Feeling ill every afternoon - medication side effects?

[OldHippy]

Well I'm stumped. I feel I've been getting worse recently, with massive dip in energy, slight nausea, and weird sensations around whole of body, usually in the afternoons. I take bisoprolol 2.5, amlodopine 5mg, ticagrelor 90mg, aspirin 75mg, lansoprazole 15mg in morning, and atorvastatin 80 mg plus ticagrelor 90mg at night.

It feels like a massive dip in blood sugar to me - but I'm not diabetic and if I do eat something it doesn't really change how I feel. My energy is so low I can barely walk sometimes. I broke my ankle earlier this year, and it's still very painful, and it seems to 'join up' with this awful sensation as if it's all one and the same. So strange. My BP has stabilised nicely tho diastolic is always a bit higher than it should be. I'm thinking of ditching an antihypertensive as BP as normal as I'll ever get it, and I've stopped working at the job that put me into hospital with stress in the first place.

Any ideas? I've also piled on the weight recently without changing eating habits, annoyingly.

[Baz51]

Hi there, have you spoken to GP re side effects from tablets, but be careful re stopping any, until you get advice, good luck

[Celtic]

A starting point might be to check all your medications with a good pharmacist for any contraindications, especially with any of those that have been added recently. Amlodipine can be a problem for many people - left me with permanent problems. Good luck.

[OldHippy in reply to Celtic]

That sounds terrible - what sort of problems? (if you don't mind saying)

[Celtic in reply to OldHippy]

My ankles and lower legs swelled from the treatment to the extent that the skin became very inflamed and red. I tried to persevere for 3 months just to prove to my consultant between appointments that the swelling on a previous few weeks’ trial on this medication had been very real! Wish I hadn’t as although the swelling subsided within days of stopping Amlodipine the second time, the ugly bright red skin remains where the blood vessels have been permanently damaged.

[OldHippy in reply to Celtic]

Thanks Celtic, sounds awful. I'm now wondering if my current ankle problem is down to amlodopine (I seem to have reached that age when the body starts to fall apart!). I broke my ankle some weeks back, and although I'm walking, the soft muscle damage just hasn't healed, and I'm getting all sorts of horrible pain and sensations, tho not much swelling.

[ARVCtoo in reply to OldHippy]

Sorry to jump in. Can't help with the rest of your problems, but as a plaster technician I would advise speaking to your orthopaedic Dr about your ankle. I don't know if they said though that although the bone heals in 6 to 8 weeks it can take months for all the soft tissues to settle down, up to a year to be 'right'. Hope that helps some. Might be worth getting your iron levels checked as I felt by afternoons like I was coming down with the flu everyday with aches and pains tiredness etc and it turns out my iron was non existant.

[OldHippy in reply to ARVCtoo]

Oh that's interesting, thank you.

[Suebedoo in reply to Celtic]

Hi Celtic - what are your permanent problems from amlodipine?

[Celtic in reply to Suebedoo]

Suebedoo, please see my earlier reply to OldHippy above.

[SarahJLD]

I swapped my bisoprolol to the evening recently because of similar symptoms. First few days I didn’t notice any change in how I felt but after about a week I found I could do things in the afternoon rather than slump/sleep in armchair

[OldHippy in reply to SarahJLD]

Thanks, I'll try that.

[starchild8862 in reply to SarahJLD]

Yes, takig it at night also helps sleep

[SmokeAKipper]

Print out side affects of all your medicines .. read them then book appointment with GP or cardiologist

[OldHippy in reply to SmokeAKipper]

Thanks SmokeAKipper, good advice.

[Heartattackvictim]

I tend to suffer angina in the afternoons (of in walking in the wind in particular) and have never suffered angina in the morning (10 months on from HA).

[As an aside I know there are useful threads about angina in this forum, so perhaps take a look there as it sounds as though you might be suffering that?]

I can even go running in the mornings. So my working hypothesis (FOR ME) is that I am at the point in time furthest from my morning meds. I don't mess with what I take or when - I'm just not qualified to do that. I did have a short meeting the pharmacist when collecting the meds after about 3 months. She had to fill out a firm from the surgery as to how I was getting with the meds. I mentioned loss of libido and she noted it down.

As I order my needs monthly via Patient Access I know I can leave a message for the Dr (and have done) before she signs off my next prescription. And she replied via Patient Access.

I hope you can work out, with the professionals, on a way forward/round your problem.

