Blood Pressure Meds - Advice on Tapering with Micardis (Telmisartan)

Hi. I've been taking Amlodipine for 7 months, starting at 5mg. Amlodipine definitely does the job of controlling my blood pressure. In fact, my BP was even getting a tad low at times. Plus, I started experiencing some very annoying side effects (sticky saliva, low serum zinc, swollen gingiva), so my doctors just kept piling on other meds to deal with those issues. Suspecting that the amlodipine has become part of my problem, I began tapering off the amlodipine on my own, and in the past two months I've slowly gone from 5mg down to 1.5 mg. (I dissolve the tablet in 500 ml of water and drink a slightly decreasing portion each day.) The good news: With just 1.5 mg of Amlodipine, my annoying symptoms have definitely lessened, and my blood pressure is still averaging under 120/80.

Unfortunately, I still have some annoying symptoms, so now my main doctor has suggested that I try Micardis (Telmisartan) 20mg instead. I see that this drug, which is a called an 'angiotensin receptor blocker' (ARB), can also cause lots of unwanted side effects. Plus, it doesn't seem to be water soluble, and I cannot find any information about tapering off Micardis (Telmisartan).

If I get started on Micardis (Telmisartan) and it causes problems, how can one safely get off if gradually? Is there a way to taper off since it's not water soluble? If there's a tapering method, please explain.

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