Just wondering

Hi, I've got a home BP thingie and 2 days ago it was 120/ 79

That's about as spot on, as you can get, ideal. I was concerned the medicaation might have been lowering your BP too much, hence the dizziness.

Not all BP medications are the same and not all brands are the same. Some one will come along and say it doesn't matter which brand because all the active ingredients are the same. Not true, I have read countless stories of people who have been happy with a medication, the pharmacy haas switched brands and then the problems have started.

I was on amlodipine and had problems, so was switched to felodipine and was fine, although they are two different medications of CCB (as is Zemtard) you can probably guess by the name, they are very similar.

Anyway, your doctor is wrong about all BP taablets making you dizzy, I have been on attenolol, carvedilol, amlodipine and felodipine at one time or other and none of them have made me dizzy.

Hi, I think you replied to me in error, meaning to reply to Joanne. I've not been dizzy. Thankfully.

You are very lucky in that case.

Did you have no side effects from  atenolol?  

No, but it was the first one I ever took and it was some years ago now, when I was in my late '20s to '30s.

I had cold extremities, ED, no rash but an all over itch under my skin. Every evening from 7 till 9pm I could hardly keep awake but could not get to sleep at night and then had disturbed sleep and strange dreams.

At the end of the first week on it we went to Barbados on holiday and everyone I met asked how I could have such cold hands in that climate.

 

Ah see, I took a lot of anti-histamine when I was a kid for hayferver, and they kept upping the dose. I never felt fatigued, but they always kept asking me.

I did when I caame of hospital on sveral BP tablets, suddenly find, whereas before I had always been si-omeone who suffered from the heat and started sweating, I no longer had that problem and actually started to feel the cold a lot more. Obviously the hit in circulation does this.

Later when precribed Verapamil one July I had problems from heat and sun initially.

With the range of different BP drugs available it is pretty hit and miss on a doctor prescribing the one that is most suitable for you fist time round.

this is absolutely true Derek,  what infuriates me though is when you tell a doctor how a drug is effecting you and they say it's all in your head then there is a problem... I have had pharmacists tell me they have more experience with how a drug interacts than any doctor knows... much of our medicines are a question of trial and error... I always keep in mind when I come across a skeptical doctor that someone is always graduating at the bottom of the class and that includes medical doctors.. but you are correct...

I always say that the patient is the last line of defence. We need to do our own research to solve our problems. I twice stopped taking Warfarin due to joint pain. Eventually I found that the E number used to colour the 1mg tablet in the UK was banned in America and that Amaranth also used could cause joint pain. I started Warfarin again in February and if my dosage needs a 1mg tablet I take two 500 micron ones instead.

So far no joint pain.

Different manufacturers of generic drugs use diffferent ingredients to bulk them up and they can cause the side effects not the actual drug itself.

I used to take Securon SR the slow release version of Verapamil without any problems but the generic ones gave me problems.   

You can download a "Yellow Card" form and report your side effects to the MHRA and they take it seriously. When I did they asked me to send them ssmples of the medication concerned. The makers also contacted me for more information.  

Good for you Derek my friend,  stay vigil... indeed we must do research.. I have seen too much in this world not to be so trusting.....

I could write a book about it:-)

I had a problem when a second drug was prescribed by a cardiologist  and the other should have been reduced when starting it. The practice nurse did not know nor did my GP and it was very vaugely mentioned in BNF.

I asked the phamacist why she had not warned me and she said that she thought everyone knew that.

I totally understand, I've been prescribed medications that should NOT be given to people over 60 and also one that should not be taken because I am on metoprolol... all this by a doctor that I have never even met who would send her little assistants to me and then they would run back and forth between her and I like playing a game like children do..needless to say I got away from her quickly.. I can't believe what happens in the medical world these days..