New to hypertension....Dr. wants to put someone I know on NORVASC...suggestions plz?

I hated Norvasc...it made me very nervous and jittery, amphetamine-like. It dodn;t do much for my BP either. But doctors like it because it IS expensive.

Why 90% of doctors put many of us on Norvasc??? I like my doctor because he hates Norvasc and never put any one on it :D . If you read the threads of the forums you will NOT even think about Norvasc as a Medication for High BP. :nono:

I haven't tried it but I tried Beta-Blockers, diuretics (for some time) and now ARB (Atacand 8 mg) which is working fine and has very few side-effects. Ask your dr to put you on an ARB it's really COOL!!!
Thanks and good luck
Michael

I had to stop taking Norvasc because it gave me a severe case of acid reflux. Evidently calcium channel blockers (like Norvasc) can cause acid reflux (but not in everyone). My former PCP didn't even know this was a possible side effect - I found out through reading a book at Borders! The reflux stopped several days after I stopped taking it.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

That's very curious, FLPam...thank you for that heads up on theCCB-GERD connection.

Was that Border's volume called BEST DRUGS-WORST DRUGS?

Particularly hateful would be any GERD in a person being treated for angina...last thing he needs is yet ANOTHER cause for a burn in the middle of his chest!

NORVASC is the best for me, but may not be for you.

After trying some of the other meds, that many on the board find to be great, but I could not tolerate

The first was Diovan - I felt like a zombie/BP was controlled.
The second was Lotrel - I coughed too much/BP was controlled
The third was Norvasc - been on it over a year with absolutely no problems and BP is control.

I think everyone has to see which works for them. There is no way for you to tell what is best for you solely by other reactions.

As far as what some have said about doctors recommending NORVASC purely to make the drug companies rich, my neighbor and good friend recommended it to me. She said it is one of the ones she trust.

I wish you well.

Hi,

I don't recall the specific book, I just remember looking through several books to find out more info about this particular med. I have had a history of reflux so I guess a med like Norvasc would only aggravate the condition. My new doctor put me on Micardis which at least isn't giving me reflux!

It's rather scary that we have to rely on our own reserach to find out these things. I dropped the doctor who perscribed me Norvasc because she would only shrug when I asked her why I was having such a terrible case of reflux (I had it over a month and tried everything to make it stop). I'm not sure she was even aware of this potential side effect. You'd think docs would at least look up the med in the PDR book for more info. Scary.

I think doctors use the PDR for decoration. They think having the THICK book tells the world, and themselves, they actually KNOW something abouut drugs besides the last gift they got from Pfizer to prescribe Norvasc.
I'm not a doctor but I actually READ mine. I've occasionally xeroxed a page (before the Internet age) and presented the copy to my doctor to read. He LOVED getting the page from me.

I think some of these messages are irresponsible. There are some people who will read this message, who NORVASC can help. I am one of them. I find comfort in the fact that despite NORVASC being used for years, the FDA has no reason to pull it. You can not say that about the newer drugs (3 years or less), who knows what side effects may pop up. I truly don't intend to be disrespectful, but I am thinking about the people out there that this drug can help, and now do not know what to do. NORVASC for some is a proven, safe option.

I think some of these messages are irresponsible. There are some people who will read this message, who NORVASC can help. I am one of them. I find comfort in the fact that despite NORVASC being used for years, the FDA has no reason to pull it.

Good point.

There are no health professionals or health experts on Healthboards, including myself. We can only post what we have experienced. Sometimes it is forgotten that what helps one person might be harmful to someone else.

I'm on the CCB Verapamil. It works great for me. I am also on an ARB which also works great for me. I am also on an ACE, which also works great for me. I get very few side effect from any of these meds. But that doesn't mean that someone else might not have a miserable experience with these same meds.

I had a good experience with an ACE inhibitor, Lisinopril, that many others have had very bad experiences with. But I don't see others describing what a horrible experience they had as being irresponsible at all. This board is active enough that there is usually someone to come in and point out the other side of the picture. If by chance that didn't happen on an individual thread, anyone who did a search would normally find other opinions in other threads. I would think that the majority who use this board would have enough intelligence not to base their decisions on the comments on one thread alone and to recognize that they are getting their opinions here from other patients, not health professionals.

I had a good experience with an ACE inhibitor, Lisinopril, that many others have had very bad experiences with. But I don't see others describing what a horrible experience they had as being irresponsible at all. This board is active enough that there is usually someone to come in and point out the other side of the picture. If by chance that didn't happen on an individual thread, anyone who did a search would normally find other opinions in other threads. I would think that the majority who use this board would have enough intelligence not to base their decisions on the comments on one thread alone and to recognize that they are getting their opinions here from other patients, not health professionals.

Uff-Da

As I said earlier, my intent was not to offend anyone. Uff-Da the posts I have read of yours always imply that it is your opinion. Many times when a person come upon this site it is in desperation and may not be thinking as clearly as they would if they were not sick. The fact that one is intelligent does not necessarily play in to how someone might use this information. Furthermore not everyone is expereince enough to search the board to get a balance opinion. I think I have a certain degree of intelligence, and had I read some of these posts about NORVASC, I may have told my doctor absolutely not. I just hope everyone would try to be sensitive.

