I am discouraged this morning. I have just about given up on my fifth blood pressure drug. THEY say Diovan and other ARBs have few side effects but I have had severe muscle and joint pain this past month after starting it. I expected it to be the answer. Sucks.

I am considering going back on a vitamin and mineral regimen which seemed as good as the drug without the side effects.

I suggest that you research herbs. I did and my BP is under control.
However because of the ridiculous practice medicine w/o license laws I cannot recomend specifics

vegetables, fruit, and whey protein and your BP will drop. I have never seen it not work.

You can also try eating 4 stalks of celery a day which works in most people.

These two natural things work well, Cardioplus

http://www.amazon.com/Standard-Process-Cardio-Plus%C2%AE-330-tabs/dp/B001COVOD0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377705722&sr=8-1&keywords=cardioplus

or a few cups of hibuscus tea,

http://www.webmd.com/heart/news/20081110/hibiscus-tea-may-cut-blood-pressure

Four stalks of celery a day will work???...Are you serious. Very cool.

Benicar HCT. It is spendy but I don't get the muscle aches you mention

yah, no muscle aches with Benicar, ( ACE inhibitor) a person just feels like a wrung out dish rag -too tired to think about doing anything, let alone do it. Beta blockers are even worse, and atenolol will give a person diabetes (banned in GB for that reason) if they have any predisposition toward it. and just in case you dont know, diabetes SUCKS!!!


I know a person who started taking massive doses of cinnamon powder, about 1 pound per month, to help with keep their blood glucose levels down, it did not do that much to their BGL but it un expectedly knocked their BP right down, and they feel great.
I can't say what will work for any one. But that's certainly better than feeling beat up due to taking BP medicine.

Got to be careful with that one, the cinnamon commonly on US store shelves is not true cinnamon and eaten in quantities of a pound a month can cause serious problems.
True cinnamon is cinnamomum verum or cinnamomum zeylanicum. Possibly called Ceylon cinnamon.

You would NOT want Saigon/Chinese cinnamon or anything referring to cassia. Those are safe for your average seasoning amounts, but in larger quantities can metabolize to yield coumarin which can damage liver and kidneys.

I got a couple pounds of the real stuff from online, and it is actually less aromatic, and kind of sweet by itself, with much less of the burning flavor associated with too much of what we expect cinnamon to taste like.
I can chop up a peach and spread a lightly heaped common spoonful over the whole thing and eat it all up. You couldn't possibly use that much Saigon cinnamon.

Thanks for the insights / information.

According to an article that I read, in Japan the first thing they prescribe for HBP is celery.

Wow! I had not ever heard about celery and HBP before.

I am one of those freaks who actually loves celery. I eat it all the time.

Me too with peanut butter on it.

Blood pressure control is a lifelong process. You're not going to die today or next month from it, but over years it will cause you problems.

The first line of BP control is very simple drugs, diuretics, like HZT. Reduce fluid volume in the blood vessels and the pressure should go down. Very cheap and have been used for decades.

Next, you'll probably get a beta blocker. Blocks adrenalen and thus puts a governor on your cardiac output, essentially chopping off the peaks of blood pressure spikes.

I take two drugs, and over the years have had to increase the dosage to keep the BP in line.

As you already know, there are many categories of BP control meds. ACE inhibitors, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, and "water pills". You'll find something that will work. Of course there are things to do that help, like cutting salt usage and losing some weight, some exercise. But it is likely all of those things may not get you exactly where you want. Good luck!

Celery is probably not a bad thing to eat when you have blood pressure. Eating healthier in general is probably a good idea. Just make sure you discuss it with your health provider as a way of including it with your health plan.

For most people, the best way to drop blood pressure is to loose weight. Then again, I have a brother who has the most physically fit body you can imagine, and he had HBP problems due to an artery that was being pinched near one of his kidneys.

I don't know the details, but I think the doctors were getting desperate to figure out why an otherwise healthy 21 year old kid was having HBP, so they did some more extensive testing. Basically, since we were not very intelligently designed, we have a number of arteries, veins, nerves, and other tubes, that wrap around other things, and it doesn't take much for them to get wrapped around the wrong way.

I take Diovan HTC but not in the summer. The water pill part leaves me dehydrated and that leads to aches and cramps. In the hot months I take a different form of Diovan without the water pill.

