How does Ramipril ( for hypertension) affect Asthma?

My asthma has been getting worse and worse - twice on steroids since December -My doc does not seem to know what he is doing - he said there was no need to send me to a specialist as ""they wouldn't know more than him""!!! Last week he said my attacks were probably due to the medication I was taking for High Blood Pressure. He took me off it for two weeks but I'm still having attacks - some quite bad ones too - not sure at what stage to go to casualty.

Does anyone know if this medication CAN affect asthma adversly - would like to have more information before I see him again this week.

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Ramipril

...is not supposed to affect asthma at all according to the BNF, although it fairly frequently causes chronic cough.

My grandma took it a while back and it definately made her asthma worse. I did some research then and there are a few case reports of ACE inhibitors making asthma worse, but it's pretty rare.

It took my grandma some time (a few weeks) to recover once she'd stopped it, but she and I are pretty convinced it was that, as she's normally pretty well controlled. She needed a course of steroids to settle it.

Hope this helps - I can give you references for some case reports if you want.

Emily H

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Thanks EmilyH I would like to see them - It would be good to compare and see if my asthma reacts in the same way. I HAVE had less coughing in general since I stopped taking the tablets but my attacks have got worse in their severity -Thanks

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If you PM me your e-mail address I'll send you copies of a couple of articles in the BMJ about asthma and ACE inhibitors; I would just give you the reference but you have to have a subscription to access them!

Emily H