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Another bad Amlodipine experience

Posted , 6 users are following.

Kimpe
Kimpe

Hi!

I just found this forum and felt like I had to share my experience, since there seems to be quite a lot similar ones.

I started Amlodipine 10mg a bit over a year ago. Shortly after that I started having heart palpitations, and about after two months I suffered from a atrial fibrillation. I was taken to emergency center, and my heart had to be shocked electrically back to it's normal rhythm. I had never suffered from anything like that before.

The palpitations continued and I also started having other side effects as well.

I started having blurry vision, and really bad brain fog. Also intense blushing on my face and ears, like they would get REALLY red and hot from time to time without any good reason.

I used to be athletic and do a lot of sports before all this, but suddenly I couldn't even lift weights or run properly because I would get really strong heart palpitations.

I talked to a few doctors and all of them just wanted to blame the fact that I'm on testosterone replacement therapy, even tho only thing that had changed before the problems started was me starting Amlodipine.

Finally my trt doc told me that he thinks Amlodipine is a s****y medicine and switched it to Angiotensin II Receptor Blocker called Candesartan. It's been only a week and all of those side effects have gone away almost completely.

No more brain fog, no more palpitations (knock on wood) and no more blurry vision.

Anyways.. just wanted to share my experience if someone is struggling with that awful poison they call Amlodipine.

0 likes, 10 replies

10 Replies

  • john82721
    john82721 Kimpe

    Posted

    Amlodipine gave me terrible side effects, not quite as severe as yours I have to say. I have been in Candesartan now no for 3 years with absolutely no side effects, hopefully it will work for you

    • Kimpe
      Kimpe john82721

      Posted

      It gives me hope to hear that, so thank you.

      Weird how liberally doctors seem to prescribe Amlodipine, even thought it can have such harsh side effects.

  • jx41870
    jx41870 Kimpe

    Posted

    Thanks for the story. I went through something like that, not quite as severe, but was very glad to get off the stuff. I had some arrhythmia issues before, however, and I still had them afterwards, but the amlodipine really made them worse. Glad you had such a quick recovery, amlodipine takes a week or two just to clear out of your body completely.

    It can also be dose-related. Things were tolerable when I was taking just 5mg, and even that I wasn't taking every day, because by blood pressure wasn't all that high and I only took it as needed. But when I went to 10mg it quickly got awful.

    FWIW my brother has used the stuff for years, with no side effects.

  • angela55814
    angela55814 Kimpe

    Posted

    I think it depends from person to person how a drug affects you. I was on a different BP drug before changing to Amlodopine 3 yrs ago. I also take Perindopril another BP medication that give some people bad side affects. I have never had any problems or side affects with either of these drugs

    If anyone has just started on Amlodopine please give it a chance before dismissing it as i'm proof that you dont always get bad side affects on this drug.

  • john82721
    john82721 Kimpe

    Posted

    With me the side effects took several months to slowly kick in I wasn't even aware how bad they were until I was working away from home for a just over week and forgot to take my Amlodipine with me. By the time I returned home I realised how bad this drug has made me feel. I made an appointment with my G.P. Who put me on Candesartan and have never looked

    • jx41870
      jx41870 john82721

      Posted

      I was feeling really, truly awful, and the doctors just shrugged. I have not been happy with any of the half-dozen or so doctors I've consulted over the past twenty years. Anyway, I figured, it couldn't get any worse, so I started doing an elimination test on the drugs I was on. And once I was off the amlodipine, the culprit was obvious, I felt much better. And as long as I took some of the other BP meds, BP was pretty much unchanged.

  • DCCDave
    DCCDave Kimpe

    Posted

    I have been on Amlodipine 10mg for several months now and am having the same symptoms as described. I got to bed at about 2230 and normally sleep through until 0700. However, recently, I have been kept awake when both my legs suddenly go red hot and start itching for no apparent reason. I take the covers off to allow them to cool down and the itching slowly goes away but my sleep cycle is broken. I end up waking up feeling just as tired as when I went to bed.

    I go to the gym three time a week and recently I have been struggling to get through the 12 exercises I am currently doing. All of my muscles ache and I have no energy to do anything. I take multi vitamins with added iron and vitamin D daily.

    I am on Ramipril so I cannot swap to Candesartan. My dosage has been dropped to 5mg to see if that will ease these unwanted symptoms of lethargy. Blood tests have all come back negative. I seem to be doing everything right but this overall continual tiredness and general lethargy is getting me down.

    Any suggestions for a Ramipril user unable to swap to Candesartan?

    Dave

    • john82721
      john82721 DCCDave

      Posted

      I was originally on Ramipril but it caused me breathing

      difficulties during the night so they took me off to that and put me on Amlodipine. I was then taken off Amlodipne and put on Candesartan and as said since then I

      have had no problems

    • jx41870
      jx41870 DCCDave

      Posted

      Ramipril should be just as effective as Candesartan, plus or minus individual differences and side-effects. At least that's what the doctors all say.

      How is your BP doing, on the lower amlodipine dose? Could you try dropping it entirely? It takes a week or two for a smaller (or zero) dose to fully work, amlodipine has a long half-life.

  • DCCDave
    DCCDave Kimpe

    Posted

    Here is an update on my problems.

    My GP has decided to drop my dosage from 10mg to 5mg to see how everything pans out. I am just ending my first week on the new dosage and initial signs are good. The constant tiredness, the muscular ache all throughout my body and the total lack of energy are fading. I can face my regular gym session without having to stop part way through and I am beginning to feel better afterwards rather than have the feeling that I have no energy at all to do anything

    I am keeping a close eye on my BP and recording it each week of the trial. I will have to wait and see how things develop but initial signs are good.

    Dave

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