High Blood Pressure

At the start of my journey my blood pressure was out of control (due to my own fault NOT taking the Ramipril previously prescribed to me by my GP -- but I had a lot of side effects with the Ramipril so unilaterally had decided to simply "not take" it.)

When I had my first round of tests at the Whittington back in September, it gave me a wake up call to do something about it, as it suddenly dawned on me that I might not be "operable" if I still had stupidly high BP by the time of the op.

Since then (and a welcome change of medication!) my BP has dropped as follows:

-- 12 September 2011 ..... (at Whittington) ........... 205/108
-- 27 October 2011 ......... (measured by GP) ......... 167/98
-- 14 November 2011 ...... (measured by GP) ........ 157/68
-- 6 March 2012 .............. (at Whittington) ........... 147/75

The new meds that my GP prescribed is Lisinopril and for me (altho I know everybody is different) I have not had any side effects with Lisinopril.

I started on 10 mg Lisinopril a day on 13 September (one day after my first appt at the Whittington in shock!) ..... but in October when 6 weeks' use had only lowered the BP to 167/98 I asked my GP to increase my dose and am now on 20 mg of Lisinopril.

Am so pleased.

Have not always stood up to GPs before when they *insist* on prescribing the cheapest (most horrible and worst side effect) drugs and several other previous GPs had prescribed Ramipril for my BP and I had always been a bit "erratic" about taking it.

Pleased thats it working for you sharonimo. I have the same problem too my blood pressure.

I have been on Lisinopril for about 12 years at the 20mg dose. I have never had any problems with side effects and my BP was always well controlled.

I had very high blood pressure and at its absolute peak in hospital it was 235/110 ( a nurse told me this was totally impossible and that I would be dead - but the consultant said apparently because it has always been high my tolerance was higher!!!) Anyway I digress. Lisinopril is a very usful drug and worked for me.

I have reduced my dosage now to 5mg ( did try to go down to 2.5mg - the lowest dose, but BP went up a bit).
My GP believes that with another stone off I should be able to discontinue them completely.

Well done for standing up to your drs and getting a good drug, but please do not underestimate the importance of taking them

Hope your BP is under control soon

SARAH S said:

I have reduced my dosage now to 5mg ( did try to go down to 2.5mg - the lowest dose, but BP went up a bit).
My GP believes that with another stone off I should be able to discontinue them completely.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I am fairly sure that I won't be one of those patients who can immediately abandon all meds after the operation ..... there is a family history of high BP (even in the "not quite so fat" members of the family!) ..... and I know mine has registered as "above normal" for more than 10 years.

But the prospect of being able to drop back down to 10 mg and then 5 mg is encouraging -- THANKS!

i too have the same but im a bugger for forgetting to take it, but now i realize i may not be able to have my operation i take it every morning now lol