I have stoped my Amlodipine, because of side effects, however, the withdrawal side effects have been bad for a few days. I have been a bit lightheaded and have had shaking legs and a faster than normal heart rate, so I wanted to ask the GP if these were normal, when you came off Amlodipine and how long they would last. He said Amlodipine was the better tolerated blood pressure tablet and I don’t think he believed it was that causing my lightheadedness etc, as he was discussing other things it could be. I know it was the Amlodipine, I’ve never had this trouble before I was on these tablets. I’m not as bad this afternoon, it’s now over 3 days since I last had tablet. I was only put on Amlodipine, because my blood pressure soared to over 180, when I tried to come off the Sotalol and when they reinstated the Sotalol, the Amlodipine was then causing my BP to go too low, thus causing the lightheadedness. The GP then surprised me by saying they like my age group, I assume he means the over 70’s, to have a systolic blood pressure in the mid 30’s and he thought I ought to reduce my Sotalol so my BP would rise a bit, I thought my BP was fine,He said they have to balance falls, in my age group, with the risk of strokes and heart attacks, so feels that over 134 systolic is better if you’re over 70. This is news to me, never heard of this before. He obviously hadn’t read my notes properly or he would have seen it was stopping the Sotalol that caused me the problems in the first place. I always thought 120/ 80 was the best blood pressure to have. I just felt like he was talking to me as though I was a doddery old lady, instead of a quite young 73 year old, who has an active social life and exercises several times a week. I told him I was staying on Sotalol and never ever want that awful Amlodipine again.!!!
Stopped Amlodipine: I have stoped my... - Atrial Fibrillati...
Stopped Amlodipine
My lovely lady GP said exactly the same thing to me, indeed she was happy for my bp to go even higher! I was prescribed Candesartan during a very stressful period which was good until the stress went after which I began to have blurred vision and light headedness and the odd spell when I nearly passed out. So I reduced then stopped the Candesartan. I am now a doddery 80 year old but she said that a while ago!
That might explain my Dr reducing my repeat candesartan with no discussion and my bp being 140. I thought I had misheard that result. Now at home my bp hops around from 119 to 150+.... and I'm getting closer to that eighty.
👍
Thanks. I don’t need to worry if my systolic BP is in the 130 range now.
Hiya Sixtychick,
I think your GP needs to stand in front of a mirror and take a good look at himself. How Ageist can one get ? I've had a similar experience with an NHS Hospital Trust. I soon sorted them out.
My understanding is that 120/80 is an ideal BP for someone in their 20's or 30's not for someone your age or mine ( I'm 80). My best average BP at moment helped by medication is around 132/75 with a HR on average of around 78. I'm going on 6 ft. and weigh in at around 13 and half stone - and proud of my unhealthy lifestyle 😀
I'm on a range of medication but in respect of BP I'm on Ramipril, Felodopine and Sotalol. My Sotalol dose is 40mg in the morning and 40 mg at night. I have been on one beta blocker or another since I was first diagnosed with AF back in January 2010. I started with Bisoprolol, then on to Nebivalol and now Sotalol. No worries, no side effects - good, bad or indifferent.
I do have to say though, in support of you, my GP once prescribed me pain relief medication the first was a disaster - Amtriptyline, so then she put me on Gabapentin and that was the same side effect - diahorrea. I told her (my GP) in no uncertain terms I was coming off them and do not prescribe them again - I told her I'd go back to the old reliable CoCodomol 30/500. Sorted !
TBH, if my BP were as low as 120/80 I know I'd be wobbling all over the place and wouldn't dare drive my car.
Some times ya just gotta kick ass 😂 Well done you.
John
Thanks for your reply. My Sotalol is also 40 mg. I take Atorvastatin and Edoxaban too. I am only 5ft tall and weigh 8st12lbs, so I always ask for a lower dose of medication if possible.
Everything is a balance once you have to take medication. I've recently added amlodipine to my bundle of drugs after a good chat with the pharmacist at my GP surgery. I knew that it could cause swelling of the legs/feet and it did but when I checked my BP over a number of days it was in the 120s/70s so I cut my dose in half as I knew the target was mid 130s/ upper 70s. On the half dose I don't have any swelling and my BP (having done a 4 day reading) is fine. I'm 76. I now don't have any side effects and feel pretty well. I've had excellent treatment, found doctors and pharmacists have listened to me and been really helpful, fwiw, when my BP was in the 120's I felt well and the last reading I took for my 4 day was 109/62!
