I have suffered from high BP for 25 years, during which time I have been prescribed up to five tablets to be taken every day.
Concentrated on daily exercise and drinking lots of water and my BP became more manageable, and was controlled by ramipril and amlodopine, although still occasions when it would go as high as 180 / 95 for no apparent reason.
Was convinced that the side effects were causing me more problems than the high BP as suffered from sinus congestion, bleeding gums, low energy levels, mental fog etc.
Three months ago Convinced my GP to change my meds to felodopine and candesartan which initially reduced some of the side effects but a month ago I developed a persistent cough which I attributed to the medication. GP said regardless of the side effects I had to keep taking the tablets as they were essential to my long term health etc. I decided to reduce the intake of tablets and measured by BP every day.
My BP is now lower than it has ever been and the side effects are reduced, although still convinced it will take some time before they are completely eradicated.
Will be charting my BP over a week and submitting them to my GP and then request a review, and then tell them I am no longer taking tablets and see their response. My personal circumstances have not changed etc.etc. I have just stopped taking the medication and my BP is more controlled has anyone else had similar experiences?
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well done,im not alone then,you have to do it yourself, most wont dare to try though and that is a shame, docs scare them and then they on them for life, slowely reduce them is the way to go and see what happens as you get fit and healthy. i bet you feel better
I find that drinking lots of water and exercise is v beneficial. Either way anything to keep chemicals out of your body is a bonusJust wish my GP had suggested hydration and exercise as my first port of call 25 years ago
yes but a lot wont try to help themselvers a few scaremongers put them off trying to reduce the pills,i often wonder if the long term effects of the pills causes more damage to the body .
The same as all your other replies, you need to take care of yourself above all. I take levothyroxine (underactive thyroid meds) and have been going through all sorts of hell, heart probs, erratic heart beats, sleeping probs etc. I was then given medication to reduce blood pressure and it made no difference and in some cases made it worse. My doctor sees no relation to high blood pressure in levothyroxine medication. I insisted on changing my medication for underactive thyroid (gained by peoples experience on this site) and have never looked back. I weened myself off bloodpressure tablets and find myself better than ever now. It must be realised that most GP's are essentially medical sales people. Their bosses are mainly the pharma companies that instruct doctors on how and when this med should be prescribed. (this is a business model that will try to sell you everything they can and this is likely to be medication that makes the most money, usually just patented meds regardless if there is something more suitable and this has no effect on how ethical your doctor is as they do as they are told). Any side effects of medication will be addressed with a new medication. and so on. I believe you should take all the doctors advice that you can, but as much as possible learn yourself about your own condition. Nobody is going to look so comprehensively at your own case as much as you are, and neither are they going to really experience everything your feeling. In my case i bought blood pressure measuring equip, thermometer and microscales (so i can split BP tablets and empty out some of the contents so i can withdraw slowly). I knew that if the changes made were slow then the symptoms (good or bad) are likely to be slow too. If anything gets worse i can always revert to the original advice.
Hi. I also take Levotyroxine and blood pressure meds - Amlodipine, Doxazosin, Candersarten, Bendroflumethiazide all at maximum dosage and still have readings of 158/104 sometimes higher. What was the alternative medication for underactive thyroid you switched to? I would like to suggest it to my Consultant.
I also take Magnesium Glycinate and Taurate with Vitamin D in the hopes it will help with my Bp
Started out with Teva (levothyroxine), which caused all sorts of problems including high blood pressure, Then tried north star (levothyroxine) which was better but gave me stomach aches and acid reflux. Best so far for me was Mercury brand of levothyroxine. But everyone is different. Still have occassional high blood pressure as my thyroid problem is "hashimoto's thyroiditis"... essentially my own body attacks my thyroid. The problem with this (i understand) is that occassional breaks in the onslaught of my thyroid by my own body allows my thyroid to go into overdrive and produce more thyroxine which kind of causes a temporary overdose leading to high blood pressure. The trouble is my doctor suggests that i should only take a fixed dose of Blood pressure tablets for life. Which is clearly never going to address my problem as it is intermittent. Therefore if i feel an attack of high blood pressure coming on i may take blood pressure tablets but just come off them slowly when everything is good again. Told i shouldn't do this, but why would you medicate for something that isn't there and when the bout of high blood pressure does occur the meds are nowhere near enough. I can go 2 or 3 weeks with perfectly fine blood pressure to just creeping in to high blood pressure territory, but rarely it can hit hard for a few days. I medicate for that few days if i have to. I'm not a medic but that is the approach i use.
