Hypertension meds

[DeusXM]

Everyone in my family on my father's side has hypertension, and surprise, surprise, I've got it too.

I used to be on 20mg Enalapril but I stopped taking it because of a combination of laziness and ignorance. Anyway, I've decided to take things a bit more seriously now, especially since my last BP check came out at 162/99 (although in fairness I was handing in my notice that day).

Anyway, last night I went back on the Enalapril and I can't work out whether I feel great or feel terrible. For a start I'm having trouble believing that a tablet could have an effect so quickly, but aside from that:

About an hour after taking the tablet I went into a weird sort of euphoria for a bit. Which was nice. But now, in the cold light of day, things feel a bit different. I just feel sort of woozy and floaty, with a sense that pins and needles could kick in with my left hand at any moment. I sorta feel drowsy too, but the oddest feeling is this strange 'hollow' sort of feel I have. Aside from that, I feel pretty relaxed and calm.

Now, I'm guessing the enalapril is already working. The thing is, I've had this feeling before when I've taken them before (actually it's also part of the reason why I've been a bit funny about taking it in the past). I know it's because my blood pressure is dropping. However from past experience I know if I test my BP it'll still be a bit on the high side. So my question is - is this the same sort of thing like when you're first dxed you feel hypo at 'normal' levels? And will this level out as I get used to lower blood pressure?

[princesslinda]

I noticed when starting Enalapril several years back that I felt a great deal of tiredness and "spacy" for a few days. This resolved as I adjusted to the more "normal" BPs. Guess this is why they call HTN the "silent killer," as most of us feel fine unless it's extremely elevated.

Recently, I started feeling "odd" and after r/o blood sugar issues (you know how EVERYTHING is related to diabetes in your head), I had my BP checked and it had started to rise again. I was started on HCTZ, and went through the same "odd" feelings the first week or so on it as well. I'd forgotten how "washed out" I could feel. Fortunately, i've adjusted to this as well now.

If you continue to have these symptoms after a couple of weeks, i'd see if there's another similar medication your doctor could recommend. Doesn't seem like you should have to take something that continually bothers you. If you have trouble with ace-inhibitors, you could try the ARBs (angiotension-II receptor blockers), as some who are sensitive to ACE Inhib. have tolerated these better.

[slipperyelm]

I take Lisinopril which is related to Enalapril. For several weeks I felt sick to "floaty". I had orthostatic hypertension and I nearly blacked out a few times--my vision would suddenly start blacking out and I would feel faint. I stopped my exercise during this period because of the near fainting problem and the vision loss.

Looking back on it, I think I should say it affected my judgment because I don't think I should have been walking around with side effects like that! I was stupid. I should at least have gotten the dosage reduced, but I did not even call my doctor. It lowered my blood pressure a lot the first day I took it, so I'm sure my body had to make some important adjustments. I think there was more than one reason to reduce the dosage to start with, but I did not request that.

I was motivated though to use the medicine, because my high blood pressure did give me symptoms. High blood pressure felt horrible, and sort of caused me panic, which apparently drove up the BP even higher. That might be why I did not even mention the problems with the med to my doctor. I wanted that BP down. But I should have said something, I'm sure.

It worked out over time and now I feel nothing from it, but BP is excellent.

Perhaps you would feel better with a smaller dose yet still get the BP reduction. Maybe we should be tapered onto these meds gradually.

[Alice]

I take 20 mg of Lisinipril...have not noticed any problems. Now I can blame my loopiness on this...great! Mine was prescriped as a preventative for kidney disease a few years ago at 10 mg...was recently increased to 20 mg. I didn't notice anything as far as side effects. My blood pressure was running between normal and slightly higher, so my doctor suggested increasing it a little more. I've had good blood pressures consistently now. (High BP runs in my family and my sister died last year of a brain aneurism at age 42...so, I don't let my BP run high, whatsoever.

[BriOnH]

Deus,
I feel your pain on blood pressure man. It's a good thing we address it seriously these days whether you are diabetic are not. Those, especially with diabetes that let high blood pressure go untreated will eventually have severe complications.

For those that haven't read me type it:
High Blood Sugar * High Blood Pressure = rapid rate of necrosis ( cell death)

Even if your sugars are running perfect that force against the heart, kidneys, microvascular (mainly legs, and sex organs) getting pushed upon with such pressure damages them. Add sugar and ahhhk.

Anyways sorry to ramble brother.

Maybe try a lower dose or switch meds? I can only speak from expreience but in the case of Hyperglycemia -> hypoglycemia in comparison to High BP to -> low BP ins't similar in regard to adjusting.

If I may ask.

How long have you been running high bp? Do you test at home?

Euphoria is not a nomal side effect of Enalapril but it could be your body just getting relief. Doctors and Pharmacology Inserts say these types of ACE's do not work immidiatly and take a good 2-4 weeks to work. Sounds like you and I both experience it working the same night/day. When I went off of Lisinipril (very, very similar tp Enalapril) it took 4 weeks to clear my system.

Make sure you get a blood test to check your Ka levels, BUN, and Creatnine numbers checked when you take this med as it can cause those kindey functions to filter too much and rise plasma levels to unsafe numbers.

[MJB]

When I started BP meds I went through about 4 different meds before I felt OK, that is, not lethargic and light headed. I currently take Lotrel 10/20 and it's doing the job with no noticeable side effects.

There's a ton of different BP meds out there, maybe you need a different one.

[slipperyelm]

I don't seem to be able to recall how I can edit my own post above. Just wanted to make it clear that I had orthostatic hyPOtension, (not hyPERtension, urggh!).

Alice, very sorry about you sister.

BriOnH, I had read on my own package inserts for Lisinopril that it would typically require time to make a difference. I even mentioned this to my doctor when I saw him a couple weeks after starting the meds. He did not seem surprised or concerned that it brought my own BP down so quickly. He said it does do that sometimes.

Also, sometimes I notice my BP is going too low for days on end. I then self-prescribe myself to wash out on the Lisinopril for a few days until it comes up again. I did that on October 1 and 2 as a matter of fact. It only took two days to get my BP back up from 87/53. 92/48. The other two times I did this Lisinopril washout, it took five days each to get back up to more functional levels. So for me, the effects of Lisinopril both come and go quickly.

Lisinopril, I understand, is excreted by the kidneys, not metabolized, so if one's excretion rate just barely lags behind the oral intake rate, levels in the bloodstream will slowly accumulate. Thus I think it is quite reasonable to skip does as I did.....But yall will talk to your own doctors about this, right?! Actually, I probably should talk with mine about a lower dose. I think I can get by and have good BP with a smaller dose (10mg currently).

And what does low BP feel like to me? Well, I laughingly refer to it as "having a flat tire." I do feel flat, drained, unenergetic. And I tend to have more pronounced orthostatic hypotension (spell it correctly that time?) with low BP, no surpise.