Amlodipine then Ramipril and now irbesartan - what next ?

I am so relieved to find these forums! I was taking Amlodipine for a month and have developed the WORST tinnitus of my life! It is so loud! I stopped taking it a week ago and it has only diminished a little. How long has it taken for it to go away for others after the last pill was taken?

Hi Elizabeth,

I also suffer from hypertension and it is also hereditary in my case, as I am a non-smoker, exercise regularly and have a healthy diet. My GP started me off with atenolol which was effective in bringing down my blood pressure. However it has also brought about several spells of dizziness. Since switching to lisinopril, the dizziness has disappeared and my bp is under control. The only side effect that I have noticed is a slightly tickly throat first thing in the morning, and it is not bothersome at all.

Hope this helps.

Best wishes

Leon

Hi Marc - I found the tinnitus did not really go ...... it has diminished but still very much there. I hope this won't be the case with you. GP just shrugs their shoulders at this as I have deduced that if you do get tinnitus on a drug you will on most of them ..... sorry.

Leon - It has been established not that I am allergic to all ...prils - the eye allergy at the severity I got it is rare and ;the specialist has advised against using any other ....pril so now I am off everything while the allergy is controlled and then I will be starting on irbesartan so fingers crossed. I am on high dose antihistamine tabs and drops and after one clear week we will start new drug. I am relieved to find someone else who has no symptoms and yet has high BP - I was starting to think there was something bad going on somewhere. I have had many investigations to no avail.Thanks both for your feedback. Marc let me know how you get on with the tinnitus I have bought some homeopathic drops so I'll let you know if they work ......

Best wishes

Elizabeth

By the way we are restarting irbesartan as the doc thinks that the allergy had not cleared up before starting irbersartan when I stopped ramipril so I may not be allergic to it - this was controlling my bp really well so fingers x this time it all goes ok - not till the end of the month though - I will report back

Elizabeth

Sounds like you've experienced a very rare and unusual side effect of ramipril. Visual disturbances with this group of drugs is extremely uncommon. Side effects such as dry cough tend to be more common. I would encourage you to report this adverse reaction to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). As well as pharmacists, doctors, dentists and nurses, members of the public can self report adverse reactions to medicines which then get added to the existing database. Google "yellow card report" and you'll find the link. Unfortunately many important side effects to medicines both prescribed and bought tend not to get reported for various reasons. I fear the homeopathic eye drops will do little other than provide soothing relief but that choice is entirely yours. Look forward to hearing back from you.

Tarun (hospital pharmacist)

Thank you Tarun for your informative reply. I do not hold great hopes for the homeopathic drops but I had to try as the tinnitus is pretty uncomfortable and I am to the point of trying pretty much anything to see if it helps. The only time I get some respite is when I am on the treadmill with my headphones on ! I will do a yellow card report - I am sure my GP said that she would be reporting this adverse side effect - believe me it was bad eventually I got to grips with it by taking 4 x cetirizine a day and putting in antihistimine drops. I still have a little background itching ... but the scratchyness is gone. I will carry on with 1 cetirizine a day until all is back to normal. I am interested to see what will happen when I re start irbesartan - I have high hopes that it will work with no allergy. I will report back.