Very high blood pressure

[pdpatty]

My blood pressure ,taken about 1 hour ago, was 174/132. This was after I had taken 20mg of lisinopril and 5mg of Norvasc earlier in the morning.

I was feeling a pressure in my ears and was starting to sweat so I took another 20 of Lisinopril. ( That is ok as I am to take a total of 40 mg a day)

Now to the question. At the center yesterday ,they gave me a dose of Epogen  directly into my line. This was the second  since Monday. I wondered if the Epo and my high bp was connected ,so I looked it up. Sure enough (info from Johns Hopkins) epo can cause one's bp to increase.

Have any of you who take epo have high bps after taking it? How long until it comes down to an acceptable level? Did anyone have to change to a diffent med other than epo because of this?  Or am I one of those 'it only happens to me' patients?

[kidney4traci]

I do remember my bp was high one day and they waited until the diastolic was under 100 to administer the epo.  They said something about it not being safe if bp is already high. 

[Chicken Little]

It does cause it to rise.   I'm not suppose to administer my shot if my BP is over 170/100.  I would call your clinic, just to let them know. 

[keefer51]

I haven't seen anything about epo and high bp. But i can tell you i have had high bp for years. They tried to control it but only now have they succeeded. I take 200mg Labetalol, 25mg Amitriptyline, 40mg Lisinopril, 60mg Nifedipine, 50mg Tramadol. I also take 300mg Gabapentin and a 50mg Fentanyl patch. My bp used to be like yours but now when i go to dialysis my bp is 156/73. Sometimes it's a little higher and sometimes it's lower 110/54. I usually leave dialysis at 96/60. It took me a long time to get used to such low pressure. At first i felt very lite headed. But now i do OK. I hope you start to feel better.