Recently I had a BP check with my private endo who I see for hypothyroidism. It was OK. Classed as high normal I think 130/80. I was taking a low dose of beta blocker and a low dose of diuretic at the time.
I then had a bad fall, tripped over something someone put down in my way. I didn't hit my head but came close to planting my face onto the concrete car park surface. I hurt various bits of me. A week later I blew my nose hard one morning and it poured with blood. Being on Apixaban it would not stop. It was not in the forward part of the nose, so pinching didn't do a thing except back the blood up and causing clots and fresh blood to go down my throat. I was in a mess mentally and physically. No ambulance available for over 2 hours so we had to drive ourselves to A&E. Long story short I ended up with 2 nasal balloons making it impossible to breathe and a heck of a lot of stress. I was in hospital for 2 days and nights. Sent home with no obvious cause. 2 days later it happened again. Back through the A&E system of 2 hospitals to get to the place I needed to be. Up all night, bleeding out of my tear duct at one point because the nasal balloon was forced in badly. 3 days and nights in hospital this time and told my BP was too high when I was admitted both times and it wasn't coming down fast enough for them. They seemed to overlook the massive and pretty terrifying state I had been in and then stuck in hospital!
They put me on Amlodopine. I've been on it for 2 weeks. Last week my GP doubled my beta blocker because he wants my HR lower. I too would like that, so I agreed. But I have had a horrible time of things since I got home, culminating in today when I felt I was going to pass out this morning and then had a panic attack on top of it resulting in me having raging anxiety all day and spending most of it in bed feeling ill.
I think the hospital over reacted to the BP. It was high for a reason. My home BP monitor is not showing it high now unless the anxiety kicks in. I don't think I had a nosebleed because of high blood pressure, but possibly as a result of the heavy fall and the hard nose blowing I did. And suddenly I'm on 3 meds that will lower BP.
Has anyone else had anxiety from Amlodopine or from being put on too much BP medication? I'm going to try to see a GP again soon. But I'm not taking the Amlodopine tomorrow. I'll stick with the higher beta blocker because that is calming the heart rate down a bit.
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FancyPants54
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Sorry you had such a torrid time of it. First Amlodipine - which is a calcium channel blocker so works in a completely different way to Bisoprolol which is a Beta Blocker so designed to block adrenaline so is often also given to people who are very anxious. Amlodipine doesn’t have anxiety listed as an affect and I think it unlikely but Bisoprolol because of the way it works may very well be the culprit, especially the increase in dose as anything that cures has the capacity to also cause but the most likely cause of your increased anxiety is the trauma you have just endured so it may take some time for you to regain your centre or locus of sense of control.
I think not being able to breath is very, very scary and it has really unsettled your whole system so you will have to relearn that everything is now OK, you can breath and keep telling yourself that although you had a very upsetting time you have now recovered and will be ok - self talk really does help.
I think it natural for your anxiety to rise considering all you have been through and of course your BP will rise as a response but if you are finding your meds are causing you symptoms then you should go straight back to your GP and ask for a review as BP & HR dropping low and causing symptoms such as dizziness should not be ignored.
If you have recorded your BP daily x 3 time - morning, afternoon, evening for a week and it is consistent then this should help your GP to make a true assessment rather than knee jerk reaction.
You don’t say what dosage of Bisoprolol was doubled? 1.25 to 2.5? I don’t know much about drugs as I don’t take them but when I did I found I just couldn’t live with the affects but my BP was always very low and I do get that high BP should be controlled however, my understanding is that 2 low doses of 2 different drugs tends to be more effective with fewer symptoms than increasing the dosage of one. Does your GP know the hospital prescribed Amlodipine? Don’t assume because in my experience doctors don’t always read the notes or may not even have had the report back from the hospital.
In your shoes I would ask that you could reduce your Bisoprolol gradually back down to your original dose, if you tolerated that well, and see how you go on that.
My beta blocker is Nebivolol and was doubled from 1.25 a week ago. Although the combination of that action and the Amlodopine (GP does know about that) are in my view causing the anxiety, I think it's the Amlodopine and not the BB. Because anxiety is listed as a rare side effect for Amlodopine, and a beta blocker is a calming medication. People take small amounts of BBs to do exams or perform so that they don't suffer nerves. My friend was married to the leader of a string quartet and he took a small amount of a BB before each performance to keep his hands from shaking. It was normal in their world.
I actually don't want to reduce the BB because a week on I am seeing a nice reduction in my HR. My HR has been left running high 90's into low 100's for years. It's nice to suddenly have a resting rate in the 70's. I want to see how much more help that might be.
Amlodopine is well known for causing swollen ankles. Mine lower legs and feet are full of fluid for some unknown reason. Not too bad in the morning but bad at night and that makes the peripheral neuropathy in my feet so much more painful. The Amlodopine was given in hospital despite me pointing this issue out and has made it worse. My ankles feel solid at night now and the pain has stopped me getting to sleep for a lot longer. So even if I do need more BP support after we have reassessed with the extra BB and a bit of time, I don't think it can be a CCB until we find out what's wrong with my legs. I do have a spinal scan appointment just before Christmas, which is something I want to get done to see if my feet and leg problem is a spinal problem.