Obviously you’re ok on Amlodipine. 109/62 is a low BP. I wish I didn’t have to take any medication, but needs must.!!
It was abnormally low for me but I still felt OK. I think BP can change a lot over the day especially when you are taking medication. It's back to mid 130's/ 70s now and no, I'm not OK on the 5mg dose I was prescribed as my legs/feet were swollen and I struggled to get my shoe's on but by halving it I seem to have a good enough outcome without the unpleasant side effects.
Mine hovers around this and I don't feel any side effects or wobbles, in fact it's sometimes even lower
I suppose if your body is used to your blood pressure being low, it’s no problem.
I'd be tempted to firmly request to see another GP at your Practice for a second opinion because you are still getting symptoms and are finding dealing with the other GP hard to follow and you aren't happy with the speed that you are being told to try out stopping and changing medications with no real advice about how to cope with withdrawal symptoms.It is possible that you have withdrawal, sadly it can be very confusing in the first few days that you stop or taper a medication as often the withdrawal symptoms are identical to the side effects you wanted to get rid of.
It's not surprising your body is , at first , being asked to overwork processing a medication and trying to cope with side effects, but then that medication suddenly stops and the body has to cope with the confusion of coping or changing how it behaves without the medication.
That's why , unless you have an allergy or significant intolerance to a medication , it's often better to taper of it over a week or two rather than just going " cold Turkey" if you've taken it for more than a month to reduce this rebound withdrawal.
Hopefully, your symptoms will continue to improve. Depending on the medication and it's half life, and your overall health , symptoms of withdrawal can be intense in the first week , but can continue mildly or occasionally for a few months as it entirely leaves your system and your body learns to adjust.
Just as side effects can be more significant when you begin a new medication but become milder or go altogether once you have been on it for a few months.
Thanks. Good advice, I did cut the tablets in half for a few days and still felt lightheaded. I stopped them on Thursday and now feel much better than I did. It’s supposed to take 10 days for it to leave your body. I hope I don’t have to take any BP tablets again if they make you feel like that. I hated the Amlodipine. I started them end of October and felt worse as time went on.
so your blood pressure rise was a side effect of stopping dilator rather than true hypertension, so he gives you another drug to stop the side effects which then causes first side effects then withdrawal effects . Why am I not surprised .
Last time I was in hospital with an AF in September they gave me Diltiziem to try and slow the rate ( I can’t and won’t take beta blockers ). When I went back into NSR and went into the bathroom to get dressed I nearly blacked out. I don’t mean felt a bit faint, everything pixelated and I just made the few feet back to the bed . The staff came in took my BP trying to stand and it was 80/40 . I normally have low BP, so the med had lowered it more. I had to wait most of the day to recover sufficiently to leave .
Still felt like I was walking on rubber legs, given that I always feel weak and rubbish after a 24 hour AF and had that on top
I have a friend who was put on amlodopine following a recent heart attack , about 7 months , and she is so light headed she is holding on to the furniture walking around the house. They are reducing her bisoprolol so we will see how that goes
So yes in your case it seems highly likely the drug caused your symptoms and withdrawal symptoms . I do hope you feel better soon
Gosh that was a very low BP no wonder you felt so bad. . I had an ablation in September 2023 and when I spoke to the EP who did it, for my last follow -up appointment, earlier this year, he said to come off the Sotalol heart drug and, as they lower BP, I suppose it’s not surprising my BP went up so high. I had managed to get to 20mg from 80mg, slowly, so thought I’d be ok. It looks like I’ll not be able to stop them now. I am back up to 40 mg. Not too high a dose though and BP is ok. They’ve kept your friend on Amlodipine then, even though it makes her feel like that.? I wonder if all BP medication makes you feel like that. Hope I don’t have to take any again.Hope you’re doing ok. I always had to go to A&E with my AFib, as it made my BP and heart rate soar, but they always gave me treatment which stopped it.This is the first time I can remember having effects from medication, although I did have a bit if dizziness from Sotalol the first time they gave me it in hospital, but they’d given me too high a dose and I was ok when they lowered it.
Am not sure it’s one medication or the other that makes people feel like that but what the balance does to your blood pressure. My friend is experiencing a lot of fatigue and symptoms you associate with beta blockers so I think that is why they are trying to reduce that first . I understand why you are reluctant to come off the Solatol . Coming off Bisoprolol was horrendous for me.
