Amlodipine flushing

[Moneylover]

my GP moved me off 10mg Ramipril due to cough. And on to Amlodipine. I had a week of 5mg at crossover and have now been on 10mg a couple of weeks, I am now getting facial flushing and also my feet seem red coloured when standing and walking as though blood is pooling there, No swollen ankles/legs. Perhaps my feet are unrelated as that isn’t mentioned as a side effect but wondered if others have experienced this. According to NHS website the flushing is temporary. Have others found this disappears as a side effect after a while? I don’t want to contact the GP too soon. I haven’t checked my BP as get very anxious about it, was going to wait till I am asked for a reading which I will be after a 4 week period. Thanks

[Madlegs1]

My BP was 180 when I first got the news. Dr put me on Amlodipine 5mg. That got it down to 140.I said to double the dose and I'd be hunky dory.

He said - absolutely not.! You will get side effects. He added Olmersatin 10mg into the mix and I'm down to 120 now.

So -he was correct. Clever doc!👍

So I suggest you go a similar route and change medication.

Any medication may have initial side effects - but most last only a few weeks.-- so well worth sticking with something for a time and see how it ends up.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on?

[Happyrosie]

as Madlegs says. Another point: If you’d like more information about blood pressure, a good source is the website of the specialist charity Blood Pressure UK.

I believe that often doctors prescribe one medication a nd then a few months later prescribe an additional one. Different medications affect blood pressure in different ways.

It all needs time to settle.

If you are anxious about taking your blood pressure, here’s a trick I learned: Get someone you trust to help. Sit down with the cuff on ready, and relax for ten minutes. Maybe chatting quietly with a cup of tea. Three slow breaths. Close your eyes. No talking. Inflate the cuff and don’t look at the reading -:get your companion to write it down without you seeing. Take two or three more readings and if the first is a bit higher discard it and take the average of the next.

[cornishgal23]

I, too, had dreadful flushing while on 10 mg of amlodopine, not just my face but also my arms and my legs up to my thigh. Doc reduced amlodopine to 5 mg and added candesartan. This combination seems to control my BP, and while I still get flushing occasionally, it's not nearly as bad. Apparently, rather than have a high dose of just one med, it may be preferable to have a lower dose of two (or sometimes more) different types. Makes perfect sense to me.

[Moneylover]

am going to give the problem a couple more weeks in case effects are transitory then contact GP

[Moneylover in reply to Moneylover]

follow up on red feet so obvious even window cleaner noticed! Return to totally normal colour if I lie down. Have appt with physician associate at GP practice on Thursday. Assume what is happening is that capillary vessels relaxing and blood flowing more easily but venous return not keeping up due to age (77). Pity as 10mg Amlodipine gives very good BP control. Can’t have Ramipril because of cough, was thinking maybe 5mg Amlodipine and trying Candesartan or Olmersatin as an added med have heard of people on here taking combination Amlodipine 5 mg and then one of the other two drugs as well. One person commented on thread that Amlodipine and Candesartan works for them , would love to hear from others how they are doing on Candesartan or Olmersatin with Amlodipine also if one or other of the two is better ( I think they are in same group of drugs). I had never realised that getting high BP down was such a palaver - there is nothing healthwise can do, not overweight, exercise, good diet and all the other stuff you can do

So grateful for all help and will report back. And, yes, have read everything on Blood Pressure UK website but it’s the nitty gritty of this site that helps best!