Advice needed

[Gillybabe48]

My son has high blood pressure and high chlolesterol and the doctor has put him on amplodipine 5mg. Overall he seems okay and only been taking it three days. His knee has swollen, should he tell doctor. He is also taking paroxetine antedepressants. Also he has fatty liver. Cannot understand why this has happened he walks a great deal Eleven mile walks etc. He is now following a low fat diet. Fresh veggies and replacing meat with fish and chicken. He has never been one for desserts. Any advice helpful. He is 46 and his Dad died at 50 with pancreatic cancer and then a heart attack but I think the heart attack was that his body just had enough with chemo etc.

[stevejb1810]

Hi. The swelling maybe water retention (a common side effect of blood pressure meds) or it might just be the body adjusting to the new regime. If the problem persists or gets worse, you should definitely get your son to see his GP

[Gillybabe48 in reply to stevejb1810]

Thank you so much for your advice.

[stevejb1810]

I should add that the changes in diet are a good thing, but the improvements in health will take time to be realised. Stick with it 😃

[Gillybabe48 in reply to stevejb1810]

Thank you Steve.

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

Amlodipine is what is known as a calcium channel inhibitor (CCI). These are well known for causing oedema although this usually occurs around the ankles. It is worth checking with his GP.

You mentioned high cholesterol. Is he on a statin? This seems particularly relevant as he has a fatty liver. A friend has this caused by many years of heavy social drinking. A fatty liver causes an increased risk of Type II diabetes and heart disease. Reducing weight often improves this but sometimes it has to be down to the low end of normal rather than the high end. As said lifestyle changes improve things but may take a while to work through. But saying that it can take 4 - 6 weeks to see the effect of statins.

[Gillybabe48]

No they are only tackling blood pressure at the moment. He is having an ECG and test on his kidneys as they found something in his urine test. He has been through so much. A head injury as a teenager which brought on keratoconus and then two corneal transplants. The head injury left him with OCD. And now blood pressure. The tablet seems to be working quite quickly and knee problem only side effect. In fact he said he felt quite chilled on them compared to before.

[Dockdog]

The fatty liver issue can be attributed to many things other than diet, alcohol etc. Years back I had this diagnosis with higher than normal blood pressure an easy box tick for the medics to make; however the blood pressure was caused by something rare in the Western World and it caused my to get what is described as "fatty" liver. In fact it was causing scarring on the liver and can be described as Cirhosis ( again not caused by alcohol). Further I had developed some inflammation of the pancreas, each symptom a knock on effect of the real and hidden cause of the problem. Thankfully that went away although I am monitored every 6 months as with my liver. I also had tremendous fluid build up "Ascites" in the body and legs which was controlled by foresimide for several years and pleural effusion. Finally the real diagnosis of Constrictive Pericarditis meant some serious surgery and grateful to say a relief of nearly all the other box tickable conditions. Sometimes the real cause needs patient and long term persistance by the sufferer with the GP and specialists. I do hope you get a better picture of what is going on and a good result accordingly. No more out of breath walks and feeling too unwell to do much!

[Gillybabe48]

That is the strange thing my son has been doing marathons with no problems.