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Rising blood pressure when lying down

Posted , 10 users are following.

terry1541
terry1541

I am 75 and have always had a higher BP during the night or while lying down dozing during the day. I have been taking Felodipine 2.5mg for some 10 or more years which controls my daytime BP to around140/80. On checking it recently at 3/4 am I am getting 180/115 resulting in me consulting my doctor.. 

My GP has upped the Felodipine to 100mg which immediately broght the daytime figures down to 110/63 and the nightime ones around 30 points higher at 140/93. The problem is I feel faint during the day and the side effect of fatigue is now difficult to live with. Any ideas as to an alternative drug or ways of living with this condition.

0 likes, 29 replies

29 Replies

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  • terry1541
    terry1541

    Posted

    I took 2 x 2.5 mg tabs last night and my 3am reading was good at 156/80 but on waking at 6am it was 172/104 but this I feel is not too bad, so will see how I get on with 5mg at night until I run out of the old pack.
    • g.90572
      g.90572 terry1541

      Posted

      If you run out maybe your 10 mg tablets are breakable. Put in a plastic baggie and break
  • terry1541
    terry1541

    Posted

    By the way has anyone heard of or tried newish drug called Monoxidine, a friend in Australia has started it with good results, she has similar resistant hypertension to mine. My GP had never heard of it and wasn't prepared to look into it.

    • lily65668
      lily65668 terry1541

      Posted

      I just checked it out. It's actually called moxonidine (brand name Physiotens). I took a quick glance at a couple of descriptions. Apparently it's a whole new generation, unrelated to beta-blockers, CCBs, ACE inhibitors etc. It appears it aids sodium excretion - which would be a plus for some types of hypertension - and also favourably impacts insulin resistance syndrome as a useful spin-off.

      It seems to come with its own crop of side-effects, albeit not the same ones as the CCB group. Maybe you can persuade your doctor to try you on it?

  • g.90572
    g.90572 terry1541

    Posted

    Since you can't split your 10 mg pills maybe you'll want to try three of the 2.5 pills before they run out

  • GC007
    GC007 terry1541

    Posted

    Someone close to me has a similar experience. Did you ever get a result? Please let me know. I would appreicate it. Thanks.

    • derek76
      derek76 GC007

      Posted

      If you are in hospital it is usually taken when you are lying down.
    • terry1541
      terry1541 GC007

      Posted

      It's ongoing GC007 I have an appointment on 27th December, to have a a 24 hour BP monitor (ABPM) fitted to monitor what happens during sleep. When I check it myself at 3 or 4am it's often high, but it also rises if I simply doze during the day. Is that the same experience the person close to you is experiencing? I will report back here after the ABPM results anyway.

    • derek76
      derek76 terry1541

      Posted

      During the night it will take your BP once an hour.
    • josh38620
      josh38620 terry1541

      Posted

      Same happens to me with loss of sleep seeing a specialist soon what did u find out if u don't mind me asking

    • terry1541
      terry1541 josh38620

      Posted

      Sorry for the delay in replying Josh, the ABPM monitor gave a mean average reading of  around150/90, which after discussing it with my GP who could only offer more pills, decided to accept as my normal. I have been reading a lot of stuff on the internet recently about the side effects of Hypertension drugs, and the risks involved. I have come to the conclusion that at 77 it's too much to expect an ideal BP, and being fed up with the side effects of the prescribed drugs I take, I have halved my dose to 5 mg Felodopine and 200 mcg Moxonidine.

      The result so far after some 10 days has been a high on waking of  around 170/115 which falls to 140/75 after 20 minutes, and surprisingly stays roughly at that level all day every day. I have morning headaches when waking and feel like I have a hangover, but it seems a fair trade off for the improvement in energy and general zest for life which has returned to me. :-)

      I will keep you updated on how I progress with this regime. 

  • rogerinrance
    rogerinrance terry1541

    Posted

    This has just started on me, ia ma now on Ramapril stated at 2.5 now on 2.5 AM and PM after about 3 days or so awoke after about 2 hours thumping in my ear BP about 180 over 100 or more. Now sleeping in a chair. I am seeing BP specialist on Jan 11 have seen the heart doctor, no problems. After having the problem laying down, sit up deep breathing exercise BP down to about 120/70. This is causing stress which puts up BP, I am 72 diabetic. The doctor thinks that when i lay down something is presurising a blood vessel, which would make sense as I have had funny things happen over BP with my insulin and Aerius stopped it (Desloratidine) That had to be increased to 2 times a day some weeks ago as I was getting the pains again on my left side. So it may be that something is causing an obstruction. So we may see on Jan 11 /2018.
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