[OldHippy in reply to Heartattackvictim]

Thank you HAV for your reply. Yes, I do wonder about the timing of the meds. Another forum member said that swapping bisoprolol from am to pm was helpful, so I'll try that too. I'm speaking to my GP today as it happens ( a non-related heart issue thankfully!) so I'll see if she has time to go through the medications with me.

[StupidDrugs]

100% snap OldHippy! I had the exact same symptoms for a good length of time following my release from hospital, even down to feeling better when eating. I thought it was the Ramipril (which I had been newly prescribed after my MI) but after a discussion with her colleagues my doctor thought it was the Ticagrelor (also newly prescribed) and asked for advice from my cardiologist. The cardiologist said swap Ticagrelor for Clopidogrel and if that does not work I could stop taking Ramipril (I was beyond the heart repair/calming period by now).

Anyway, the switch to Clopidogrel was not positive (super rash/hives/itch) and had to go back to Ticagrelor and stopped the Ramipril. I don't have high blood pressure so stopping this did make me feel better (less dizzy spells) but I was still having the serious 'dip' problems in the afternoon. Obviously you can't stop the anti-platelet for at least a year so given I could not use Clopidogrel I had to put up with feeling terrible.

After turning up for another stent pre-op looking like death warmed-up, i.e. the words of the nurse I had built up a sarcastic relationship with over the previous year, he arranged some immediate tests and very kindly forced my cardiologist to find a gap to speak to me,

Cardiologist went through the results of my last two stents (videos etc) and said various reassuring things and arranged for me to have 24hr BP and Holter which eventually led to dropping my Bisoprolol (though it took an age to get the results and this advice). Recently losing the BB has improved several other issues but the afternoon dip had already started alleviating. I can't wait to get rid of the Ticagrelor for a variety of reasons (and I am contemplating binning my statin which has caused me serious joint problems) but, long story short, I think much of the afternoon dip issues was unconscious anxiety and having a good talk with the practitioner nurse and cardiologist helped put 'something' right in my mind.

The relief I got from eating adds to my belief that it was at least partly anxiety because, obviously, it is a short period where you are focussing on something else (usually enjoyable) rather than fixating on not feeling well. The afternoon issues recently returned but I have been having a lot of problems with the statins and I work at a university in research that is falling away due to covid and have been super stressed about deadlines for something that I have not been able to do. Anxiety, conscious or otherwise, really is a nasty so and so and with a bit of research and speaking to some colleagues in a medical school I am amazed at what it can do to you if/when it gets a foothold ! That said, do not assume we are the same and your problems can be boiled down to anxiety. Make sure you speak to somebody about your symptoms and don't be fobbed off as I was for a long time in-between getting to speak to people. Whether it is your drugs or something else, it needs sorting.

[MountainGoat52]

I feel that getting a balance of medication is essential and to achieve that you have to be pro-active and give your GP feedback on how your are feeling and what symptoms you may have. Over the past decade I have worked with my GP and the practice pharmacist to find the mix of medication that works for me, with the amounts having been adusted as necessary. When I have had new medication added, there has often been a period of adjustment, sometimes with alternatives being required as I been found to be allergic to quite a number of drugs.

You are not prescribed medicines for them to make you feel ill. I do hope that with the help of your GP you can find out why you are feeling how you do and get the issue resolved.

All the best, Gerald

[Tricia7048]

Bisoprolol and Amlopidine piled 20kg on me. I now take 2.5 ivabradine, so far ok. Atorvastatin is the "gorilla" of statins and made me feel terrible. I read that ppi s can cause dementia, so I avoid. Weigh up the side effects and ask for a change. The docs prescribe the cheapest first and one size doesnt fit all ! Good luck x

[Tricia7048]

I got kidney stones from bisoprolol too, a rare but recognised side effect, and VERY painful

[OldHippy in reply to Tricia7048]

How awful, but frankly I'm not surprised. I'm going to start a new thread to air my views on medication side effects - I've come off amlodipine and feel like I've been released from purgatory! My BP is stable without it, and the pharmacist at the surgery is happy with this. I'm losing weight - over 3 stone planned, which the pharmacist is delighted with!

[Heather1957 in reply to OldHippy]

I was actually going to suggest that anyone who is struggling with their medication book an appointment with their pharmacist to discuss this. We tend to want to speak to our GP when in fact a pharmacist has oodles of knowledge regarding medication and is likely to be more up to date then a GP.