My "recovery story" from the misery of Amlodipine
Posted , 46 users are following.
I apologize in advance for the lengthy post. For a very long time, I had been suffering from a lot of intense aches and pains in my joints and muscles and was not able to get any proper diagnosis for it. I was beginning to very worried that I had some serious illness like cancer. Thanks to the posts in this site, I was able to pinpoint amlodipine as the source of my misery. I shall try to put as much details as I can regarding my own experience in journal form, in case it becomes helpful to others.
Background: I am male, 40yrs old, former competitive swimmer and in good shape (apart from the hypertension which is genetic). I was placed on 5mg amlodipine after being diagnosed with hypertension 6 years ago. 5mg seemed to work fine with no side effects. In July 2016, I went to our local clinic due to a serious case of the flu. The GP on duty was not happy with my 130/90 and said that I should increase my dosage to 10mg. Thinking nothing of it, I complied but did not consult with my specialist. In hindsight, this is when my symptoms started to appear.
Symptoms: It first started with muscle pain in my left forearm and joint pain in my left shoulder. I assumed that this was due to carrying my newborn baby in the same position for hours on end. These disappeared but then I suddenly started suffering pain in my hands and feet as if someone had taken a hammer to them. I felt like my bones were crushed. In December, pain in my knees and elbows followed. My knees felt swollen at the back while my elbows felt as if there was constant pressure on my funny bone. There wasn’t any actual swelling or inflammation, just the sensation of pain really. I then started to have muscle spasms at the beginning of this year. The spasms and twitching were almost constant at night.
How amlodipine became a suspect: After researching everything from arthritis to cancer, I stumbled across this site and the symptoms posted seemed similar. So I figured, what the heck! Let’s give this a shot. So on 29-Jan, I decided not to take my medication and felt some relief almost immediately. My “recovery” is detailed in the journal below:
Day 1 – 0mg. By the end of the day, muscle spasms stopped completely. Have not had any ever since. This was my first clue that amlodipine may be the culprit. Pain in my right knee completely disappeared with pain in my elbows and left knee lessening and not constant.
Day 2 – 2.5mg – Afraid of rebound hypertension, I decided to still take 2.5mg. Pain in right elbow, completely gone. Less pain in left knee and elbow. Developed slight occasional shoulder pain though. Pain in right thumb and toes.
Day 3 – 2.5mg – No more knee and right elbow pain. Though pain in left elbow remains but significantly less. Foot and toe pain greatly reduced.
Day 4 – 5mg – Started getting a headache and uncomfortable feeling in left arm so I thought I could be getting hypertension again so decided to take 5mg. Slight pain in left index finger and right thumb. Slight occasional shoulder pain. Joints in elbows, shoulders, knees and ankles started popping and clicking.
Day 5 – Back to 2.5mg – No more pain in elbows and knees. However, shoulder pain increased and developed lower back and hip pain. This was after I took the 2.5mg at mid-day. Also developed a stomach upset about ten minutes after taking it.
Day 6 – 2.5mg – No knee and elbow pain. No pain in fingers and toes but have feeling of stiffness. Joints still popping and clicking. Shoulder pain increased. Felt like stabbing pain. Something new is that the front of my neck felt sore and muscles felt swollen.
Day 7 – 0mg Since it was the weekend and expected less stress, I decided to try and not take amlodipine. No pain in major joints. Neck and shoulders felt stiff and sensation of neck swelling still there but not constant.
Day 8 – Still 0mg – Felt almost normal. Neck soreness was there upon waking but became negligible towards the afternoon.
Day 9 (today) – Pain free!!!! Still some tightness in the neck from time to time but nothing like it was in the past days. In fact, it is non-existent as I type this.
Observations – Symptoms seem to get worse before they get better for each joint. Improvement also seemed to start from the bottom and progress upwards with pain in the upper joint getting worse or appearing just as the bottom joint was feeling better. Example, as my knees were getting better, my left elbow pain got worse; and as my elbows were getting better, I started to develop pain in the shoulders and neck which I did not have previously.
Conclusion – I am not sure if I shall be getting off amlodipine completely. I actually plan to take 2.5mg again for a few days and work my way back to my normal 5mg dosage. I did not have any side effects then. I do plan to go back to my specialist but he only comes in on weekdays and it is a problem for me to get time off from work.
Again, apologies for the length of this post but I do hope that it is able to help someone.
9 likes, 89 replies
star_83092 ramvin
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ramvin star_83092
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Apologies for the late response. I did not have double vision though I my eyes seemed drier than normal. Neck, shoulder, elbow and knee pain were some of my worst side effects. How are you doing now? Hope things are better.
k1w1spirit ramvin
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Ramvin & others THANK YOU for all you post here as I have been on Amlodipine Besylate 5mg for 4 weeks and feel so "crappy" and found this page. So much of what you all are saying is how i feel and day to day is getting worse. Waking up after 4 1/2hrs sleep and not getting back to sleep stomach pains to which I thought something else was happening .. Dr wanted me to go from 5mg to 10 mg in one day and I have never been able to get there.Have seen that the above drug is banned in Netherlands.... This is being taken with Cilazapril also...