None of the doctors have bothered with me since 2019. And I just battled on trying to fix things myself. But my foot problem has stopped me walking and the high heart rate has stopped me exercising. If I could regain those abilities my BP would be better.
Thank you so much. You have helped to reassure me because I felt listened too. Even if I'm doing the exact opposite of what you suggested. It feels right to bring the HR down. And if my BP was classed as High Normal at my last relaxed check, the extra BB might be all I need to push it down into Normal.
My BP is always 130/140 over 70/80 when I get it checked twice a year at the GPs. He always says perfect and has never suggested a medication. Nor has my cardiologist. I don't know if this is because they are mavericks who reject the current orthodoxy that BP should be 120/ 80 or below, or if this orthodoxy is rejected in France generally. If the leg swelling has only come on since you have been taking the Amlodopine and you did not have high blood pressure before your nose bleeds I would be inclined to stop taking it while continuing to monitor your BP at home. It is normal that your blood pressure would rise with the stress of such a horrible experience. I have had a high reading after a stressful drive through thick fog to my GP appointment. He let me rest on the examining table for5 mins then took it again and it had come down to my normal level. Before my one and only covid jab it was 175/ 90 I was so agitated about getting the jab.
I have some lower leg/ankle/feet swelling anyway, but the drug made it worse very quickly. It was so painful in bed that I could not get to sleep. Slept well last night with just the normal level of swelling.
They were worried that my BP didn't come down in hospital I think. Well, it did but not enough. But I was stressed the whole time I was there. Sadly I'm still pretty stressed now. Suffering a lot of anxiety that won't leave me alone.
Thanks for your comment. I agree with you. I think they are over doing it.
Your experience sounds enough to raise anxiety and BP by itself! But anxiety is listed among a list of uncommon side effects to Amlodipine on the BNF section of the NICE website (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence). If you Google for amlodipine, side effects and NICE, you should be able to find the page on the drug, then scroll down beyond the side effects for all calcium channel blockers to those specific to Amlodipine.
Thank you. I found that yesterday. Which helped me to make the decision to stop taking it.
I just don't think I had a BP problem before all this. I think it was the stress that caused it. It was also high when I visited the GP last Tuesday because I was stressed about everything anyway and I was stressed about the snow that had arrived overnight and I hate the battery operated noisy and painful BP machines they use. So no wonder. He told me he thought it was trauma causing the issue and it would take time to resolve. But in the course of the week since then the stress and anxiety just got worse and worse.
I really feel for you, having experienced a nose bleed that put me in hospital with one of those bungs up my nose. I can't imagine how awful it must have been for you with a bung up each nostril!
With my nose pouring with blood I felt totally vulnerable and out of control of my body, were you the same. I sat with a kidney dish under my nose and I filled one after the other. They tried to cauterise it but it did nothing. When it wouldn't stop bleeding in hospital, about 4 hrs after it had started, I began to feel faint. If someone had given me a gun at this stage I think I would have shot myself. I can imagine how out of control you must have felt and my heart goes out to you. Next day my face on the side of the bung was swollen and I looked like Quasimodo, was yours swollen each side with the bungs inserted? I was admitted to a ward for the night and then transferred to another where I sat and cried all morning. That's not me at all I gave birth to two children without a murmur. The ward nurse told me she had seen tough men cry with the same thing.
The ward nurse wouldn't let me take my beta blocker as the Dr hadn't said I could. If my nose ever bleeds again I will take one here at home. I'm sure with anxiety my blood pressure would be sky high.
I know that your bleed may have been due to your fall, but some things I learnt were to be gentle when washing around my nose area, also to never blow it. I've had very slight nose bleeds since, but nothing major and nothing at all in the last year.
I hate to think of the trauma you went through with two bungs, it sounds like hell on earth to me. So sorry for you.
The link to my post below may have some tips from other members that may relate to you.
Oh gosh Jeannie, you have hit all the nails on the head here! The first time, when they inserted the 2 bungs, a spare A&E doctor came to hold my hand and talk to me because she said "this isn't very nice". And as much as they could be gentle they were. It was a most horrible experience. I used to swim a lot but could never use a nose clip for fear of not being able to breath. I always controlled my nose under water by slowly expelling air. But they didn't distort my face. However the second time was only 1 bung, but shoved in rapidly, with no care to being gentle and no one to hold my hand. It was so painful and remained that way. Next morning there was a big bulge of swelling on that side and I could barely hold my eye open. It had distorted my tear duct (blood came out of it at one point, thank god someone had told me that was possible as I was sat on my own in the second A&E at the time) and my eye was wet and not able to focus properly.
It was a horrible experience but I dare not cry at all because I was too scared of what would happen to all the snot that crying generates!
I think the worst of it was coming home and taking a day to rest quietly and then starting to feel much better only to have it go again. That really did my head in. The second time was altogether more traumatic and difficult to deal with and has left me with a lot of fear.
