Face swelling with Losartan and Lisinopril

[Miss-guineapig]

Good Morning, I have stage 3a CKD however I don’t have hypertension but GP is great and keeps a good monitor on my BP, she said she’d like to keep it low. I was initially prescribed Lisinopril however after 2 months my face began to swell and I felt awful. She has now tried me on Lorsartin and initially it was fine too. However 2 months on again, I started to cough, very itchy eyes and body, white areas developed under my eyes…all very subtle at first but face started to go slightly puffy yesterday. So I stopped Losartan yesterday and I will speak to my GP next week. Has anyone else had these issues and what meds worked for you.

To be honest I feel much better not taking medication but like us all, I want to ensure my heart and stroke risk is as low as we can make it be. Thank you

[Bassetmommer NKF Ambassador]

I really do not get doctors who prescribe a very strong BP med when your BP is fine. And when you said fine, is it around 120/60 fine? Having a too low BP can also be dangerous. There are other medications out there that are renal protective, but if you are only 3a, the best thing is diet and lifestyle.

BP meds are often trial and error. I was on a "sartan" drug for year and years. Then when my kidneys started to go south my neph added amlodipine. It wasn't keeping it low as much as she wanted. Even though, I ran a bit high my whole entire life. the top number was getting over 140 and so she added carvedilol. UP to this point I have never had edema and still do not. I had horrible insomnia and my leg blew up and I was short of breath. She took me off of that and she upped the amlodipine to 10 and added hydralazine. That was even worse. The edema was terrible and my heart felt like it was popping out of my ears. Went to the cardiologist and he took me off of the hydralazine and lowered the amlodipine back to 5m and kept me on the irbesartan. Edema was gone. I felt great. He said less was more. And it did stabilize back down.

[Miss-guineapig in reply to Bassetmommer]

Very interesting, thanks fir sharing x

[drmind in reply to Bassetmommer]

I had a horrible event from hydrazaline and amlopodine: swollen feet and legs and urine retention. Got a very bad infection and was forced to go to the ER.as I was sick for a several weeks. Whenever I hear those medications mentioned, I get signs of PTSD!

[Miss-guineapig in reply to drmind]

So sorry to hear this, hope you are keeping well now drmind x

[drmind in reply to Miss-guineapig]

Thanks. All is fine. That event happened a year or so ago.

[PKDpostTRANSPLANT]

My experience isn't exactly the same but maybe it will help you- when I first started taking Lisinopril I had a nagging cough every night (didn't know it was the meds). When I found out it was the medication my dose was lowered and it still worked well for me and the coughing stopped. I'm not sure if you are already on the lowest dose or not, just throwing out the possibility that maybe a lower dose might improve your symptoms (but discuss it with your doctor first!).

[Miss-guineapig in reply to PKDpostTRANSPLANT]

Thank you so much will speak with GP this week x

[Miss-guineapig in reply to PKDpostTRANSPLANT]

Love your name… very special. Hope you’re well 😀

[oceansplash]

Do you have protein in your urine? If so that could cause puffiness and Losartan is what you want to take. My eyes feel a little puffy and I have protein in urine. Itching? Dry skin?

[Miss-guineapig]

Thank you Oceansplash. No protein in urine thsnkfully. It happened with an ace inhibitor too. Itch gone and eyes better since stopping. Will chat with GP, I am quite well so it took me by surprise x

[mybirdbuddie]

Hello, so sorry to hear the problem you are facing by taking certain medicines. I was on lisinopril but taken off due to an adverse effect on my kidneys. However a couple of years later I was represcribed lisinopril, a lower dose with instructions for my Dr to keep an eye on my kidneys. Am still on this medication with no other side effects other than I still have kidney problems.

[Miss-guineapig in reply to mybirdbuddie]

Thanks for sharing, Maybe my GP will give me a lower dose. Will see what she says x

[RonZone]

Chiming in here. I was on a low dose lisinopril for years prescribed by my GP for blood pressure and okayed by my neph to "help" with CKD (not sure how it was supposed to help other than lower blood pressure). Then my cardiologist nurse practitioner decided to double my dose of lisinopril. My face swelled up like a chipmunk, had a hard time breathing. Went to may GP, he obviously took me off of it. My cardiologist then prescribed cardviderol (sp). Now that I'm on dialysis, I stopped the cardviderol because it was causing my blood pressure to go to low.

I also want to point out another side effect. While on lisinopril, for several years, ever few months I would get horrible abdominal pain that would last a day or two then just disappear. My GP never came up with an answer for it. But once I had that reaction to the increased dose of lisinopril, I did some research and found lisinopril can also has a side effect called intestinal angioedema. Once I stopped the lsinipril, that pain stopped as well. So I know they were connected.

[Miss-guineapig in reply to RonZone]

Sorry to hear what you went through but really grateful for your reply. I will be speaking with GP soon. Thank you so much I will take what you said on board x

[Miss-guineapig in reply to RonZone]

… meant to say Lisinopril was shown to really help folks with CKD reduce the risk of strokes and heart disease. It was not originally developed to increase life span of folks with CKD but only to help with hypertension but its benefits were clear for kidney benifit. Hence it is now first line treatment whether we have hypertension/diabetes or not. I have neither but GP thinking ahead. Hopefully other prople can explain it better, hugs to you Ron.

[crackers2]

I am very sorry that you had these reactions. I got along with Lisinopril for years, but suddenly became allergic to it. I didn't feel good on Losartan after a few weeks, but I have a history of having chemical allergies or reactions to them.I will see my allergist in May, to find out why I'm getting more sensitive to medications. Now I have been on Cardizem and get along with that so far.

It's a puzzle to find out what can be tolerated with trial and error, especially when getting older.

I understand your worry about heart and stroke risk, but you are right to take care of yourself.

I hope you find out good news ,seeing your Dr next.

My best wishes to you 😊

Crackers 2

[Miss-guineapig in reply to crackers2]

Thank you for replying crackers2. I’ll see how I go, may mention Cardizen to my GP. Take care Crackers 2 xx

[appledonut]

I’ve taken Losartan for several years with no problems. They put me on that after I ended up allergic to enalapril, which I believe is in the same category as lisinapril. Note the “april” at the end of both. Ironic I’m allergic to BP meds that end in “april” considering my name is April! So I joke that I’m allergic to myself.

[Miss-guineapig in reply to appledonut]

Thank you for this Appledonut, Interestingly it has turned out that it was a true allergy to Lisinapril. But on reflection it was more an itch with Losartan and I think I panicked as I ended up in A&E with Lisinopril which made me just stop Losartan with no GP advice.

Anyway had Good chat with GP on Tuesday and she has put me back on Losartan, given me a good antihistamine and face cream. So here’s hoping all is good now, thanks again x