I was on Amlodipine Losartan and I decided to cut down on both. Losartan down from 50mg to 2.5 and Amlodipine from 5 to 2.5. My blood pressure seems to have been more stable at around average of 130 over 75 I am 80 the doctor wanted me around 125/70 which I struggled to keep to. I do regular blood pressure tests
just ready a study that said for a person over 70 a bp of 160/169 over 90 is better for you inthe fight to stop demtia in old age,getting it lower showed no improvement in preventing strokes heart attacks i fact you live longer, obvious more studies are needed the article stated but it was done in america on a wide scale,, i supose thats why as you age your bp goes up to compensate, i hope its true for us that have given up on prescription drugs ,
I have at the moment given up on my BP medication as they offer no advantage to control my BP and the side effects effect my quality of life. If my BP increases I may consider re introduction but at the moment I am better without them
same as myself but i would never go back on them,wasted 2 years of my life feeling ill .thats not living, plenty of things to lower bp naturally if you need to,
i take turmeric,tablespoon extravirgin olive oil, olive leaf extract sometimes, beetroot, even asprin now and then, but walking and eating healthy,walking i do 9 miles a day 7 days a week,not strolling quick walking, ive just started taking metatonic tonic gives me a bit of oomph and lowers anxiety,slow breathing 15mins a day 3 or 4 times a day. i never take my bp now,not done for over 18months it just gives me anxiety doing it so no point, last time on amlodipine it was 165/90 felt like death on bp drugs.taking more bp drugs bp went up,on ramaprill 185/90,docazosine 180/90 whatever they gave me bp went up, propranolol gave me panic attaks the list went on,i was slowely been killed by them im in no doubt about that, statins put me in hospital, and i did not have high colestral, slowely reduced them ,been off them13 months now, feel 20 again im 73 lol,new years resolution not go docs or hospital again unless life threatening .
I just love your posts Peter 99999999!! So refreshing! I totally agree regarding the side effects of the blood pressure meds! I am 62 and have been on meds for 4 years, same story! WCS Andy even anxiety taking the readings at home! I too have given up taking the readings at home, not brave enough to stop the meds but seriously considering it because of the rotten side effects! I take lercanidipine 10 mg, Thank you for all the great posts.
thank you i try to help,i no what its like, ive started taking half a baby asprin at tea time just to give me peace of mind i wont hve heart attack etc i took one for 30 years and no side effects,then stopped got poorly, so now i just take 40mg, i live in hope lol
I agree with you, I was on amlodipine for over five years until I got fed up with side effects. Discovered that adopting a healthy lifestyle was key. I am now off Blood pressure medication and my blood pressure is controlled and I feel great . For me excersice and eating wholefoods has done wonders. My GP was astounded by the way the change of lifestyle affected my blood pressure
I’m scared to cut down or stop my medication because 18 months ago I had a heart attack and have had a stent fitted. I take Bisoprolol, Clonodine and Aspirin. I’m always tired and have put on a stone in weight. I so want to stop the medication. I think about doing it everyday!
Please Do not just stop your medications on your own. Inform your Dr what you intend to do namely you want to go wholefoods and exercise for instance to see what effect it will have on your condition. You need to have a mindset to do it completely, not that easy but determination will get you through. I have done it myself and consistency is key . When you start to see results your motivation will be high and you will not want to stop. It's not a diet it's a change of lifestyle which you will want to keep going because you will be feeling great and hopefully your health problems will have improved. Good luck
Thank you for replying. I have noted everything you have said. It’s good advice and I will take it.
Hello, everybody!Just joined this community, after long years in Atrial Fibrillation community! May I tell my story!?
I am 70 now, but at 46 I started noticing that my BP goes somewhat up... My best friend, who is a professor at the Faculty of medicine, had the same problem, at the same time. She strongly suggested to start taking BP medication right away, since high BP was a "silent killer". She started taking some drug, I believe Monopril, or similar, while I decided not to follow her. After about 10 years, she declared not to be able to function without her BP drug, while I had somewhat increased BP, but nothing worth mentioning.
Being a mechanical engineer, I followed the logic that partially clogged pipeline must have slightly increased pressure on the entrance, in the course to maintain the flow-rate, which is crucial to supply the tissues with sufficient oxygen and nutrients.
Another friend of mine started taking BP medication at the age of about 60 and complained that his BP is less than before, but that he feels like a fool, walking in the street like a tipsy man - he had ballance problems. His brain will definitely suffer being underfed and probably have some lasting damage.
I am still on no drugs, despite having light problems with atrial fibrillation. As somebody here said, I expect that from the drugs, there may be more damage than use - the essence is to force the people to take drugs "for their good", no matter what the consequences may be. When I mention that I take no anticoagulants, people in AF-forum get upset - I may be in a large danger of stroke, what I am also not buying. The principle is always the same - scare them to death and sell them whatever you want
To be honest, in the past year, I measure BP values which may be seriously high, but also maybe not - I am mostly at 140/90 to 150/100. I feel best when I am 150/100, but my BP goes sometimes, especially under the stress, to 165/110, whereby I continue to function perfectly well.
Several decades ago, the MDs used the rule, that your upper BP value may be 100 + AGE, meaning that I could be satisfied with 165 to 170, as the upper number... Well, my decision is to experiment further, without taking any drugs. Where have been the drugs in the times of our grand-folks!? They had only penicillin, nothing else, lol!
The excellent BBC4 programme, 'Just one thing' this morning, with Michael Mosley mentioned that beetroot helps lower BP. I have a phone call with my GP about reducing my BP medication and will add this to my list of BP lowering measures.
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