I'm on Atenolol and Avalide. I don't really like them, but with the high blood pressure history in my family, I'm stuck with them. I live in a constant state of very slight dizziness.

Avalide 300/25 strength here...no side effects. Beta blockers did nothing for me.

Exercise really helps, even 30 minutes of walking per day.

Id really like to do the Whittaker thing. It makes sense to me. I have researched herbs and tried many but did not find anything that worked well. Id be willing to try, thedesertrat1, if you will hint at it here.lol

I have tried to control it with various vitamins, minerals and herbs but haven't really pinpointed what works. I was having some luck with the Whittaker diet/supplements when I had an episode of double vision that scared me into the Diovan...which a don't like.

Celery helps some but I cant eat enough of it, it seems. Garlic helps. Arginine...I just couldn't get it all together to WORK!

Lilith Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am discouraged this morning. I have just about
> given up on my fifth blood pressure drug. THEY say
> Diovan and other ARBs have few side effects but I
> have had severe muscle and joint pain this past
> month after starting it. I expected it to be the
> answer. Sucks.
>
> I am considering going back on a vitamin and
> mineral regimen which seemed as good as the drug
> without the side effects.

Are you taking cholesterol-lowering drugs?

The condition you described could be very serious. Talk to your pharmacist. It could be rhabdomyloysis.

When my doctor doubled my Diovan, I could barely get out of bed I was so fatigued. Lotrel made my legs swell, but I got a few years out of it before that started happening. Now it Ramiprel and HCTZ, which has been good for a while.

Sorry you're going through this. Side effects suck. Hope you find some that can work for you.

I was diagnosed with HBP last summer. My doctor started me out on a diuretic, which caused terrible muscle cramps and made me pass out. Gave it up pretty quickly.
After some trial and error I'm now on Metoprolol and Lisinopril, which seem to be working with no real side effects.
Good luck with finding what works for you!

Enalapril maleate does it great for me. Have you tried it? I'm on 10mg twice daily. Now I'm always complimented at how great my BP is.

Make sure you get lots of potassium, because these medicines can deplete your potassium levels and that's not good.

Started with HCTZ 20 years ago. Then on to that and Terazosin (also for enlarged prostate) 16 years ago. Then they added Lisinopril about 8 years ago. Then they added in Amlodipine (Norvasc) about 4 years ago. I wonder what will be next for me.

Thanks again. Maybe some of you might want to read Julian Whitakers book Reversing Hypertension. He cites a lot of studies and seems to be a reasonable MD who happens to not like drugs and surgery as answers to everything. I have tried five BP drugs over the years and will likely try more as I believe we need to combine conventional medicine with alternatives. BUT the side effects have been pretty bad.

I appreciate all your help. I find the search to control my BP very confusing. I never smoked, don't drink and am not fat. I do the exercise. Frustrating!

Some of our physical conditions are written into our DNA and the best we can do is improve diet, exercise, sleep, and get the best medication or alternatives to manage everything.

At different times in my life, I've needed different medications. Some I could handle, some I could not. Some of my conditions are clearly hereditary.

Because of a variety of conditions that progressed over the years, I need medications to manage my BP.

For myself, I found out, quite by accident that stress was often the predominate cause of HBP. Even with several medications, I cannot always keep it in a normal range.

I probably need to medicate more, rather than fall asleep! Managing my sleep has been difficult also.

And so, we experiment! I'm trying celery and more meditation.

I'll have blood tests again around my birthday each year and hopefully find what works to keep me functioning! The older I get the less I can do.

I bought some of Jon Kabat-Zinn's CD's on meditation and within about 3 weeks of diligent, daily practice, my BP dropped so drastically that my doctor told me to drop 2 of the 3 BP meds I was taking.

I have tried many different types of meditation. This one is the only one that ever worked for me. It isn't easy; you have to stay very focused (and very relaxed at the same time.) It sounds contradictory, but "trying harder" just makes it worse.

Give it a try - it certainly can't hurt!

to dishes. & that's without earthquakes tornadoes affairs or terrorists threatening our daily designation with destiny!

