would be to wait for full effect. I know that is easier said than done.
If you go back to 10mg. Know that you have reduced it before and you will reduce it again. You just have to battle those damn side effects for a little longer.
From own experience Amlodipine is very efficient but damn hard to come off.
I have been in the exact same situation. A week after going from 10mg to 5mg at 111/72. I thougth this is great lets go to zero. 3 days later my blood pressure spiked to 160 and I went back on 10mg.
I think the trick is to go very slowly. Cut your dose in half. Wait till your blood pressure has been below 120/80 for at least a month before reducing it again.
I am now back at 2,5
sallyRN anders70981
Posted
Thank you for your response 😃. so, you were right, my pressure did come down and is managed right now. Amlodipine does take a long time before reaching full effect.
The rebound is terrifying. Although the literature says that you can stop Amlodipine without the need to taper it off. They say there should not be a rebound! ya right!!!
Anyway, I'm back now on 10mg. My dr. said to take 5mg Am and 5mg Pm, she said everyone metabolizes meds differently. She said my bp might respond better to the divided dose. I found that to be true. when i was taking 10mg once a day, i found out that my pressure wasnt managed properly. It tends to rise towards the evening. Splitting the dose helps managing my pressure better.
I'm planning to taper down slowly. But what is making my life hell is the muscle cramps/spasms and knee pain! it takes me a lot of effort and pain to climb up and down the stairs! it hurts so much to bend and straighten my knees.. Did you experience similar side effects?
My dr. wants me to stop Amlodipine and try Nifedipine instead, but Nifedipine's side effects are not any better. Nifedipine causes headaches and racing heart beats ( which will freak me out for sure).
I dont mind staying on Amlodipine and deal with this muscle pain, I'm just worried that the muscle pain get worse and muscle breakdown results which leads to kidney damage! I don't want Amlodipine to cause me a permanent damage!!
What are your thoughts? I really appreciate your feed back!
Jensam12 sallyRN
Posted
HI
Well my blood pressure is getting better and the numbers are coming down to what they should be.
i still have the odd day when it is about 145 over around 90, but thats still a lot better than 216 over 113!!!
So i am still getting the legs pains mainly on the right side, usually at night. My blood pressure is usually higher at night too.
I also just started to get a slight numbness in my left side of my face. Its like when you have been to the dentist and the injection has almost worn off but not quite.
The thing is i can put up with these side effects as long as they are not damaging me, like you say.
My high blood pressure is the most important issue to deal with.
As i said before i did just start to get joint pains before all this happened, but not leg pains.
The problems is i am under so much stress lately i just do t know what is causing what.
I wouldnt want fast heartbeat either, i would become neurotic.
sallyRN anders70981
Posted
hows your blood pressure doing? are you still taking 2.5? im pretty miserable right now bcz my back started hurting couple of weeks ago plus the legs and knee pain!! im sooo freaking miserable. im not sure if these are side effects to the Amlodipine.
i was on 5mg Am and 5mg Pm. i tapered the Pm dose to 2.5, my bp has been pretty good for the past two weeks. my next step to taper off the Am dose to 2.5, but im
scared to get a rebound. how long should i wait before tapering off the Am dose?
my goal is to be on one dose of 2.5mg aday, like i was before. but this time, instead of getting off med completely after a week of being on the 2.5mg dose, im going to stay on it for a month, then maybe every other day? that way i dont get a rebound. like you said, it's sooooo hard getting off Amlodioine, you have to taper off super slow 😦 ... i just hate the side effects soooo much!!!
Jensam12 sallyRN
Posted
i have been on 5mg of amlodipine for six weeks now, it wasent enough to get my blood pressure down , so they combined it with ramipril.
i think every night i wake up with leg pains. mostly right leg but sometimes left. Its hard to explain but its like stiffening pain. and tingly feet.
i cant really answer you question but i think your blood pressure should settle down once your hormones go back to normal.
I did have joint pains before i started on the meds, but not like this and in my legs.