Benchmarking, just in case it Is the Amlodipine
Posted , 3 users are following.
I'll begin with the apology I see many members put: I'm sorry this is long but it's a blessing in itself to have somewhere to put it all down.
I'm 67lbs down in a 100lbs weightloss drive.
I was diagnosed T2D in June 2015 but within 8 months had brought my blood sugar right down, and it's still so low that the GP said this summer "It's as though you weren't diabetic".
At that June 2015+8 months mark the Diabetes Nurse prescriber took me off the 2.5mg Bendroflumethiazide which I'd been taking alongside the 100mg Losartan that I'd been on for years. BP then 112/76.
When I saw the GP in June 2017, although my weight had been up as well as down over the past year, it is still 67lbs on June 2015, so I'd hoped he might cut the Losartan in half. Instead, BP being now 155/95, he added in the Amlodipine. I asked for the Bendroflumethiazide back as I'd never had any problem with it but he said it was no longer recommended for people over 55. I'm 62.
I read the PIL but I do trust this GP so said a prayer and took the tablet at bedtime.
The next morning I felt quite spacey, though not actually bad, although I might have misunderstood a traffic light while out driving that morning, which worried me.
The first 2 weeks, I felt wonderful. The most calm and content I've felt for years, decades. Not hyper, just beautifully calm.
Week 3 I felt fine, though not quite as wonderful.
Week 4 I began to get jittery, anxious and tearful. I didn't like it one bit, as it was very reminiscent of a time in 2013 when, post (successful)chemo I developed anxiety and low mood strong enough to be retired early from work. I'm always afraid of sinking back to that.
My legs were also incredibly tired.
My BP was 132/74, though, so at least the Amlodipine was doing its job.
Oh, and the amazing plus for the first 3 weeks was superb sleep! in 2013 I'd also began to suffer insomnia, which made the anxiety a hundred times worse. Although that's largely subsided (though never back to my pre-chemo days of being able to sleep for Britain), on the Amoldipine my worst nights were 7.5 hours!!
I fed up to week 3 back to the pharmacist, at his request. He'd never heard of anyone feeling a mood enhancement on Amlodipine but I'm convinced of it, it really was instant.
In week 4, I tried to tell myself it was just swinging back the other way, and would eventually stabilize in the middle. Hm.
Beginning of week 5, I woke up feeling absolutely dreadful. I call it feeling viral, I don't know what it is but it is something I come down with occasionally, once every couple of years or more: the general sense of having been beaten with crowbars, achy all over, headache.
I was happy! Perhaps week 4 was just coming down with this. My mood was fine ~ not happy to be feeling dire but no tearfulness. Result.
Tottering to the end of week 6 now. My sleep isn't wonderful any more, most nights (8 hours last night but I had a lot to catch up on), not very restful. I tried to have a lie in this morning but it's not natural to me. Legs tired again. BP 130/70. Had a cry.
Oh, the other thing I wanted to record, I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere, is that I feel full and a bit nauseous a lot of the time, from week 4 onwards.
So, really just logging this someplace where people will understand that I'm not being some kind of mournful wimp. I'm not sad, I'm not unhappy. It's taken a while but I'm happy in my retirement - but the fatigue and tearfulness is difficult to cope with. Will carry on until I can get to see GP but hoping very much to be able to swap this med for something else.
Is it likely that any calcium blocker will have the same side-effects?
Thank you.
0 likes, 22 replies
RHGB Ailidh
Posted
'Is it likely that any calcium blocker will have the same side-effects?'
Possibly, yes. I went on to felodipine and ended up the same as on amlodipine.
Ailidh RHGB
Posted
Thank you, that's helpful to know.
Christi53 Ailidh
Posted
Hi Ailidh, Definitely not being a mournful wimp! Sorry you're going through such a rubbish time. I've just been taken off Amlodipine after being on it for 3 years and recently getting lots of side effects. I'm now on a new drug but have only been taking it for 5 days so too early to tell if this one will be the same. I suffered with nausea as well which was horrible. Hope you get something sorted and feel better soon. Christi x
Ailidh Christi53
Posted
Thank you ~ sorry you've had nasty side effects too. Is the new drug you're on in the same class as Amlodipine or is it something with a different action? Hope it continues to work well for you.
Ailidh
Posted
Oddly, I have begun to feel a little better. Maybe it's settling down? The unnerving thing is that I've had some better days over the past 3+ weeks (discovered yesterday I'm now in Week 8 not Week 7, where did it go? :O ) and then the next day is awful, which makes my mood even lower.
I bought a giant box of Rennies 2 days ago ~ unopened! The nausea is settling down.
I did a formerly customary 3 mile walk this morning, where the last couple of days I've barely averaged a mile in random pottering.
