I know its was amlodipine!

HELP!!!! Thank God I found this site,Iam on this horrific drug and rapidly my life/marraige/job is falling apart,Iam hoping someone will reply to me today so I can e-mail my phone no.to talk as really struggling to type as I dont remember where any of the keys are! Please, please can someone reply and thankyou so much.

Hi Phoebe. I started this thread a few years ago when getting into the same state that you are in now. In fact I am now 62 and fit as a fiddle. Still on other blood pressure drugs, but having removed myself from Amlodipine once i recognised the problems , I have never looked back.

However I can still remember the experience and whole heartedly sympathise with you. I was on the same pathway as you are, but I don't think I allowed myself to travel as far. My advice now would be to see your doctor and talk to him about mine and the other's on this site's experiences with it. You need to be off it to get back to your life. I know it worked for me. Stacy would be another good one to talk to, I expect she will also post a comment, she is very helpful.

If you would like to call me for a chat, email your number to xxx it helps to talk.

Nigel

Hi Nigel/Phoebe,

I have removed the email address as we do not publish personal details such as these on the site.

Nigel - I will email Phoebe with your email address.

There will be a private messaging service going live very soon for direct contact between users.

Regards,

Alan (Emis Moderator)

Hi Stacy, I believe in most cases that age and the "Genes" affect your Blood pressure. I have now been nearly a week without the Tablet; so far Blood pressure has remained more or less the same which is down from what it was, joint pain is very much better. Neither of my parents had to take Blood pressure Tablets but both my Sister's do. However both are over weight and both are lacking in excise. I used to smoke (gave it up about 13yrs ago) but do enjoy a good drink, but not continuously. Emotion I also believe plays a part in the high Blood pressure increase and trying to relax is something I am starting to get into.

However all this depends on one's metabolism, which if like me who, assumes while going through the mythical forest behind each tree a Tiger lurks, is sometimes difficult.

Give my regards to the Isle of White I have a very good friend who lives there.

Regards Merlin.

Hi, Phoeb, after reading of your problems it's best to follow what Nigel says. I do know my "outlook" as to the way I was after only taking this drug for a very short time changed noticeably so get profession advice. I shall wait for another week and then try my Doctor again, but am dam glad I stopped taking this drug. What has me more then a little worried is why it was banned in some European counties.

Regards Merlin

Hi Phoeb my heart goes out to you . Please go back back to your GP straight away and tell him/her that you want to stop taking the tablets NOW. If they won't listen to you then tell them you are going to change you Doctor, because you know that the medication is have horrendous effects on your physical and psycological well being. You can also ask for a second opinion. It took me four different doctors to finally listen to me and by then I was a stumbling zombie who felt like putting my head in the gas oven. However even though I told my GP this I was only taken off the drug when a vein popped in the back of my leg after I experienced severe pain in my calf. I am now on Losartin Potassium and I am more or less back to my old self. I even went away for a mini break which I could not have done whilst I was taking Amlodipine. I have tried to research into why it has been banned in other countries but so far I have not found much information. I feel that if enough people come forward and let their GPs know about the side effects then perhaps we could get some thing done about it and may be have it banned. What is the point of lowering your BP if you have no quality of life . I hope that the moderator will also send me your email address so that I can keep in touch and see how you are getting on. Please take care and go to your GP NOW !!!!!!! trust me you will feel a lot better once you stop them. Also demand that you have a blood test to see what your blood levels are, ie Sodium, Potassium, because when taking this medication regular blood tests are essential to make sure these are not being affected. Please let me know how you are getting on.

Hi Nigel I am so glad that you are feeling much better after coming off Amlodipine, it is a horrendous drug yet some people do tolerate it. I am more or less back to my old self however I do get side effects from the Losatin Potassium but once I get over the two hours of tiredness then, I can function. I just make sure that I take it in time so that it does not affect my day. I am back in work and hold down a very busy responsible job and I have also had a mini break, which I couldn't have even thought about if I was still taking A mlodipine. I do worry about other people suffering the effects of this drug especially Phoeb who sounds in a desperate state. I think what happens is that GPs become complacent and prescribe these drugs because they work, however they do not take into consideration the side effects which like a lot of treatments, can be worse than the illness. One Doctor told me off for reading the side effects and for researching the drug on the web site. My reply was that I was the one taking it, yet even though he listened to me, he did not take on board what I was saying and just sent me off with advise to give them a go. As I said it was only when a vein popped in the back of my leg did my GP sit up and listen then took me serious enough to stop it straight away. However the advice given to me when it was prescribed in the hospital was to go straight back to A&E if I had any leg swelling, also the chemist informed me that leg swelling is a common side effect. I really think that more research should be available and that if a patient presents at his/her GP with serious worries about the side effects, then they should be listened to . Please take care Anastasia

