I know its was amlodipine!

Hi Merlin I am so glad that you are feeling well and that your BP is remaining at a steady level. I am also doing well and my GP is pleased with my progress. I have altered my diet to include more Beetroot and and am taking a different approach to the stress in my life. So it is all good and now I can enjoy my life knowing that my BP is undercontrol. No body likes taking tablets or the side effects that they have, but if one can cope with them then it is all worth it. However I could never have functioned if I had remained on the Amlodipine. I would have had to finish work because I was like a zombie and I knew that they were poisoning me so I do feel for every one who is suffering their horrendous side effects.

Bye for now Anastasia

Very many thanks everyone for this info' on Amlodipine, I though it was me at first - I have been suffering like the person who first posted on the discussion. Only been taking them about a month and exhausted after picking a few strawberries and legs/calfs/ankles ache unbelievably. Contacted 'Doc' today took me off them and now going on to Lisinopril - 58 years old & need them for blood pressure, last year did a 10k in about 57 minutes - couldn't do 1k at the moment....hoping to be fighting fit again soon.

Dear victor i know its not for me to say BUT i was put on lisinopol 2 yrs ago and allthough i was 66 at the time i also was very fit. I ONLY went for a flu jab and the nurse told me my blood pressure was high i went down hill from there .My health went from being happy go lucky to a nervous wreck..giddy heart palpatations.feeling sick.scared all the time constantly taking my blood presure as the docter and nurse told me i could have a heart attack or stroke at any time.WELLto cut a long story short.if i was you, like i did do some research on lisinopol if you start to feel like i did .The docter also give me amiodipine but looked these up and more horrer storys, Wellnow i know i get white coat term used for blood pressure rising. so i know now my blood pressure is sure good for my age so now i take i 1-25 mg bisoprolol and better than anything 1 high strenth garlic pilland one high strenth omega 3 capsule and guess what victor im bouncing again .thinking of going to hearbalist doc if i ever have problems in the future. GOOD LUCK and alway.s know exactley what you are putting into your body,RESEARCH, KEY WORD TRUST ONLY YOURSELF FIRST , ALL THE BEST,

By the way ,WHITE COAT ,when you visit the docter or nurse, sure put the fear of god into me when i was told you dont feel any symtoms with blood pressure,you COULD have a heart attack or stroke,so i beleave these meds create symtoms then you realy beleave your ill, bit like chicken and egg or is it egg then chicken ,well folks get some high strenth GARLIC amazing stuff . Now i have to watch my blood pressure dont go too low or is that too high hooo maggie stop fretting you know what MIGHT HAPPEN , HO and dont forget the omega 3 ,and a stache of banana,s lots sunshine plenty sleep do you the world of good ,

Hi Stacey and all. Stacey, thank you for your comforting words posted in May. I have only for the first time since May felt human enough to follow up on things.

Having been to the quack as planned in my earlier posting, he decided to take me off Simvastatin and insisted I remained on Amlodipine while he awaited results of scans to ascertain what was causing what. Took until June to get the scans and the results. Last Thursday I went to see him to discuss the results which apparently showed no problems.

Now back to Amlodipine! In order not to be distracted by what the GP had to say, I took with me a list of all the symptoms I have been suffering for the last seven months of being on this deadly drug. What amazed me the most was that the GP seemed to be surprised that I could have been suffering so many side effects from this drug. In fact I almost felt he was losing his patience when I suggested that after trying amlodipine for seven months and putting up with all the disastrous side effects, I was now at my wits end and would like to be taken off it. I felt tempted to refer him to the Mayo Clinic website where a catalogue of the different side effects of Amlodipine is maintained including a list of drugs that should not be mixed with Amlodipine (Simvastatin being one of them!). I finally agreed with him that I should stop taking this terrible drug for two weeks to monitor the side effects I had been complaining about and then go onto a different combination of drugs. But I have to monitor my blood pressure very closely.

Am I the only one who thinks that a lot of GPs in England probably have such a massive workload that they do not have time to investigate properly some of the drugs they are recommending for us?

Having been off Amlodipine for past six days, I feel that I am now back to the land of the living. However, I am now suffering from what I think are the withdrawal symptoms from the drug – tremors, eye pain and swollen eyes, body heat, feeling of things constantly crawling through my body, numbness in the face and hands etc. But they get less with each day and I find myself a much happier person. One other thing that astonished me was that my blood pressure taken by the GP last Thursday (120/70) was not too far from where I started (160/90) in December 2011. Has Amlodipine helped me much, the jury is out. I called at a pharmacy in the south of Spain yesterday where a charming Assistant offered to take and record my blood pressure while I am out here. My reading was not too bad – 130/90. I should see her again in two days.

Meanwhile I shall enjoy these few Amlodipine free days and see what the GP has for me in another week. Situation calls for serious life-style changes!

Will keep the forum posted. Have a great Amlodipine or Amlodipine-free summer!