Lily6568 I have my own monitor and interestingly enough my BP has gone up to what it was 2 weeks ago.. I will keep and 'eye' on that Thanks
Have also seen that
Richie_Spencer ramvin
Posted
Hi
Hi I'm new to this forum just came across your post which I found it really interesting ! I was diagnosed with hb about a year ago,it has become steadily worse over the last few months like yourself I consider myself reasonably active and fit I'm only 48 not over weight I don't smoke or drink to excess a few glasses now and again! I have a good healthy diet , the last six weeks has been hell on earth being on amplodipine 10mg I've had most of the side effects I've collapsed,my head spinning out I've been in hospital twice in three weeks had blood tests ecg 24hr urine test corsodil test all came back fine much to my disbelief! Reading people's posts has made me realise it's a drug to stay clear of!
ramvin
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Apologies to everyone who had posted and I was not able to reply to. It has been months since I last checked on this site mostly because the symptoms I had described are now completely gone. So there is no doubt in my mind that Amlodipine was the cause of my misery. Just wanted to post that update in case it further helps other people. All my pain has gone away and I have been able to get much better sleep and have more energy during the day. So relieved that there is nothing seriously wrong with me and that all I had to do was switch medications. I am now on an Angiostatin blocker and so far, no side effects and bp is steady at 120/80.
To those who are curious to know, the pain symptoms faded in a span of 3 to 4 months. They just kept getting less and less severe every week. First to go was pain in the knees and elbows then the neck and shoulders. The ones in the hands and feet lasted quite a bit longer but was really just more bothersome than actually painful. My friend has a theory that since I was taking a calcium blocker, the blocked calcium had to go somewhere and probably built up in my joints which caused the pain. After stopping, the calcium needed time to be worn down from those joints and be eliminated from my body. Don't know if that is medically sound but it seems to make sense to me.
lily65668 ramvin
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Thanks for getting back, ramvin. I'm sure this will be very informative and reassuring for all those suffering from the side-effects of amlodipine.
Glad to hear you're doing well now.
chris21802 ramvin
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Being on government insurance in state of California is terrible. I thought my symptoms was because of losartan and I got off of it and all of those aches and pains are gone the doctors kept me on amlodipine and now I realize it's amlodipine that's causing a lot of problems they have increased my amount which is 10 mg per day and I'm getting charlie horses muscle pain in my arms my fingers are getting stiff again like it weakness in my ankles and my leg terrible in my neck I can't take it anymore I feel like there's something wrong with me I'm going to go back to the doctor and tell them I can't do this anymore I'm exhausted
ramvin lily65668
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Thanks lily65668! I feel awesome! Sounds kinda melodramatic but I feel like I had gotten my life back! I feel healthier and I don't have a sense of dread like I had a serious illness. Definitely not feeling depressed anymore. 😊
jeff09792 ramvin
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ramvin jeff09792
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Hi,
For the pain, mine disappeared gradually over the course of 3 or 4 months though it started to subside in about a week. By subside, I don't mean a steady lessening. It was more come and go with some days being pain free then some days it would come back though not as intense. My neck pain was one of the last to fade away permanently.
As for the palpitations and weakness, I'm afraid I can't really pinpoint when they disappeared coz it was like I just realized one day that I haven't experienced those for some time. But I would say that that would be around the 2 month mark.
I hope that helps. Mind you that I did go through a period of frustration and despair coz I felt I wasn't getting better. But as they say, time heals. Perhaps that is what our body needs. Whatever toxins this medication pumped into us will definitely not go away on one day and their effects will definitely linger a while longer.
chris21802 ramvin
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Ramvin
I can certainly relate to this I've been on amlodipine and the doctors never listen to me I have extreme lower back pain I get gout attacks in my foot that don't go away I feel like I'm sick all the time fortunately my insurance is changing to Medicare and I can choose better doctors Hydrochlorothiazide also causes gout and pain in the joints
bellabruno ramvin
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ramvin bellabruno
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Hi bellabruno,
I stopped completely at the beginning of March this year. So that would make this my 5th month off of the meds. The pain has gone away though it took about 4 months to completely disappear. I find that my elbows and wrists still pop and crack a lot but it isn't really bothersome. That actually started to happen as the pain started to subside. Don't know what that is about though. Perhaps Amlodipine really messed my joints up.
Other symptoms like peeing several times at night, blurry vision, spasms and brain fog during the day are gone. Palpitations are very infrequent. So I firmly believe that Amlodipine was bad for me and coming off of it was the best thing I could have done in my case. Hope that helps!
Chi000 ramvin
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jerzy22559 ramvin
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i ramvin, I was prescribed 5mg dosage 2 months ago and I have already symptoms similar to ones you described. I am quitting this horrible drug today. I learned about and purchased Celery Seed extract and PpeptACE supplements and if they keep my bp to let's say 145/90 that will be good enough for me. Other than bp I am a healthy, athletic, doing sports 67 years old recently learning kitesurfing. There is also Blood Pressure Formulation Combo by BELL which I may incorporate in my plan. Hopefully it will work. Your post and the whole discussion was extremely helpful to me. Thank you.