Hi everyone,thankyou for all your help and advice.,nearly back on this planet after refusing to take amlodopine! I have an unusual reaction to a lot of drugs,the worst being psychosis after a course of Tramadol for a frozen shoulder,this lead me to spend 4 weeks in a psychiatric hospital! Trust me if you have ever suffered from any mental health issues in the past then your GP is gonna have a field day if you go and tell him how strange the Amlodopine is making you feel,mine had me assessed 4 times by 3 different consultant psychiatrists who all said my symptoms were physical not mental,still GP was adament I was totally crazy and took everything I said literally,eg when Isaid I felt like I was on a different planet,he looked at me and said mmmm,when are you due to be seeing the psychiatrist again? To which I replied I dont actually THINK I am on another planet but I wish I was cos then I might get some help! Another time in the surgery I had to fill out a form and I couldnt even remember my own date of birth! When I mentioned it to the GP he helpfully suggested I might be suffering from anxiety.After reading on this forum,I decided not to take any more tablets and I was also told off for reading this forum with dr saying these sorts of sights can make you feel like you have got all sorts wrong,but the fact was I already had the symptoms everyone was describing.I am now a week without the tablets and doing ok but BP is back up,averaging about 190/125 but it is not as high as it was.I have told the dr Iam not prepared to go on anything else until Ive been down the natural route,especially as my bp had suddenly shot up in the first place as an adverse reaction to another drug. Off to Egypt next week so hopefully a good relaxing break will do the trick. many thanks again x

Hi Phoebe I am so glad to read that you are starting to feel more like your own self again. It took me about a week for the medication to get out of my system allowing me to think and act like a human being and not a zombie. I think that your GP was wrong to tell you off for reading this site, mind you I had the same. However they would not buy a product without reading the label first, or researching iin to it to see if was safe. It is too bad that we have to fight to be heard but at least you have had the response that you wanted also your BP should come down after your lovely holiday, and the fact that you are no longer anxious about your medication. I can not believe that they sent you to see the Psychiatric team due to the side effects of a drug. It states on the label in the packet that these conditions can be caused by the drug. I like you are very sensitive to medication and can only take one Paracetamol at a time if I have a headache because if I take two as prescribed then I will fall asllep. So GPs need to LISTEN to us when we tell them how we are feeling because we know our own bodies and how tablets affect us. You go and have a wonderful time and let us know how you are getting on because I bet there are a lot of people out there who can benifit from reading our experiences.

Take care Anastasia xx

GP has given me a prescription for ramipril which I have told him I am not taking until i;ve tried the herbal remedies,but having since read about the drug it would appear it can be just as horrific as amlodopine,anyone else had ramipril?

Hi, Phoe. I have tried Ramipril, it was fine at 5mg for 3 months then suddenly I could hardly walk the pains in joints was bad so I stopped. However I have free from any B/P tablets for nearly 3 weeks and I am still within 140 ish / 80ish so I can see that taking the herbal remedy I do seems to work.

But I do check each day as to the scale of my Blood pressure and am watching my weight plus getting excises twice a week.

Where have all the comments gone?had an e-mail to say someone had commented but i cant see them.

Hi Phoebe,

This is a bug in the system when a discussion gets to 20 or 40 replies and goes on to the next page. As they go on to the next page when you click through from an email it appears as if they have gone. This will be fixed in the next update soon and now I have posted this reply the links should now work again.

Sorry for the confusion.

Regards,

Alan

I have found the comments again,thanks Merlin its good to hear that the herbal remedies are working for you,hopefully they will for me soon.Also I have read somewhere that pomegranite juice lowers bp so think I'll go and buy some later.

Amlodipine 5mg was increased to 10 mg within 2 weeks late in October 2010. by late Nov and early Dec2010 my libido went from high to nearly zero. the unfortunate thing I was away on consultancy work and came back only for my wife to complain about me not up for more that 2minutes. it was an embarrasing position I have never found myself. I started to look for reasons then I read the leaflet where part of the side effect is low libido. I screamed then showed my wife. this medicine nearly break my relationship.