Living within that ecosystem niche, that emotional geography, that political territory, that flow living day to day- ones gotta be giving some credit to those that attempt to manage it

without blaming self or others than one needs BP medication to manage it or limit damage from it. Really fliping stroking out or wrecking cardio muscles is the ULTIMATE limitation of life time duration - of life's bliss participation.

That is the primary motivation. Until your in safe BP range not to have a stroke- take your medication EVEN as you try meditation, try more excersize.

oh My god- I recall one night on the excersize bike after freaking fastin through a week in desperate effort to loose pounds, take off weight (generating stress) loosing the house (shortsale forced by foreclosure auction notes in the mail) trying to keep my dogs from being euthanized (rental with dogs available anytime?) all in one week.

& my physician's assistant is standing there, looking at me, (I'm trying to avoid BP medication to 'spare my kidneys' I heard a rumor from a nurse that ran a place for people on dialysis. She said all the patients wrecked their kidneys were on water pills- it wrecked their kidneys. Heard her say this years ago. DUH) PA filled me in- stoking out, walking dancing talking thinking - want to risk that/ heart attack Hows about having a heart attack? Uncontrolled BP does certainly wreck the kidneys.

I tried maganesium malate/ mag/cal to lower my bp, but could not do it consistently, added healthy essential fatty acids, seemed so depleted that would have asthma flare up after eating potatoe chips/ trans fat meal- literally choke me up. too depleted - to handle the risk.
\
SO, I finally agreed to be careful to breath, meditate, add excersize, eat as well as possible- and, after eating more potassium eating more healthy- still flaired my BP given X life stress- I added a basic diuretic. Why allow the risk of a stroke to all the rest? HECK. REally difficult choices. Such side effects but heck. Once I raised my bp all weekend sleeping stacked up high on too many pillows but it started elevated after a doctors' visit (hate those too many horrible experiences keeping family alive or loving others as they died, seriously. going to even Visit a doctor will raise my BP.)

finally I realized I'd like to be available to darling husband & friends, to take care of myself even if its a sacrifice. the side effects of not doing this- are impossibly dangerous risk to live through. How would I live with me if I refused treatement for bp presented/ offered to me after I only partially stroked out? take the little blue pill. just take the little blue thing.

you know if you find the life style torquing that would do it- while still in complete awareness of earthquake safety, firedrill, lock down drills on campus, tornados volcanoes & hazardous air quality- just remind me. I've joined all the art groups and photography groups in google+ I could find I see free art work all the time, I turn up great music all the time. I pour coffee I pour cream. I got friendly dogs. I got a friendly spouse. But I still think, this BP RX thing is such a #*#*#* like neeing to breath- cha**#* use the *#* inhaler already. you know, seriously?

Life is stressful. My BP went up to around 200/135 and I couldn't walk far. I knew I had to change when it got that high and I would just like to advise people to take medication and not to go the route I went, eating only fruits and vegetables, no salt, no fat, no milk and excersizing so foolishly I messed up my knees. Yes, try to eat healthily, and yes, a BP that doesn't go over 160/100 is perfectly alright because trying to get it down further will just make you sleepy. But take the medicines, even if there are side-effects and sure, drink a cup of coffee and add some cream. Life is too short to have a stroke in your fifties and it is stressful, it will always be stressful.

I have been taking Diovac HTC for 5 years. I had no side effects until I added Lipitor.

I've had HBP for 17 years and I currently take 20 mg of Vasotec & 25mg of atenolol. For me, the atenolol is more of a prophylactic measure against supra-ventricular tachycardia, which I've had a couple of times, and blood pressure control is a bonus. Thankfully, the atenolol has prevented any further SVT episodes.

I hope you feel comfortable enough to talk honestly with your doctor about the side effects you're experiencing and that you'd like suggestions for some non-pharmaceutical options that can work for HBP (probably in conjunction with a medication)

As someone else said, don't stop taking your meds on your own. HBP is dangerous long-term. My two cents - exercise - losing even 10 lbs is going to help your BP. Eat potassium-rich foods or take a potassium supplement (there's an article on WebMD about this. search "potassium and your heart").

For any condition, it can take a lot of trial and error to find the medicine that works best with the fewest side effects. My first HBP medicine was Zestril and it gave me a perpetual runny nose. Not horrid, but definitely an annoying side effect.