A friendly warning to those with HBP.

[THEFERMANATOR]

I have fairly high blood pressure, and about 11 months ago I was put on lisinopril with hydroclorothiazide 20/12.5MG 1 pill twice a day. Thanksgiving night I came down sick with what I thought was just a cold, by Sunday I was feeling better, then on Tuesday night things toook a turn for the worse. Wednesday I woke up with NO energy, could barely keep my eyes open, and was itching from my elbows down to my hands, my knees down, and my feet, hands, and back were swollen. I took some benadryll thinking I had gotten into something that I was allergic to, some cold meds, and tried to sleep it off. Thursday morning at 3:43 I woke up by throwing the dog off the bed, and was clawing and scratching at my skin. I was swollen to the point I could barely close my hands, and my feet were blown up to the point I couldn't put shoes on. My fingers and toes were so swollen they were cracking. Took more benadryll, but this wasn't stopping. Went straight to the ER thonking it was just an allergic reaction still.



The ER doc took one look at me and my med list, and immediately said he thought it was a little more serious. They put me on even more benadryll, prednosone, and lorazopram to knock me out so the meds could kick in. Later that day I went to my regular doc, and he said I had what looked like an allergic reaction to my BP med, but to make sure he had me go cold turkey on all of my other meds to make sure, and loaded me up on more antihistamines. Friday morning the only med I took was my BP med, and within an hour my tongie started swelling up, and I broke out in hives. Turns out I had what was called angioedema. Basically it is where your blood vessels secrete all the water in your blood out into your body under your skin, and you swell up. It looks like an allergic reaction from the toxins in your blood that normally don't contact your skin contacts it.



Heres the kicker, most people do not develop this until they have been taking the medication for 1-2 years, and the most common place it occurs is your throat and tongue. I read that many ignore the symptoms, and within a day or 2 your tongie and throat swell shut suffocating you, and if this occurs in your sleep, you may not be able to wake up and call for help. I'm trying to warn others about this as my regular doctor nor my cardiologist warned me this could happen, and I was caught completely off guard by this. So hopefully the tale of my rough week is a warning to others who take this med, or other alpha blockers for high blood pressure to NOT fool around if you have mysterious allergic reactions, or if you notice ANY swelling in your tongue or throat, DO NOT hesitate to call your doctor or go the ER as this can happen RAPIDLY! Within a period of a few hours(like during your sleep), your throat could swell shut and block off your airway entirely. I know many take meds for high blood pressure now, so be careful and vigilant of your body when taking them as they can turn on you in an instant WITHOUT warning YEARS after taking them successfully.

[willy]

Thanks Ferm glad you got it sorted out in time

[RidgeRunner]

I second that Willy, too close for comfort there.
Maybe they can get it regulated now that their not trying to do you in...

[THEFERMANATOR]

I had been feeling 10X better after starting the new med until today. Checked my BP because I got dizzy playing with the kids on the floor, and it was 106/57 with a pulse of 63 while playing and rolling around on the floor. Did some checking and it says not to take potassium with my new pill, but my last bp pill required it. So I stopped taking potassium, and hopefully this will clear up as it says excess potassium can cause low pulse and dips in BP. Just bugs me that they put me on a med with a LONG list of side effects, whe nthere is an alternative with less than half the side effects for a few pennies more a pill.

[wellcraftv20step]

Well,that's scary! Glad your ok ferm .

[macojoe]

Glad your ok ferm!! I have more then 1 person at dialysis with me that lost there kidneys to high bloop persure not a good thing!

[bradford]

Sounds scary Ferm, glad you got it figured out, thanks for the info.