B.P. Tablets

[KICKSTART]

My b.p. has always been high ..very high and i take Amlodipine b.p. tablets for it but i can only tolerate a very small dose, they make me very sluggish at a higher dose. Anyway 3 days ago i had clinic and they wanted me to give it a go and increase the dose , so i agreed , i have doubled it now. What i want to know is , is it possible for tablets to have an opposite effect ? Since taking the double dose my b.p. is steadily climbing higher , onlly by a little and i have watched my weight and that has dropped a little , so i know its not extra fluid causing the rise in b.p.

In fact i asked my doctor isnt your b.p. supposed to drop if you lose weight(fluid) because i find my b.p. goes up the more weight i lose, her answer was a shrug of the shoulders and onto the next subject of increasing my b.p. tablets.

I will stick with the increased dose for a week or so and monitor  my b.p. carefully , but i just wondered if anything like this had happened to anyone else? Oh and im on CAPD not Hemo.

[NVRWKN]

I never heard of pressure going up with fluid loss. I would demand an answer from the Dr. Don't you just love when they are so willing to give a straight answer.

[Ken Shelmerdine]

Kickstart there are lots of other BP tablets available. Have you asked your GP to try any of them?

[kitkatz]

Your GP probably has no idea what is happening with your BP.  If your kidneys are stopping more function then your BP may be going up.

[KICKSTART]

Thanks guys but no answer there , its not my gp i saw, it was  my 'neph' as you call them ? My renal docotor. As for trying different b.p. tabs , i have tried just about everyone going .lol  it seems im very sensitive to them , but not in a good way. I going to keep an eye on things for a week , see  if they settle , if not i will call the hospital ,see if i can get more than a shrug of shoulders !

[Joe Paul]

Thanks guys but no answer there , its not my gp i saw, it was  my 'neph' as you call them ? My renal docotor. As for trying different b.p. tabs , i have tried just about everyone going .lol  it seems im very sensitive to them , but not in a good way. I going to keep an eye on things for a week , see  if they settle , if not i will call the hospital ,see if i can get more than a shrug of shoulders !

My blood pressure stayed high for the first year I was on dialysis, no matter how much fluid they removed, or all the medication I took.I was on the maximum dosages for  Metopolol, Minoxidil, Diovan and Clonodine. There were times the blood pressure went up while on the machine too .After the first year however, I was able to cut the meds back and eliminate the clonidine all together, and now have pressure around 130 over 70. I was never told why the blood pressure would go up, or why it took so long to get it in control, as they did not know. Even though all that time with the high blood pressures, my heart cath showed my heart was in fine shape, and just this past October did well on the stress test.
I hope they get you figured out, and if not ,you have the same results I did.

[boxman55]

I take 0.2mg clonidine-10mg minoxidil (hair growing every where except head) 20mg lisinopril and 100mg generic topril. You would think with all those meds my BP would be normal. But no, I get to dialysis and it is around 160-170 then in about 2 hours I drop to 100 or so then when I am off the machine it goes back up again. I have played around with the doses to try and not drop so much but all that has done is make me come in higher at the start, but still drop to 100 or high 90's after a few hours ??        Box

[KICKSTART]

Crazy isnt it ? but i just hate the way they pump us full of drugs and when thats doesnt work , just give us even more! They have even tried to blame me for  it , like im not taking them or im drinking too much , well if i was drinking to much wouldnt my weight be increasing? I know we cant expect doctors t know everything but are these not the basics ? They expect me to trust their judgement and take all these tablets , so is it to much to want an explanation ?

[CW]

There are a lot of different blood pressure meds and they fall into different categories such as beta-blockers, Ace inhibitors, Alpha-blockers and so on. The reason I mention this is because I have tried many different meds because they either don't work or they have unacceptable side effects and their is a whole class I don't take because they don not generally work for me

Ask your doctor to prescribe a different med to see if there are others that work better for you I tried about three in a row within a couple of months recently till I found one that worked right for me, not the one my doctor wanted.

[Falkenbach]

I echo the sentiments to discuss a different type of BP med with your neph. I have just stopped taking my beta blocker (which in my case was Atenolol) because I was so thoroughly EXHAUSTED whilst taking it, fatigued beyond words! I am not keen to go back on Amlodipine either as it can cause fluid retention in some people, and since my transplant, I have become susceptible to this. So I will be discussing with my neph today about going for a different type to these two.