I daren't do loads of things right now because they were adamant I should not bend over, or lift weight, or blow my nose or eat or drink hot food, non hot showers. The GP said the cells would all have turned over and repaired by now and I'm OK to resume life. But I'm still scared of it. My life saver has been a bottle of Sterimar Breathe Easy natural micro-defused sea water. They gave it to me second time in hospital. It's used to keep the nose clean and moisturised and to soften any crusty bits. It's wonderful. It's over the counter so I will never not be without a bottle of it now.
How do you deal with not blowing your nose Jean? I managed to sort of snuffle some blockage out yesterday by irrigating my nose with this water quite a few times until the blockage sort of slithered out with my snuffles. I can't imagine how awful a cold would be without being able to blow.
Only just read this reply. Disgusting as it sounds I cough up phlegm when I need to, don't let it come via my nose. A few years ago I had both Pneumonia and Covid and spent some days in a Covid ward. My nose didn't bleed at all, but then I'm far too afraid to ever blow it again.
Just read your linked story! Yes, even my teeth ached. And when they removed the second balloon, they inserted a soft dissolving pack instead. They sent me home with that in and it dissolved and bunged me up just as much, over days. But the afternoon the put that in they also tied a sort of bandage of wadding around my head and under my nose to catch drips overnight.
First thing I did with that wadding? Got carrot and coriander soup on it! I could not work out where my spoon was going as the wadding was in the way of my view and very close to my lip. By next morning I had that stinky thing in the bin before the doctor came to check. Yuck!
They have said if it happens again I'm to avoid the local A&E and get straight down to Oxford hospital if possible because that's were ENT lives and it would cut out a lot of waiting. But that's a long way to bleed into a mixing bowl or into flannels and towels. At least 1.5hrs. But now we know not to wait, just to get on with it. They also said they would want to sedate me and have a thorough look inside my nasal cavities in the head in theatre to try to discover the cause.
It sounds like you've been given some good advice. Fingers crossed that you don't have any more bleeds.
Nosebleeds that don't stop of their own accord are hateful and for me terrifying, do you agree?
I feel so sorry for all you went through. I've had several operations but never felt so terrified as I did with the nose bleed. To have blood coming from both nostrils, like you did, doesn't bear thinking about.
Be careful, don't blow your nose and be gentle around your nose when washing your face.
My neighbour called an ambulance for me as she was shocked by the blood I was losing. Paramedics tried to stop the bleed but it was too high in my nose. I'd rather have a minor operation, like when I had my gallbladder removed, than a nose that pours with blood and won't stop.
Please god, never let it happen to either of us again.
It happened to me for a third time in 3 weeks on Friday. Back to Oxford. Another night in hospital. More packing. Sent home with dissolving packing which is now smelling inside my nose and bunging me up horribly as it slowly slithers forwards.
No further progress. Just told to wait now until my clinic appointment on 9th December to see if they can come up with a plan. This time they packed in the dressing soaked in adrenaline to shrink the vessels (and speed up my already fast heart) and took me off Apixaban and put me on Tranexamic Acid to aid clotting. All the while knowing I have permanent AF.
I feel very miserable. Just waiting for the next time and the whole awful mess to start again.
You poor thing. When I was discharged from hospital I asked the consultant if it was likely to happen again and he said it was unlikely. Feel so sorry for you, it's just hateful. I guess they will try and cauterise your nose when it's not bleeding, they tried that with me but at the time my nose was bleeding too much. The consultant told me they do it with chemicals now and not heat.
They can't cauterise this because it's coming from too far back. If they do anything I think it will be to clip an artery at the back of the nose to cut 90% if the blood supply off from the left side. They have already looked twice for places to cauterise.
It's horrible. I can't do anything. Told to rest and not bend, lift, strain, be in a dry or dusty environment. I dare not go out alone now. My husband can't have a drink in the evening in case we have to drive off again. I can't help my mum. I can't get Christmas sorted out and the accountants are pushing at me for end of year business accounts and my personal tax accounts. I have an ongoing battle trying to rescue some funds that a customer paid to the wrong account and has now vanished into the ether of a payment platform. I am sick of everything today.
What an awful time for you. Nose bleeds are awful to have to deal with. I had a spate of them for a few weeks before l was diagnosed with AF. Looking back l definitely had AF when the bleeding occurred, but was fortunate not to be on an anticoagulant. My bleeds were happening at the slightest thing, even just turning over in bed. My GP seemed to make light of it, as if it was normal. I ended up at the ENT dept. at the local hospital who cauterised my nose. After that l have had no bleeds only a slight smear. I never blow my nose hard or touch my nose when washing, just a gentle pat. They really frightened me at the time and l have never forgotten the horror. I am surprised they haven’t referred you to ENT. If it happens again I would ask to be cauterised. It only takes a minute and is painless.
I was seen in an ENT ward both times. But there was nothing they could see to cauterise. They even had a camera right up over the top of my nose into the nasal cavities and couldn’t see anything to cauterise. I think that’s why I am left with fear. They didn’t see anything to “fix”.
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