Bald Bouncer (14th May 2018)
Well amlodipine was a load of crap, max dose and BP was going up....
Now added Losartan into the mix...
Never took as many pills in my life.. Getting frustrated now as felt like shit for over 4 months now
:-(
Just been referred to Cardiologist :-(
This happened to anyone else? Should I be worried?
Basically BP is a roller coaster. Meds don't seem to sort it just up and down.
ATM on 50 Losartan, 25 Atenolol and 10 Amlodapene per day. (milligrams or Micrograms forget which).
Getting very depressed. Am I expecting too much? Is this a long process to fix? Just dont seem get any answers from the quack tbh...
Boring as fuck post I know. lol
piggzy (10th July 2018)
It can take a long time to address high blood pressure and can be a number of things, diet, stress etc ..... I've been on meds for best part of twenty Years now and yes it is depressing but hey, I'm alive ! now as for the cardiology referral I would ask have you been experiencing any chest pain, shortness of breath, tiredness, lack of energy etc? if so then that is why, if not then just the doctor being cautious and doing whats best, as stated thats a good thing. Recently I have had a sudden jump in blood pressure and have had all sorts of meds thrown at me to get it down, it's taken about 10 weeks and even now is just over normal, Losartan 100mg, adipine XL 60mg. I'm also under cardiology and have already had a stent fitted 3 Years a go and having another angiogram later this Month but this is because of what I asked if you was suffering. Prolonged high blood pressure can cause kidney damage and then kidney damage can cause high blood pressure, bit of a catch 22 ....... has your doctor requested any blood test? anyways it's best not to worry and get depressed over it, that'll just make things worse, just look at it as getting a nice mot with advisories and there sorting them all out for you.
piggzy (10th July 2018)
Cheers guys. Look like I'm being a bit impatient.
Any of you lot get any side effects from the pills ?
Yes ! I was taking Amplodipine but stopped it in May 2015 (I kept notes of all meds) I found it was giving me banging headaches. Within a day or 2 completely gone.
What makes me laugh is reading the information you get with medication and the side effects, you can say with 100% that you'll be suffering from one or more of them ! funniest one ever, I was taking anti depression tabs and one of the side effects, I kid you not, may cause depression !!
piggzy (10th July 2018)
PMSL, yeah, I know which one... on it for 15 years now..
Makes me laugh how pretty much every BP medication has common side effect of "Chest Pains" ... fuck me. that is what I am shitting myself about, and they really do give you a LOT of chest pains in my case. I think Atenolol is the worst med I am on, but been told I am only on it till my BP is under control as it reduces my chances of Heart Attack or Stroke. Basically it slows your heart rate down but the side effects are dreadful.
Get headaches when I first started losartan but they went away within a week.
Does booze have much effect??? Docs not told me to avoid and I'm not a piss head but gonna cut it out from now on to see what difference it makes.
On Atenalol, amlodipine, Losatan and statins and have been for about 15 years now but with no side effects at all, obviously like all meds they affect different folks different ways. My brother was on one of the beta blockers and they gave him horrendous headaches so they took him off them, not sure what he is on now but no problems with the new ones. I guess if you have side effects see your GP and get him to try you on others until you get something with the least side effects. Hopefully your GP has advised you to see a cardiologist just to check there isn't anything else medically wrong so be comforted that he isn't taking any chances, better to find out if there is anything now rather than when you have had a stroke or heart attack and its all too late.
piggzy (16th July 2018)
Cheers. Back in on Thursday.
They recently doubled my losartan and fuck me the headaches are a bastard but I always say if I can struggle on for 2 weeks and the side effects are still there then I will moan.
I would rather have a head ache than a heart attack ;-)
TBH I find the recent hot weather is fucking me the most. Hot day I can feel my BP going up. Cool day and I feel different .
Been planning on trying out the stoner method but my research shows it spikes BP for the first few days of use (when you are not used to it) and my BP has not dropped low enough for me to risk it imho.
It does show regular users have low BP... I don't plan on being a regular user but right now I feel like I need a fucking break.
Self employed and my BP has made me feel so ill of late I went on the sick for the first time in my life 2 weeks back as I cant look at the PC for more than 30 mins at a time.
Fucking depressed as fuck.
Not had it in 10 years. 41 but a bit reluctant to dabble just yet as I am talking 245/135 which most docs tell me they have never seen this high .....
oh well. I had a good innings.
