1. Community
  2. Heart Health
  3. Hypertension

Lisiniprol and Losartan

Posted , 6 users are following.

Jesilu48
Jesilu48

Hi all,

I was started on Lisiniprol and had a terrible cough so doc swithched me to 25mg Losartan. I have been taking it since January 11th. the drug works well as far as no side effects but it seems like BP is higher than when I was on Lisiprol and my numbers are all over the board.Anyone have any suggestions or insight, I am new to high blood pressure.

0 likes, 19 replies

19 Replies

Next
  • lyn1951
    lyn1951 Jesilu48

    Posted

    My husbands has white coat fever, and hosptial fever, when the Dr takes his blood pressure it is sky high, and when I take it at home we get a completely differnet reading.

    Dr has suggested I take his blood pressure readings a couple of times a day, and record what the readings are, a huge difference.

    Although I still think he has problems with even me doing his reading, you can see him tense up when I come at him with the blood pressure cuff.

    I have a little exercise book, and I give the Dr's that when we visit, his nurse now photcopies my little book for their records, and they rarely bother to take his blood pressure at the hospital any longer.

    Do you also have white coat fever, if so, you need to lash out and buy a blood pressure reader, they are not that expensive now, and record what your reading are, including your heartbeat rate.

    • helen_07568
      helen_07568 lyn1951

      Posted

      Lyn   does your husband take medication for bloodpressure?
    • lyn1951
      lyn1951 helen_07568

      Posted

      Oh yes is the answer to that - Nearly five years ago he came home from work, sat down and dropped of to sleep, at first I thought he's overdone it again, and is just tired after a twelve hour day, then I noticed he was sweating up a storm, water was just poring off him, I shook him awake and asked if he was OK, and he started coughing. At that point I don't know how, I just knew something was wrong, I called an ambulance to his total disgust, he was shouting and yelling at me, and verbally abusing me, the ambulance officer on the phone could hear him, and reminded me that all that noise could be agitation, and could be a symptom, it is he was in congestive heart failure, lungs filling up with water, after 8 days in heart hospital it was found he has dialated cardiomyopathy, with a left branch bundle blockage, cause unknown, possibility of a virus. He is on aspirin as a blood thinner, bicor slows his heart beat, only in the 40's, pendinropril for blood pressure, normal caused by medication, for him is now 100/60, if there is too much variation on that I have to take him back to the hospital, fluid tablets when I judge him to be going into congestive heart failure again, and or filling up with fluid in his legs, all carefully explained to me a non nurse. He has a chemist shop of tablets, including some other tablets that help with trying to regulate his heart beat, not working, he is going to have to have a pacemaker like device installed to help with falling ejection Fraction, very breathless all the time now. I have learnt more about heart failure and medications, in the last 5 years than I ever thought I would need to know in a lifetime.  Have pulled the plug on him a number of times now, and taken him back to the hospital wher they have stablised him and saved his life once more. Young Dr's have said to me a couple of times, we could do with a nurse like you on the wards, you are really very good at knowing when he needs help, and where did I do my nursing training, no nursing training, and congratulations you have saved him once again. The only thing I have been able to figure out, is that my father also had un-diagnosed cardiomyopathy his entire life, and I lived with it as a child and can recognise when a crisis is on the way, my sister (sibling) is a director of nursing, and she pointed out to me that would be the case, we lived with it our entire lives as children.
  • michelemuffin
    michelemuffin Jesilu48

    Posted

    Lyn is right. I have the same issue. I go to Dr and when they take my blood pressure it is high but when taken at home it is always in normal range. So go buy a blood pressure cuff and stop worrying cause it will only keep it elevated. Take care.
  • lyn1951
    lyn1951 Jesilu48

    Posted

    Are you taking anything else with your tablets, check your handout (hope you  have one) that comes with the drugs, if not the chemists should be able to give you a handout, tells you all about what you should not mix together.

    I have a folder full of handouts for my husband, that match what tablets they have him on, and I know what they do and do not do, and I will question my GP as well as my cardio each time they change his medication, with the question will that work with what you and the GP already have him on, I can even only give him one brand of painkiller, others will not mix with his other medication., he has to go to the hospital, if he has bad pain.

    Always wise to be well educated about what the Doctor has been giving you, just in case you are taking something else, even vitamins can be a NO NO, with some drugs.

    My husband has to watch that if he even eats too many greens, he starts bleeding under his skin, or drinks coffee, it causes him to have loud sounds/noise in his head, crazy, but I believe him, and Dr's say they can do nothing about it. I have found by adjusting his intake of greens and keeping off coffee, he does well, although problems not gone completely alot better.

  • MrsO-UK_Surrey
    MrsO-UK_Surrey Jesilu48

    Posted

    Hello Jesilu

    ​My blood pressure doesn't respond to many of the BP meds, and those that do have an effect on the blood pressure tend to be the ones that cause me the most side effects.  I am now on small doses of two different pills (small doses due to kidney issues), having tried about six in the last two years.  Losartan Potassium 50mgs for me has proved the one without any discernible side effects but, like you, on its own it fails to control my high BP.  However, I am being kept on Losartan in the belief that if I can tolerate another pill alongside it, the two will work in tandem.  The latest pill to be tried alon gside Losartan is Doxazosin and, finally, I have been getting some good readings.  A side effect I am noticing is shortness of breath when out walking but I'm trying to persevere in an effort to reduce the BP and thereby protect my already reduced kidney function.

