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Amlodipine Victim

Posted , 3 users are following.

jojo1962
jojo1962

I have been on amlodipine for a few years-now having horrible burning in esophagus with no relief-anyone else have this? When i take it-it lights me up 10x what the burning is without the pill-nothing makes it stop-maybe damaged and need a lawyer??? Thanks and good luck to u all

0 likes, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • MrsO-UK_Surrey
    MrsO-UK_Surrey jojo1962

    Posted

    jojo, you should never ignore esophagus problems, and if Amlodipine is the cause it can either be changed or a stomach protector prescribed such as Zantac (there are others).  The most natural way to protect the stomach from offending medication is 'live' probiotic yoghurt eaten with breakfast before taking such meds.  But you should definitely get this problem checked out with your GP. 
  • broadsword
    broadsword jojo1962

    Posted

    Mrs O is correct. Although your symptoms could a reflux condition for which there are good medications, it is probably unrelated to taking amlop. It is rather easy to blame everything that happens thereafter on a single drug, and I tend to do that myself. We are complex machines and as we age a multiplicity of adverse things occur unrelated to what went before. The skill is deciding the difference between an adverse reaction a drug and a new condition. Definitely one for your GP and best if you consult early to rule out the many things this could be
  • carol83631
    carol83631 jojo1962

    Posted

    I was on Amlodopine for 3 years.....until I reaised that all the things that appeared to be wrong with me were probably due to the Amlodopine. Severe Urticaria every day for which Dr. just told me to take Piriton (just covering the symptoms instead of dealing with the cause), feeling totally exhausted a lot of the time for no apparent reason, unable to sleep through the night without having to get up and use the toilet 3 or 4 times and severe burning in my throat every day. One day it hurt soooo much it felt as if I was having a heart attack and I phoned my GP who asked me to come in immediately. They did a lot of checks and also cardiac check and decided I just had a particularly severe bout of Acid Reflux (acid from stomach coming up into throat and burning my throat). A few weeks later I decided I had put up with all these horrid symptoms long enough and took myself off the Amlodopine whilst keeping a careful check on my BP with a home BP monitor. After 4 weeks I took the results of my daily BP checks to my Dr. and said I had taken myself off the Amlodopine and had not intention of going back on it. My Dr. (new as my previous Dr. had retired) looked at my results, checked my previous BP readings at the surgery and said she could not see why I was even put ON it in the first place as my BP was not particularly high. Several months down the line I am completely free of the Amlodopine side effects, including the Acid Reflux burning my throat smile 
    • MrsO-UK_Surrey
      MrsO-UK_Surrey carol83631

      Posted

      It's scary but it seems that we know our bodies best and have to be our own medics sometimes.  I, too, was told to take Piriton for what the GP thought was an allergic reaction to another BP pill a few years ago.  The following week another GP told me the nausea that had now developed needed treating with anti-sickness pills.  Another two GPs later, and it turned out that I was actually suffering from a sight-threatening inflammatory illness and needed long term very high dose steroids to save my sight!

      I'm so glad you feel better - hang on to that new GP!

    • carol83631
      carol83631 MrsO-UK_Surrey

      Posted

      You are correct about being our own medic's. Few years ago my husband was hospitalised for 8 days and then told he had MS. I kept insisting that he had been bitten by an insect a couple of years earlier and it took 5 months to clear up the bite and I was certain he had Lymes Disease. No- one took any notice. 18 months later I was still banging my head against a brick wall and the Consultant dealing with my husbands 'MS' was very angry that I kept mentioning Lyme Disease. He said they had checked for Lyme Disease and I was wrong and not to be taken in by 'Dr. Google'. We left the hospital with no intention of returning and went on a weeks holiday. On our return the phone was red hot with messages PLUS a letter from the consultant asking my husband to go back for an urgent appt....he had Lyme Disease. It HAD been picked up in their original blood tests but only POSITIVE blood test results are sent back to the Consultant.....no-one informed the Consultant the test was positive so the assumption was that the test was negative sad I NEVER agree with ANY experts without delving into/questioning the facts myself smile 
    • MrsO-UK_Surrey
      MrsO-UK_Surrey carol83631

      Posted

      Carol, I have come across patients struggling to get a diagnosis for Lyme disease on a couple of occasions in the past.  In both cases when the possibility of Lyme's was suggested to the Dr, they refused to accept it, so refused to test.  One lady was actually put on high dose steroids because the Dr believed it to be an autoimmune inflammatory illness, but the steroids failed to relieve pain.  Her hubby came on to the section of the forum concerned with autoimmune illness and we recommended him to push again for the blood test.  He did, and Lyme's was confirmed.

      So glad you"angered " your hubby's consultant enough to make him eventually pursue the blood test results with the Lab.  I assume it was simply a course of the right antibiotic to make your hubby well again.  

    • carol83631
      carol83631 MrsO-UK_Surrey

      Posted

      Luckily it was a daily course of Antibiotics for three weeks and it seems to have done the trick....although there appears to be a bit of residual fallout from the fact it took so long to diagnose sad At least it was stopped in its tracks when they finally gave him the necessary antibiotics or I'm sure he would be in a wheelchair by now otherwise and it would have been totally avoidable. 
    • MrsO-UK_Surrey
      MrsO-UK_Surrey carol83631

      Posted

      Apparently Lyme's is on the increase particularly in some areas of the country.  Was your hubby walking in an area where deer roam when he was bitten as I understand it can be quite common round deer?
  • carol83631
    carol83631 jojo1962

    Posted

    We live on the Mendips in Somerset...with a visible wild deer population in the fields around us. We think my husband was bitten by a tick either in our home paddock or in our nearby field. Problem is that Lymes Disease can manifest itself in so many different guises. The consultant that diagnosed my husband with MS and later admitted it was Lyme Disease said he was going to have to check the records of ALL his MS patients to make sure the same error hadn't occurred with someone else. At least by the time we had finished he was certainly a lot better equipped to think outside his MS specialist box than he had been smile 
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