I wanted to add that I had a very bad experience with Amlodipine, I didn't associate it with the medication at first so this went on for a few months. My Doctor had been prescribing different medications because I had so many problems with side effects. I just thought I was really run down when one day I decided to check it on the Internet. I saw so many bad reports that I stopped taking it immediately and recovered very quickly.

I can only decribe my symptoms as complete exhaustion, I used to sit in a chair at weekends thinking I couldn't be bothered to get up to make a cup of tea even, I'm not the type of person that normally sits around much. I also went from going to the gym from work in my lunchtime 3 times a week to sleeping in my car. It was only afterwards that I realised just what it had done to me.

I am a 61 male and I was put on 5mg of Amlodopine in April and didn't suffer any side effects. However, when I went back in June she wasn't satisfied with the pattern of my BP as it tended to spike at times. So she upped the dosage to 10mg.I had to go back and see her this week as I was suffering from swollen ankles and knees and aches in my leg muscles. I also told her that I feel tired most of the time and I thought the drug was making me impotent. She asked if I had any of these effects when I was on 5mg - answer no. To be fair she immediately took me off 10 mg and back on to 5mg. That was two days ago and apart from a severe pain in the heel of my left foot I feel better allthough I still have some swelling of the ankles. Knees feel better though. .I am due to go back to see her in 2 weeks and if the symptoms are still there she says she will take me off Amlodopine and try something else.

Hello every one I hope that we are all feeling ok. I am still on the Lorsatin Potassium but stopped it for a few days to see if my BP would behave but it didn't and shot up again, so I will now taking the medication as advised. I will conform to my Doctor's advise because I would never want to be put back on Amlodipine due to the side efects. I have spoken to a few people who I know that have been diagnised with HB and those who have been prescribed Amlodipine are really suffering , They also want to come off of the drug, but their GPs are reluctant to stop prescribing it. Therefore our GPs need to sit upand listen to what we are saying . However what they have to realise is that the side affects are soul destroying, and result in more mental health and domestic problems . Therefore our GPs need to sit up and listen to our concerns and worries because at the end of the day we know our bodies and what affects them.

Hi all - I am very nervous now about starting the AM now. I am 33 years old and a student nurse. I was prescribed it yesterday for having an average bp of 165/113. I really feel for all of you who have suffered on this medication. Slightly worried now, but glad i googled it!!!

Hi Moncheeka - Since I started this thread, I would say try it. It works for some and not others. BUT if you have any of the problems, I or others have had, or your BP stays the same even with the medication, then try something different. The issues are readily noticeable if you know what to look for, and make sure you record your base line condition before you continue. Ie, how fit you really feel, how far you can walk without joint pain, you level of alertness etc. If you notice any depreciation in this baseline after you start taking, get off it quick. There are other pills but for some reason some Dr's don't seem to want to listen, although mine was very helpful and changed me immediately. However, if everything works OK, then its not affecting you and you might even notice a lowering of your BP!

Hi moncheeka - agree with Nigel. I was in hell of a mess after a very short while on AM. Been off AM & on Lisinopril for almost a fortnight. All the aches & pains gone as well as the swollen ankles etc & bouncing again.....in fact running & back in the saddle - not quite Bradley Wiggins you understand - but great feeling. So, like previously said, see how you go, works for some but not all.

Sarsons,

You are missing the point, it's not about being negative, it's about someone recognising that how they are feeling may be related to taking this medication. It's to stop people going through what you have gone through. If it works for you then thats fine, it's not a contest.

Hi I hope that every one is well. I have just read some of the above comments and feel a bit concerned by the use of the word nagative relating to the above discussions regarding some side effects experienced after taking Amlodipine.. I would like to say that I am a fit and active 56yr old who knows my body, how it functions and what affects it. So I was in a desperate state when after taking AM I began to feel ill, sluggish, my legs were swollen and I couldn't walk a few yards. My job and family started to suffer because I could not function and felt as though I was on a different planet. After many attempts of trying to get my doctor to listen to me, I eventualy got taken seriously when a blood vessel popped in my leg and I was nearly hospitalised. Once off the medication I began to slowly recover and was soon back to my old self and thanking my blessings that I was off AM. I did not write about my experience on this forum to promote a negative attitude towards the medication , I wrote because I was very scared, felt very alone, and didn't know what was wrong with me, also no body would listen to me. I am so pleased that I found this forum because I now feel a lot happier knowing that others have experienced some of the same side effects, and that I was not just imagining them. I am on Losartin Potassium and apart from feeling a little tired at times I am back in work and functioning as well as ever, so I would promote Losartin in a very positive way. Anastasia

Hi everyone I have just spotted this website as I was suffering like most of you with swollen feet and ankles so much so last week I could not put my foot to the floor. I was hospitalised and they did various blood and scan testing and could not come up with an answer. I came home the same state as I went in. I looked up AM and there was my answer looking at me in the face. I have just come back from my GP who agreed this could be the reason for all my aches and pains, depression and just lack of energy really. He has withdrawn my perscription so I would warn all others in my predicament to do the same GET OFF IT NOW. I will let you know if it has worked or not in a few weeks time if I am feeling better and if the swelling has gone down