exhausted and breathless with BP drugs

Hi Steve,

I'm on Lercanidipine, Lisinopril and Valsartan / Hydrochlorothiazide

No breathlessness but I do suffer big-time from tiredness and difficulty getting the steam up to do things. I am also wondering if my regime of BP drugs is partialy responsible.

I'm also a T2 diabetic but since that's fairly well under control now, the next step is a review of my BP meds so I'm researching the side effects etc., before going to see my GP. (I have other issues regarding my medication regime that I will also be addressing).

When I was on Atenolol (100mg daily) I was always tired. I even fell asleep in management meetings but they were pretty good about it :-) - I'd usually get a nudge from the person next to me. Sometimes it was like someone flicked a switch, I'd sense I was going and force myself to wake up which bought about a sudden jerky movement which others noticed. It was quite frightening at times, it was more like fainting than falling asleep. I also used to feel pretty foggy which made concentrating on complex tasks (I was an IT Manager) quite challenging at times.

Anyway, I don't get the fainting / foggy issues since coming off Atenolol. (If it was the Atenolol causing it and I don't know that for a fact, it was probably the relatively high dose rather than the drug itself - I'm sure plenty  of people out there are happy with the drug).

Stuart

 

Steve, I've had all sorts of side effects whilst on many different BP meds over the last 18 months so have decided that my body is just ultra sensitive to most of them.  Amlodipine was the first and very quickly got thrown into the bin!  I've been ok-ish on Losartan Potassium 50mg for around the last 4 months but it isn't reducing my blood pressure sufficiently so a diuretic (Indpamide) was added just over three weeks ago.  Latest blood tests this week have now thrown up the most worrying side effect of all for me: my already low but stable (for some years) sole kidney function has decreased from 47 to 39,  I had been warned that my kidney function could fail if I didn't go on medication to reduce my high BP - frustratingly the opposite has happened.  This latest pill also reduced my sodium levels and left me feeling exhausted and fatigued.  Of course, I've stopped the Indapamide and am now crossing everything that these results will improve by the time of my next blood test a month's time.  It also made me breathless when walking added to which my legs felt so congested I could hardly put one foot in front of the other.

If you are in pain from your BP pills, then you need to find out which one is the culprit and ask for it to be changed.  Hopefully, you had a blood test within a couple of weeks of starting each pill to ensure that your electrolytes, minerals etc were unaffected.

Good luck with getting a different pill without side effects.  

Yes I too feel as though I am dragging myself ..I have been started on bisoprolol and my pulse goes to as low as 58 so i guess that's the reason I feel tired so I just take it easy ...

I'm also on Bisoprolol, hate it, legs feel like lead. I used to take it first thing in the morning with my cup of tea and about an hour and a half later would feel like I had been hit by a truck. Then I read that its helpful to take it on a full stomach as this slows and steadies the rate of absorption. I tried taking it after a good breakfast and it really made a difference. Hope this helps, all the best.

Bess. Ps. Have a word with your local pharmacist Steve, they will tell you what painkillers you can safely take.