BP medication and lack of deep sleep

Hi,

I'm not sure what answer I'm looking for here, but I take 10mg Lisinopril every day and I was looking to swap from taking it in the morning to late afternoon, early evening.

I've done this, the last four days now, but I've noticed according to my sleep app that my deep sleep duration has dropped a hour.

I would normally average around 2.5 hours, but in the last few days it's gone down to around 1.15 hours. My average heart rate has gone up at least 4-5 bpm too.

I'm not sure what I'm asking for, but is this normal? I've taken my pill just now to go back to how it was to see what difference it makes. But my evening routines have been no different for weeks now.

[Thecyclist]

Yes I think its normal, and most likely the BP meds. My sleep is very poor since being on them. Not sure about ACE inhibitors though (I take Ramapril as well as Amlodipine and Bisoprolol), but I think there is a general consensus that BP meds disturb sleep. I find that my Bisporolol is the worst and is known to have sleep disturbance as a side effect. I have very vivd dreams and several a night which I guess means I am not achieving deep sleep. Although saying all this I rarely feel fatigued in the day time, maybe in the afternoon for an hour or so, must be getting some half decent sleep.

I have tried many things and nothing has worked and I just assume this is now life as long as I'm on them, so my plan is to get off them by losing some weight.

Good luck!

[Hidden in reply to Thecyclist]

Interesting to hear, I've lost a stone in weight since I was diagnosed with BP back in June, I eat healthier, but my BP in the afternoon is still around 140/85 which is probably half down to the stress I feel in my job at the moment. But I don't really want to go from 10mg to 20mg , my BMI is 24.4 now and I'm still losing weight and exercising daily so that side is fine, but if the sleeping pattern sounds normal, then forgive the pun, I won't lose any sleep over that.

[Thecyclist in reply to Hidden]

Sounds like you are moving in the right direction weight wise! I'm still just over 30 so some way to go, I need to lose another two stone, I have lost a stone in the last 10 weeks so going OK. BP could be stress related, mine is/was driven massively by anxiety, I've learned to deal with that now. Just keep your eye on it, take three measurements as well, white coat is always factor I think and I can come down 20-30 points Dia and 10 Sys in three readings!

10mg of an ACE inhibitor is nothing to overly worry about or is 20mg, I was on four meds last year after ending up in hospital in hypertensive crisis. Three now, probably be on at least one for life, but if it keeps me turf side up for a bit longer its all good!

[Happyrosie]

Well Cornish gent I don’t have the answer; but I do know there’s a long term study into the efficacy of taking BP meds evening or morning. The study is run via Dundee university and has been going for a couple of years and probably will go on for another few years: one of the criteria will be how many people die, I think!!

There was a recent, very small, study done in (if I remember right) Spain but only a few participants, so not very well designed; and it found that taking BP meds in the evenings was slightly better for the BP levels.

There’s a reason why this these studies are being held, something to do with the way that your body processes things while you’re asleep. Your pharmacist may well know about these body processes so a chat with him or her might throw some light onto this.