In reply to your post about getting stoned and blood pressure - funnily enough I'm in a very different yet similar situation. My BP itself it normally stable, but I've recovering from radiotherapy for a malformed blood vessel in my brain. If my BP does get high, I can feel pressure in the location of the problem, so it's important for me to try and keep my BP normal/low until it's sorted as I'm at high risk of another stroke.
I had one day when I went to the docs because I was that worried about the headache and they confirmed BP was high (which is very abnormal for me as normally my BP is at the lower end). Went home, had a joint and lay down, and when I went back for further tests that day (about 3 hours later), the doctor was amazed how much my BP had dropped (he even took out another machine as he thought maybe the first one might have developed a fault).
However I'm sure I've read that smoking a joint causes a temporary spike in BP. I could be wrong as I read this a while ago, but I was under the impression it was more short term (minutes/hours) rather than days/weeks.
I can't say I've backed this up with definite proof as I'm too scared to get my own BP monitor as I worry a high reading will just freak me out causing the readings to keep climbing, and I can feel it in my head when it's too high anyway so I don't feel the need for a machine to confirm what I already know. However my brain is very sensitive at the moment as it has swollen up due to the radiotherapy (I was in a coma 2 weeks ago - Glasgow Coma Scale 6), and since then every time I smoke a cigarette or joint I can feel the pressure in my head for 15-90 mins. From my experimentation it seems the increased pressure from a roll up lasts 15-45 mins, while increased pressure from a joint is more like 45-90 mins.
I must admit I'm potentially taking a big risk with my life, but an additional factor that made me decide this route which doesn't apply to you is that some studies have shown cannabis to have neuroprotective effects, and I do wonder if getting stoned on a regular basis is what helped me bounce back so quick as opposed to suffering more severe brain damage.
If your BP is reaching critically dangerous levels, I would think long and hard (and seek professional medical advise if possible) to try and determine whether the risk of the temporary BP spike is outweighed by the generally lower BP afterwards or not, and I have no idea whether what works for me would work for you, and whether it could interact with any of your other medication(s).
It's just a real shame of the government's attitude that has prevented these kind of things being seriously researched which restricts the ability of medical professionals to give honest, straight and informed answers to what should be a very straightforward question.
Last edited by Over Carl; 17th July 2018 at 03:26 PM.
Wow sorry to hear how ill you have been OverCarl..
The research I have read in the spike in BP effects new or irregular (weed) users only and after a couple of weeks of regular use you dont get a spike at all and just lower BP.
I was planning on waiting for it to be low enough to take the risk and purely is for sleep issues. I get insomnia which has now got worse due to being a side effect of Losarton which I am now on for BP.
For example going to bed at 11pm and not getting one second of sleep until gone 5am is normal for me.
When you compare roll up to joint I assume roll up means regular fag (no weed) ???
Its weird but I can feel it in my brain too when it is super high accompanied with regular chest pains, dizziness and a general feeling of being in a dreamworld.
Hope you recover.
Over Carl (17th July 2018)
Yep, when I said roll up, I meant just regular hand rolled tobacco cigaratte.
At the moment I've managed to convince myself I've come through all the worst and it should be a walk down hill from here, but still I'm reserving judgement until I get to see my neurosurgeon this Saturday (then probably have to wait for another MRI, then results......).
I don't get the chest pains, but I get feeling of pressure/headache in the location of the problem, also get the dizziness/floaty feeling, random heavy breathing, random extra hard heart beats.
As our symptoms seem quite similar even though causes/diseases are totally different, you've got me thinking I might pick up a BP monitor tomorrow and take some before/after readings, but I'm still paranoid that seeing a little rise will freak me out, causing BP to spiral upwards.
I'm sure we will both pull through, but something I've found helpful is to not get angry about my limitations. I thank God for letting me stay alive, and every incremental improvement I consider a bonus.
piggzy (17th July 2018)
I must admit I keep getting really angry at being limited. When my BP was at its highest I was told to do absolutely NOTHING and limit myself to 5 mins of gentle exercise a day .. WTF
I can do more now but still not enough to stave of depression and getting stressed at everybody :-)
Same as you I am too scared to get a BP monitor. Half the time I dont even ask the nurse at my appts what it is. Just tell me if high or low, dont give me numbers lol
Been told if I do get a home one to NOT get a wrist one as they are apparently shite. Also a lot of the home ones are not very good when it is very high like mine is.
I just occasionally pop into the reception of the docs and use the one they have. Pretty much all docs now have a free to use one in reception or a side room I'm told.
Over Carl (17th July 2018)
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