Yes am ok currently thanks, am ok between episodes and only on Edoxaban
My wait for the initial clinic appointment for ablation is getting close to the hospital being in breach, so I rang up the private hospital( thought the nhs hospital might try and fob me off onto someone else to avoid breach) and have a private appointment with him next week so at least that’s the first hurdle . Stay well !
Thanks. Are you having the new pulse field ablation? Sounds a much better procedure and more successful at keeping AFib away. I had a 16 month wait for minr. Good luck.
I think they are still doing RF there but will know more when I have the conversation . I have had a 4 month wait for a clinic appointment with this guy, now going privately for that. Gather procedure wait about 18 months and I will keep getting triaged down the list because my burden is low in terms of frequency, but not when it happens for a horrible 24 hours where I always end up in hospital . Will keep you posted
Where are you having it done? I had mine done at Glenfield hospital in Leicester. I believe they’ve started doing the Pulse field one there, so if I had to have it done again, I would hope I’d get that one. Hopefully I won’t need it 🤞🤞, but who knows.
Liverpool Heart and Chest . Bug who knows ! The length of time I will have to wait they may well be doing it by then ! 🤣 No, very much hopefully you won’t need another one , everything crossed for you x
Fingers crossed for you as well .Hope your ablation goes well and the nasty AFib never comes back.
sorry to hear about this. I’ve been on Amlodopine (and ramipril) for many years with zero side effects. Although your post does make me wonder, as it never brought my BP much below 130/75.
When I got AFIB however, I was put on Bisoprolol which took my BP much lower and I was constantly dizzy and fatigued. Luckily I had private medical cover through work and my cardiologist basically overruled the NHS Doctor and got it swapped for Adizem. Never looked back. But again, maybe because BP is about 130/75.
Definitely insist on a second opinion. Too many people (of all ages) are suffering because the meds aren’t right for them. I’m early fifties and I frequently felt the NHS were being quite patronising to me, so it may not be straight ageism, just a general lack of time and empathy.
Thanks. You’re lucky you don’t feel like I did on Amlodipine. I thought Ramipril is also a BP medication, so why do you have to take 2 of them. ? I’d never be able to tolerate that.
I know the Docs say you can just stop taking a med but really the Amlodipine should have been tapered off gradually. So you are unfortunately experiencing withdrawal effects. If you look up the instructions for Amlodipine it actually says do not stop taking suddenly - but Docs don'y seem to read up on these meds properly. It's going to take a while for the withdrawal to fade and your BP may go up a bit in response but you know what it is. It took me over 2 months to get off a betablocker I was taking and even doing it gradually had some nasty withdrawal effects, it was horrendous - and my Doc had said just stop it which I found out could have been dangerous so thankfully I hadn't listened to him! As for the BP as we age BP can drop too low causing falls especially if BP drops after eating. I know my Docs are happy if its in the 140-50's with me.
thanks Sylviep, I didn’t realise that. I did take 1/2 tablet for a few days, but have now stopped them and today I feel a lot better. The GP said Amlodipine was the better of the BP medications, so I dread to think what the others are like. I hated the effects of Amlodipine. Just taken my BP and it’s 128/67.
I think Amlodipine is awful poison - I'm taking it at the mo can't wait to get off it. Hope you continue to feel better.
How does it make you feel?
It took a while but have now adapted to it. Apart from water retention it's better than other things I've tried. After 2 years on it I still get lightheadedness tho. Am about to try Magnesium Taurate on advice from my herbalist - she has seen a lot of sucess with lowering BP from that.
It’s the lightheadedness I can’t tolerate. If I stay on the Sotalol, I should be ok as they lower blood pressure. I wish I’d never tried to come off them now. If the EP hadn’t said to come off them, I wouldn’t have done, then my BP wouldn’t have gone that high, even though I came off them very slowly.I never expected to have a hypertensive crisis, as it is called.
I'm 76, had heart attack 6 years ago. I just did a week of h ome readings for my G P because I suspected my BP had risen. IT averaged out at 127/69. My GP was delighted.
I was surprised when the GP said they like older peoples blood pressure to be around 134 systolic. I always thought it should be lower than that.
Well mine certainly doesn't worry if mine gets up there.
hahaha. You are old enough that you should remember 120/80 is only the most recent normal. It used to be 140/90 represented Normal Blood Pressure, but the drug companies needed to sell more pills. It’s about money - not your health.
Prescribed Amlodipine
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Amlodipine and Flecainide
