Still searching....

Absolutely, with the diuretic. None of the drugs did a thing for me, either, until I added a diuretic.

In the US it is common to standard to use several at once, one ACE or ARB, plus a diuretic, plus a beta blocker, and plus a calcium channel blocker - though I'd skip that last.

I am not in any way suggesting that you stop medication.

However, I have been in a similar position like yourself and managed to take back control of my life. SINCE two years i have not taken a single pill, obviously, it was the Dr that asked me to stop taking medication. I TOTALLY stopped salk, started running, walking and cycling. I CHANGED my food entirely, I EAT only health foods - vegetables, nuts. my BP is on average 118/82.

when you buy medication, I SUGGEST you get the original brand; the generic ones are a killer. At the time, AMIAS the original brand worked for me. THE only issue, I HAD too may sex.

Hi I have had very similar things happen to me on bp drugs. I have tried no end of different drugs and as soon as I up the dose I get the terrible side effects which totally put me off taking them. Doctors didnt want to believe me and kept saying I couldnt be reactive to so many.I eventually managed to persuade one of my drs at my surgery to let me try low doses of different drugs that react well together to see if I could get some sort of bp lowering effect but without the side effects. I am now on 3 different ones but low copable dosages and it seems to be working my bp isnt as low as it should be but it has lowered and I am not having to cope with side effects. I only wish drs would listen to patients and realise that it is not all in our mind, I was even accused of going home and reading all the side effects of every drug then imagining I had them. It did get me down but now I am feeling more positive. Good luck and persevere it does work in the end.

Many thanks for your replies its reassuring to know I'm not the only one! Interesting to hear about the different brands the one I'm currently using is Crescent. I will contact my GP again tomorrow as know I cant carry on like this the very thought of increasing the dose fills me with panic as the side effects are bad enough on the lowest dose!. Am hoping I can go back to Ramipril 2.5 with a diuretic and of course keep my salt levels low combined with more exercise as ideally would prefer to have no medication at all as it really made a difference when I took nothing for a month at the beginning of the year.

1. Ramipril is an ACE antagonist. Lots of folks are allergic to it; cough is the classic symptom of allergy.

2. Have you tried Benicar (I forget the generic name)? Benicar is an ARB. My experience was that different ARBs work for different periods of time.

3. Have you tried a combination of meds, e.g. amlodipine PLUS benicar or diuretic?

4. You should probably be taking your meds when you go to sleep, since BP rises shortly after you get up.