    ​If the Losartan 25mg isn't reducing your blood pressure after a few weeks, then it may be due to the dose not being sufficient.  Most people I know on Losartan are on at least 50mg.  It is usual for GPs to start you off on a low dose and gradually titrate the dose up until the BP is controlled.  Personally, I feel it is best to try and stick with the Losartan provided it works, as my wonderful pharmacist has said that it is the drug he hears the least complaints about with regard to side effects.

    ​What are your average readings by the way?

    • jane243
      jane243 MrsO-UK_Surrey

      Posted

      I agree with you re the Losartan, however I do seem to get wildly fluctuating readings 170/95 down to 110/65. Though not at the same reading have to say.

      One thing to add to what Lyn is saying is to look out for grapefruit; it can have all sorts of repercussions on some medication. Thankfully Losartan is OK to take with it or I, for one, would have refused to take it.  I refused a calcium channel blocker for that reason and I think the dr thought I was being ridiculous!

    • MrsO-UK_Surrey
      MrsO-UK_Surrey jane243

      Posted

      Jane, it sounds as though you have what my rheumatologist described as "labile BP" - a blood pressure that is inclined to fluctuate wildly.  Mine did the same some time ago before settling at permanently high!   The worrying thing about labile blood pressure is that experiencing the 'highs' is said to be just as dangerous even though experiencing some normal readings. 

      Have you been able to pin the high readings down to when you have been feeling anxious/stressed (easy to feel stressed just taking BP!), following a cup of coffee or eating chocolate perhaps, or following a meal containing salt?  Or does there seem to be a definite pattern, ie are the higher readings generally experienced late in the day or early morning before taking the medication?  Just wondering if it might be happening as the effects of the daily dose of medication wear off?

      ​It's interesting how things like grapefruit can interfere with the absorption of BP meds too.  I eat a clove of fresh garlic every day and have just discovered that garlic can interfere with the Doxazosin I am not taking!  The pharmacist is the very best person for advice on contra-indications between different medications and herbal/dietary products.

      Blood pressure is a law unto itself it seems, and as a cardiologist once said to me, "Once you get high blood pressure, the body only seems to want to recognise high blood pressure"!

    • MrsO-UK_Surrey
      MrsO-UK_Surrey

      Posted

      Should read ".........the Doxazosin I am now ​taking!"  

      Wish there was an edit button.rolleyes

    • jane243
      jane243 MrsO-UK_Surrey

      Posted

      I wish there was an edit button too, would be helpful.

      I'm never sure what is considered 'normal' fluctuation as I know BP does fluctuate but mine seems to go for weeks on an even keel then go crazy for no valid reason. I'm not really stressed other than just the stress of the cuff tightening!  If it's high first thing in the morning [before taking the meds]  then it will be much lower in the evening and vice versa. A shockingly high [to me] initial reading  can be followed 2 mins later by a normal reading. Generally though it is higher first thing in the morning.

      The weekly averages are fine and the dr is happy about that but I do worry about the fluctuations; 160/100 and a few mins later 121/80 doesn't seem right to me but perhaps I worry too much. Yesterday morning it was 105/66 then this morning 170/95.  Thank heavens I don't have a review due or I would be having the meds raised or altered I think. I had the Losartan dose raised about 5 months ago and I'm starting to wonder if the drug isn't working as well as it did. I've been on it for 2.5 years.

       

    • MrsO-UK_Surrey
      MrsO-UK_Surrey jane243

      Posted

      Jane, at least it's reassuring if your GP is happy with the weekly readings.  If s/he wasn't a 24 hour ambulatory check would probably be suggested.  Mind you, the last time I had one of those it failed to record anything overnight and my rheumatologist said that the night readings are important!  I've always been awkward!rolleyes
    • jane243
      jane243 MrsO-UK_Surrey

      Posted

      Unless I've had an increase in meds I have a check up every 6 months and in Sept she raised my losartan from 25mg to 50 mg, so still a fairly low dose I think.

      I had an ambulatory BP monitor for diagnosis of hypertension almost 3 years ago which was one of the worst 24hrs ever ! The HCA told me to do everything as normal, so I did - I was gardening that day I remember - and the average was 160/ 85. I never realised that had I perhaps not been so energetic the reading might not have been so high. Anyway, there it was, Not sure I would want to repeat the procedure!

      II went onto meds very reluctantly. I absolutely hate the business of taking medicine for life and will never get used to it.

    • MrsO-UK_Surrey
      MrsO-UK_Surrey jane243

      Posted

      "I absolutely hate the business of taking medicine for life and will never get used to it.​"

      ​Snap!

       

  • Jesilu48
    Jesilu48

    Posted

    Thank you so much for all your responses! I did end up calling my cardiologist and he upped the dosage on the Losarten from 25mg to 50mg. I do take my BP every morning but I dont think my machine is accurate so I have purchased a new one. Hopefully I will even out, I'll let you know how it goes.

    Thank you again!

     

Back to top
Next

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.