General Chat

You can drink the bottled stuff ! Ros

. I have been taking Amlodipine tablets for years now together with Frumil, as I understand gthe subject the first controls the blood pressure and the second is a water tablet. Having taken these tablets for a long time I was feeling fine until the recent very hot weather with temps over 80 and I started to feel dizzy and at one point collapsed here, at home. Naturally I was shaken and saw the doctor again and he did two things that surprised me - first was to take my b p again - generally taken sitting down at docs desk, but this time finding that my b p was OK when sitting, a week later had it standing Bp low. So tablets were reduced though still the same ones. Later check and everything fine, BUT he then asked me to go for blood tests at hospy and instead of the normal checks he asked for a whole range of things to be checked. I don't know what age you are Michael but if you are over 60 then I think that would be a good route to take. I am over 70 - further tests are now being made but I can guaranty that b.p may not be the only problem you have as so many things can contribute to it.. Whatever, you should have a good liquid intake daily - and I don't mean over the bar, or tea/coffee - just water, pints of it - it is not just for drowning in ! and take note of what you have already been told here - doc should know best and keep taking the tablets, better than having strokes etc.,

hi rosalyn, what i found interesting about this chap, was all the time he was lecturing to his peers, he was never heckled, even though some of his claims regarding dehydration, had only been researched by himself. bryan.

Hi Michael, First of all...........Telling off.......... Your Dr would not have prescribed you tablets if he thought you didn't need them. Did he do a 24 hour trace on you to begin with?.....(.A little machine that you wear all day and night and it pumps up every hour with a reading, recording it?) Secondly......It may take a few months to get a combination right for you. I had 3 different combinations before staying put on the ones I'm on now...(which one of them is Antennol)..... Some which are great for one person are not nessecarily good for someone else.....You have to keep trying....Blood Pressure is so dangerous. I was supposed to have an op about 5 years ago but the Dr wouldn't go near me......My BP was 200/110...I was 30 something(LOL). The tablets that I'm on now do make my feet swell due to water retention but the Dr gives me Fruesmide to conteract that. Now Michael make sure you go and see him again......! He won't mind and that's what he's there for. Let us know how you get on! ***Apologising for the telling off*** Good Luck! Regards Angie.....

Hullo Michael, I went to a firms mini medical..........they said 'see your doctor' I had a elevated BP. first he put me on Metroprolol,( a beta blocker) worked fine.. then he took me off that and gave me enalapril. which I am still on........with a raised Blood pressure, you ARE ILL........mind you, without it you would be dead, we need the happy medium..........LOL.,,for a short while he put me on bendrofluizide, to get rid of excess water........oooooops that worked too well.........so he took me off that..... persevere let the Doc know, and he will alter your medication......... Bob

hi joe, interested to see that you were on combined tablets, including water retention, as it's been shown that they may well cause a lowering of potassium, so i hope your diet includes lots of bananas. bryan.

Apricots too! Ros

Yes, always have bananas ... apricots when possible.

And now there`s a new blood test to check on kidney function! Ros

don't start me off rosalyn, or i will be here all night... what i think is great is the increase in local medical centres, it's getting as good as private health care, my local health centre is wonderful, as they are putting so much into preventative medicine, such as this new test for the kidneys. bryan.

. Michael, dont get too worried, just do what you are told and I am sure you know how and what to eat sensibly. The blood tests now go beyond the kidneys - from what I could make of the form I gave to the hospy the test seemed to cover about 10 different things - bit scarey innit ?

there are many ways of changing the pressure in a system.. reduce the amount of fluid. alter the diameter of the pipes. slow down the pump alter the stroke of the pump. change the thickness of the fluid.. and More......... and all done with different tablets......... Bob

thought for the day ahead! the body is made up of 70% water, the brain is made up of 85% water, considering the body as large, and the brain small, why the difference. bryan.

Ross....Bob.... and anybody else that I have forgotten to mention, Thank you all so much for your input. I hope others will read this thread and take thier BP seriously. I shall, now that I have been through your remarks. My flippant remarks are my way of dealing with my problems and I wish no disrespect to anyone else suffering from high bloodpressure. Indeed I would be more sympathetic towards you than I am to myself, (if that makes sense !!). Going to bed now before I develope something else. Cheers to you all again, goodnight and regards from Mick.

Hope you don't mind me butting in on your thread, but I have been diagnosed with abnormally low blood pressure (I don't know what the reading was) I had to have a 24 blood pressure monitor on which confimed it. I am on steroids called Fludrocortisone to raise it, since I've been on the tablets I do feel a lot better and don't feel so dizzy or faint anymore. Does anyone know, is there an actual cure for low blood pressure? or would I be on steroids for good? The touble is, I feel since I've been on the steroids, I have put on a lot of weight (I'm 5' 2, and just under 10 stone) although my doctor says I'm fine weight wise. I'm a 44 year old non-smoker. Does anyone else suffer from this problem? Sandra

Hello Michael and everyone else I put up a thread about high blood pressure a couple of weeks ago. I had a bad dizzy spell and my husband suggested I should have my blood pressure checked, something I have never purposely done before. I bought a Blood pressure monitor, the one advertised on TV for £9.99 and was amazed to find my BP was sky high. I thought at first maybe the machine wasn't working properly but my husband's BP was always showing normal. I asked people on here if they knew if these machines were reliable and also said what my BP reading was. Everyone recommended that I should visit my doctor. I have, several times now over the past couple of weeks. My BP is high and they are trying to control it. They also did two ECG's over the two weeks and the results of these show that it may be that at some point in the past I have had what they say is a silent heart attack. This is a heart attack but without any outward symptoms. I had never heard of this before. I have to visit my doctor again over the next two weeks and I think I may have to go for an echocardiogram which is an ultrasound of the heart to determine if I have any problems. My advice is check your BP regularly and take the medication.. it may save your life. Regards Jenny

My blood pressure problem was found when i went to get my eyes tested ,she notified my doc. but i didn't bother to go to him for at least a year later, and then it was for something else, he took my blood pressure and said it was so bad i could have a heart attack or a stroke at any time, had pills given to me, and had to have a check every week, he had to change my pills several times until he found one to suit me.i have to take 2 different sorts a day, and at first they did make me feel sick but after a couple of weeks it passed.now i don't have any problems with them, some of them caused me to have headaches too. i am now taking Bendrofluazide and Ramipril.and my blood preaure is ok . So don't give up, it is trial and error until they find one that suits you. the dosage may be too high for you.that also could be the reason you feel awful. speak to your doc again. Shirley Ann.

Sandra Interesting that you are being treated for low blood pressure. My understanding is that this is quite common on the continent, but I am always told I should think myself lucky, even though when mine gets down to 90/50 I feel awful and can do v little, v lethargic and muzzy headed. The only time there was any concern was when I was pregnant. Mine sits at 110/60 most of the time which is OK. What I don't understand is why mine is so low when chronic high blood pressure led to my father taking early retirement on medical grounds and eventually killed him. High blood pressure is dangerous and needs to be taken seriously. Sheila

Nudge for Anniexx