[KICKSTART]

I have tried lots of b.p tablets ..honest , and Amlodipine seem to be the best so far. I am very interested in the fact that they can make you retain fluid ..cycobully as this is EXACTLY what has been going on with me, but HOW do you get that through to a doctor ? Mine insists im drinking too much or not passing as much urine now , anything but the tablets are to blame for whatever goes wrong! Im bullied into taking them with scare stories of heartattacks and strokes if i dont.Side effects dont exisit at my clinic !!!

[jbeany]

Those are Tinkerbell symptoms, Kickstart.  If the doctor doesn't believe in them, they must not exist. . .   

[Falkenbach]

I have tried lots of b.p tablets ..honest , and Amlodipine seem to be the best so far. I am very interested in the fact that they can make you retain fluid ..cycobully as this is EXACTLY what has been going on with me, but HOW do you get that through to a doctor ?

I find it interesting that the doctors won't listen to you when you say it is creating fluid retention. I have to say, Amlodipine never made me retain fluid personally (that was prior to transplant - I would rather not take it post transplant, since I have become prone to fluid) BUT Amlodipine is well known for this particular side effect.

I work in a cardiology clinic, and a number of our patients have had this problem with Amlodipine and have changed to a different type of BP medication. There might be a specific reason they want you to take the particular type that you're on, but if so they need to explain WHY. Why can't you try something different?? As already pointed out, there are different categories of BP meds such beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, Angiotensin II receptors etc..... I won't pretend to know what all these mean, but I don't see why the doctors can't discuss how the different ones work and why you couldn't try one.

[Lori1851]

HI Friends,
I know Dustins BP stays extremely high during dialysis and prbly after. He is on Toporol, Procardia, Clonidine and Lisinopril. He takes all these twice a day.

[pdpatty]

I take 40mg lisinopril twice a day a long with 5 mg of generic for Norvasc and my bp this am was 146/98. Before I go on machine it runs around 160/106 then drops to around 130/79-80 range. Get off machine and it can skyrocket to 200+/up to 126(that was the highest).
I never put on that much extra fluid,even over weekends.  I have only been on hemo for 7 months so I hope it will be getting better.
Perhaps when they can use two needles and get better clearance ,it will.

When I was on CAPD for about 4 months my bp dropped to very,very low. I still have my records I had to keep and one reading was 91/67. At that time I weighed 207 lbs. I remember just feeling so tired and sleepy and very sick all the time.

[KICKSTART]

Lat night i found myself suffering after 5 days on a double dose of tablets. All the time they have not lowered my b.p. But by last night , i was breathless, lethargic to the point of only wanting to sit down all the time and my legs had started to swell. So i decided to go back to my smaller dose last night , just to see what happened. My b.p. has stayed the same , no higher or lower , but boy i feel like a different person again! They tiredness has left me , my legs are down and the breathlessness has gone , so it has to be the tablets? Im going to call the hospital and tell them , but not looking forward to it as they dont accept the an increase in b.p. tablets can possibly do all this! If it was fluid or something else then i hardly think it would go at the same time i cut my dosage!

[Sunny]

Kickstart,
BP meds can absolutely cause all the problems you are describing. Some people are more sensitive to them than others, as am I. Ask to try another BP med. I have gone through a dozen and am still looking for one that will lower my BP enough without the side effects. I especially despise the tiredness and lethargy with some. You need to feel well in your day to day life and it's time those doctors listen up. My latest is 240 mg Verapamil and 20Mg Benicar per day, but BP runs 140/95. Still not good enough and still have nausea. Hopefully your nephrologist can suggest something else or a mix of something. Don't let them give up on you.

[KICKSTART]

I must have tried about 6 different types of b.p.tablets up to now and every time they increase the dose i run into trouble, but the attitude i get from the doctors is ..Oh no not you again and another tablet that doesnt suit you , well you have tried everything and need to take one of them or you could have a heart attack , so take your pick!

[Falkenbach]

They tiredness has left me , my legs are down and the breathlessness has gone , so it has to be the tablets?

Absolutely! It's just a little too coincidental to be anything else! I am a new person without my beta blocker (Atenolol).

Lucky for me, my neph is satisfied that my blood pressure is okay for now and didn't even prescribe a new drug, I was very relieved. And I certainly wasn't facing the attitude that your doctors are giving you - it is their job to try to find the best medicine for you, no matter how many times it has to be changed.