Another uneventful Amlodipine user here.
Hydrochlorothiazide/lisinopril combo here.
HCTZ is a diuretic, so I pee more. And I also have to make sure I hydrate effectively, but as long as I do that, it’s not so bad. And it’s not like I’m running to the bathroom every 5 minutes, though when I first started it, it felt that way.
No side effects from the lisinopril that I’ve noticed.
Been on amlodipine and atenolol for many years. No side effects I know of.
Because the atenolol blocks some of the “fight or flight” effects that happen in certain situations, I do find that I don’t back down when angry. For example I saw a guy, much bigger than I am, walk away from his grocery cart in a parking lot. I hollered, “hey asshole, put the cart where it belongs”.
I had no increased heart rate which would be expected and feedback into my behavior and cause more fear. Luckily the guy just put the cart back.
I’ve been on BP medication for almost 30 years and, notwithstanding the list of possible side effects, I’ve experienced none of them. On a related note, I was prescribed a statin a couple of years ago and I was very concerned about that because my wife was on them for a couple of months and they gave her debilitating joint pain and she had to stop using them. And like the BP meds I’ve experienced no side effects.
I was on a statin for 365 days. Although all my labs were excellent, my cardiologist told me I had a statistically better outcome being on a statin for one year post-stenting.
I had horrible leg muscle cramps most nights, which ended abruptly when I stopped the statin after one year.
I’m on a combo of metroprolol succinate and losartan potassium. As long as I take one in the morning and the other in the evening, I have no issues*. When I took both in the morning, I experienced occasional light-headedness.
Before the losartan, my doctor prescribed lisinopril. After a month, I developed a very annoying and very persistent cough. After he switched me to losartan, the cough disappeared after a month.
*I meant that I have no issues related to these medications. I do, in fact, have plenty of issues…
I’m on the diuretic that makes me pee, but it’s really only one extra “go” in the morning. The other one has a side effect only if I take it at night. I did it once, and it kept me up the whole night, not that I feel jumpy or anything when I take it in the morning, I just couldn’t sleep when I took it at night.
I’ve been on metroprolol tartrate for nearly 2 years and I’ve found my fingers get numb more readily than they used to. If I’m idle and the temperature is below room temperature, they turn white-ish and become very numb until I run them under hot water and knead the blood back into them. Very much like Raynaud’s Syndrome I understand.
Losartan the last couple of years. Most of the time, zero side effects and I don’t hear my pulse slamming away inside my head anymore.
I have found I get some horrendous cramps/lactic acid buildup in my legs when I hike in the mountains. Moderately to very steep trails in the 2000-4000-foot vertical range. Burn like walk 50 feet, stop, repeat. Level ground I can go all day. My doctor says it isn’t on the side effects list, but the timing was too coincidental with when I started (and it didn’t happen on a day I skipped my morning pill, but my ears were pounding all day…).
Another Amlodopine user data point, 10mg daily, 5 years or so, no side effects at all.
Seems like good stuff! Can’t eat grapefruit though; that’s real.
Nonw with lisinopril here, either. A doctor changed it just for the hell of it, and I had a swelling problem. Back on lisinopril, still without side effects.
I’m on two BP pills (3 medicines). Been on them for years and no side effects.
I’m in lisinopril; the only side effect for me is really cool dreams.
Amlodopine is evil. My ankles swelled, my heart raced and I broke out in a rash that started in my armpits. (There is nothing like itchy armpits.) The rash took three weeks to go away.
I’ve never had issues with my old standby (bisoprolol, which is a beta blocker). When I was first put on it, 25ish years back, it was a combo pill that included a diuretic, so I had to be careful WHEN I took it (I once took it at the beginning of a movie…). If I miss a dose, my heartbeat tends to race for a day until I get back on it - this is extremely rare, of course.
I recently had my dose cut in half (from 5 to 2.5 mg) due to weight loss. One day, I took the full amount by mistake - forgot to break the pill in half when I loaded my pill case. I was so lightheaded when we went to the mall that I had to stop and sit down at least 3 times. I took my BP when I got home and it was something like 85/65, which is a very strange figure.
Doc added an ACE inhibitor a few years later, as my blood sugar was creeping up and she said it would help protect the kidneys. She warned me about the possible coughing side effect. When I developed it - almost immediately - she thought the symptoms were more indicative of worsening GERD, and I wasted 3-4 months going down that rabbit hole. Long story short, I finally refused to take it, the symptoms stopped, and I was put on a related class of meds, ARBs (angiotensin receptor blockers) - Benical (olmesartan).
ACE inhibitors are insanely affordable (a 3 month supply was something like 2 dollars). They’re effective. And some people tolerate them quite well. They CAN cause significant side effects; one friend was hospitalized with angioedema after having been on lisinopril for several years - it just happened out of the blue. A colleague was ill off and on for several months, including at least one hospital visit; nobody figured it out until a nurse said “Are you on anything that ends in -pril?”.
So, obviously, I’m not a huge fan.
The ARB hasn’t caused any issues at all. It smells bad (sickly sweet), but that’s only an issue during the pill-reloading step each week, and for a few seconds when I take my daily dose.
The closest thing I’ve had to a negative side effect of the bisoprolol is that because my BP is better controlled, I sometimes have more trouble with postural hypotension - as in, sometimes if I stand up too quickly, I briefly get lightheaded. That’s something I had a lot as a kid and young adult, that resolved as I got older and fatter. It’s never been anything more than a nuisance, and is far preferable to uncontrolled BP causing me to stroke out.
Something not specifically for the BP: My feet and ankles have always tended to swell when travelling long distances. Annoying and uncomfortable, but managed by remembering to wear compression socks on travel days. About 2 years back, they swelled up badly for no good reason - I had not travelled, and tend to have my feet up when I work. So I did an overdue visit and workup with a cardiologist, who found no real issues (I’d been worried, as swollen legs can be a sign of heart issues). She gave me a scrip for Lasix (a diuretic).
That worked quite well (hint: do not take it a half hour before getting in the car for a 12 hour drive!), and my BP also lowered a fair bit, to the point where we considered lowering one of the BP meds.
Ultimately I decided to drop the Lasix, as the swelling had resolved, and some labs showed some wonky readings for kidney function. May or may not have been related, but who knows.
Did you find a different medication that worked better for you, or did they all have side effects?
I’m on metoprolol, lisinopril, and hydrochlorothiazide and have never experienced any negative side effects. I’ve been on all 3 for over 15 years.
I took lisinopril for years, and the only side effect that I got was that cough people sometimes get.
Since then, it’s been losartan/hydrochlorothiazide ever since, with no side effects. The only annoying effect of the drug (it’s intentional) is that HCTZ is a diuretic, so I have to pee more than I’d prefer.
The spironolactone I currently take for blood pressure does have a potential side effect that it is sometimes prescribed for - it can stimulate hair growth in people with thinning hair / hair loss. That’s a side effect a lot of people might appreciate.
Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) has negative impacts on both men and women in terms of appearance and mental stress. Spironolactone is a synthetic aldosterone receptor antagonist known to stimulate hair growth and has been widely used by dermatologists to treat AGA.
When I first went on BP meds, I’d experience fatigue and dizziness. After a couple of different meds, I now have been on a couple for some 8 years now with NO side effects.