I may record here a bit, if that's ok.
It Has made a difference to know that others have had problems, tho I'm as sorry for you as I am for me!
anthony51986 Ailidh
Posted
Hi Ailidh I have been taking Amlodipine for 20 years ,but i started with Perephal Nneropathy in legs , 6 weeks ago doctor just took me off them no alternative , then violent head aches few weeks after , plus still get head aches , tired all time no energy , just me but i think the tablets cause water retension ,even though been taking water tabs ,only take asprin, fossinopril.water tab, to big a word benzofloride (i know spelt wrong) , So might just listen to Joe Cross on u tube ,Juice diet .lol Fat & dearly dead
RHGB Ailidh
Posted
Yes, they are almost guaranteed to give you peripheral oedema around the ankles. I take a diuretic for something else and it did not stop my ankles swelling. There was a poster a couple of month's ago, that mentioned there is a reason why diuretics will not combat amlodipine oedema.
Ailidh
Posted
Thank you Anthony and RHGB.
So far only the most minimal of oedema ~ if you didn't know I have nicely bony ankles, you'd never recognize them as puffy now.
Went to book an appointment with GP and was very surprised to get an instant callback, resulting in an appointment tomorrow afternoon. She said my symptoms ~ anxiety, nausea, fatigue, tearfulness, feeling full ~ don't sound likely to her but did admit that I do have a history of not getting on with medication. She's new to me, she was reading through my notes. Actually, I'm fine with most things, apart from a whole slew of antibiotics, and I never did get used to Metformin (tried for 6 months, it was hell, I lost weight by myself and came off it after 6 months). In fact the Metformin made me tearful and tired too.
So. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
Kind regards to all who're still struggling.
Ailidh
Posted
Great appointment with GP. She's still not convinced my symptoms are Amlodipine-related but she was convinced by my please to come off it!
I'm on Losartan 100mg anyway, so she's told me just to stop the Amlodipine dead; to get back to her in 10 days if the mood symptoms don't improve (oh, please let them improve); to get back to her in 3 weeks to see how my BP is.
I can cope with the physical ones persisting; I need the tearfulness to stop pretty soon.
Interestingly, when I said above that I'd been feeling a bit better, it was after halving autonomously halved the tablet.
Well, let's see.
Christi53 Ailidh
Posted
Hi Ailidh, I'm glad that your appointment went well and the gp listened to you (even if she's not convinced your symptoms are being caused by the Amlodipine). I really hope that stopping the tablets works for you and your mood lifts. I wish you the best of luck. Christi x
Ailidh
Posted
First morning off the Amlodipine.
Fell asleep quickly last night, and I would say my sleep felt less chemically induced than on the Am. So I was aware of myself rising and falling throughout the night, which is how I like my sleep to be: I don't like the sense of being comatose until suddenly I'm Ping! awake.
Woke a bit too early, which has been the Amlodipine pattern, but at least I could hover on the verge of dozing, which I could not do on the Am. I don't know if it was the Am. itself or just the fear that would settle, wondering how I was going to feel throughout the coming day.
I do still wonder how today and future days are going to go but it's a bit more of a sense of anticipation than of Oh God!, so that's an improvement.
I'm trying to be prepared for the fact that it won't have been the Amlodipine that's caused the issues, and that it is the Underlying Anxiety that has unaccountably bubbled up, but there's a sense of having taken off a chemical corset.
So far, so good.
Ailidh
Posted
Day 2 off the Amlodipine, and not so good. I didn't sleep so well last night, and woke up feeling tearful. Despite a fairly busy but friendly day, I am feeling overwhelmed, nauseous and tearful. I don't like this at all. I hope it's Amlodipine's final kick.
anthony51986 Ailidh
Posted
Just watch for headaches Ailidh , after taking Amlodipine for over 20 years,then just stopped by GP ,WOW felt like my head about to explode, over the years i have tried all most every thing to combat my problems with Pressue meds,my latest one was fruit juice diet , i have just been reading on Patient about other peoples problems ,i also have Pherephal nerorophthy in legs,And vasculitis all over both legs ,Then went to Vasculitis problems ,It seems that could cause my head aches tender scalp , Think caused by Bendrofluethizide ( water tabs) ,No wonder my doctor said i had low pottassium ,eat more bananas ect ect, but never mentioned Magnesium to me, I have just taken some Magnesium last night plus banana ,funny but i do feel bit better this morning , i'll see how it goes in next few weeks , sorry for any spelling mistakes Ailidh , still a bit muddeld taking the meds .there is no spell checker on Patient.
Ailidh anthony51986
Posted
Hope things improve for you, Anthony. I'll be interested to know how the magnesium works for you.
anthony51986 Ailidh
Posted
anthony51986 Ailidh
Posted