I have been using Norvasc since 1998 with good results.
Everyone's High BP is not caused by the same condition -- we are all different.

My big problem is hyperaldosteronism --- meaning my aldrenals put out too much aldosterone resulting in big losses of potassium-- causing BP difficult to control. This condition is rear??

My BP has been controlled by a potassium sparing dieuretic, Norvasc, and a beta blocker and my Doctor is a BP only Doctor at a teaching/ research Fascility.

Harry

Personally I think that anyone who wants to join the bandwagon and take megasdoses of Norvasc, perhaps propelling it from Drug #4 in all-time sales on the planet to Drug #3 is perfectly free to do so.

But it is also extraordinarily useful for the person to know beforehand that is was perhaps the most PROMOTED drug ever on the planet and many people find the drug truly hateful and of little use beyond tortorous side effects.

Saying a drug is good when it's NOT simply so that someone gullible might not tell his doctor he doesn't want the stuff seems to be to render these boards useless.

If the axiom: The Doctor Knows Best, were true, there would BE no boards like this. Unfortunately there is a great need for boards like this because often the doctors don't know best (excusable, everyone is human) or operate contrary to what they know id best AND CHEAPEST because it pays better (inexcusable.)

If poor little Pfizer gets insulted by the facts about it's craven promotion of a mediocre drug so that it can be peddled wantonly at very high prices over cheap drugs that work better, then so be it...but in my heart of hearts, I think they'll get over it; a few extra hundred $$BILLION$$ is extremely palliative.

If I read that a drug stinks, I will add the information to everything else I can find out about it and then choose whether to take it and then WATCH how it performs. Anyone who wants to bury his head in the sand and blindly take it is perfectly free to do so.

Norvasc STINKS, IMHO........and I feel it's my duty to my fellow man to say so. One can do with that information what one wants. My opinions of objective fact don't get altered by the possible misconceptions of others.

Hello Harry,

I'm off Atacand few days ago and I will see a new doctor in a few hours, I think I will tell him to put me on Norvasc and see. Maybe it will work for me like it worked for many. As you and all of us always says, everyone is different. My blood pressure is well controlled with any Med that I have been on(Ziac, Cozaar and Atacand plus other Meds that I forgot).
But my concern is that most BP Meds causes ED and I'm 23 male so it will be a big problem. Anyway, I don't know if the Meds effects me or not yet.
Hope Norvasc helps me out
Thanks
Michael

Norvasc STINKS, IMHO........and I feel it's my duty to my fellow man to say so.

I am on a different CCB, Verapamil. I have experimented with the dosage, the schedule of taking it, have gone without it for weeks, and have tracked the results over seven years and 17,000 blood pressure readings. It is my most effective medicine.

From what I have read, people like me, who have heart failure, should NEVER take a CCB, like Verapamil or Norvasc. For me, it has taken me a long time to learn how to take Verapamil, but I finally know how to use Verapamil to get the most out of it.

Would you mind sharing how you determined that Norvasc stinks? There was a clinical trial, named ALLHAT, which tested 33,357 hypertensive patients aged >/= 55 years with at least 1 other cardiovascular risk factor, which compared Norvasc against an ACE Inhibitor. This intensive clinical trial lasted eight years and ended in 2002.

Results of ALLHAT, when separated by race, suggested that Norvasc may have advantages over an ACE inhibitor in black men and women and in nonblack women.

Overall results showed that, in hypertensive patients with CHD, Norvasc and the ACE inhibitor had similar results.

One can do with that information what one wants. My opinions of objective fact don't get altered by the possible misconceptions of others.

You are not a health professional, and neither am I. You have researched Norvasc, and I assume you have read the results of ALLHAT, and you have concluded that Norvasc stinks. I have used a different CCB, Verapamil, and determined that it is my most effective heart medicine.

If something works for me, or you, it doesn't mean that it will work for someone else.

What are the "objective facts" from which you base your dislike of Norvasc?

Beerzoids, Hi
If I may change the subject for a moment, I would like to ask you something about Verapamil. Like you I get my best control with a CCB,Diltiazem. Diltiazem is in the same class as verapamil and is also not recommend for folks with heart failure. As of last year I do not have heart failue but I do have an extremely slow heartrate. It is normally in the mid 60s but on verapamil or diltiazem it drops into the 40s.
I also take an ACEI and diuretic If I remember correctly you take an ACEI or ARB too. Is that correct?
Anyway I was wondering if Verapamil lowers your heart rate too much.
Glad to hear you are doing well,
Cass

Beerzoids, Hi
If I may change the subject for a moment, I would like to ask you something about Verapamil. Like you I get my best control with a CCB,Diltiazem. Diltiazem is in the same class as verapamil and is also not recommend for folks with heart failure. As of last year I do not have heart failue but I do have an extremely slow heartrate. It is normally in the mid 60s but on verapamil or diltiazem it drops into the 40s.

I've been on CCBs for about twenty years. During most of that time, I did not have a problem with too slow of a heartrate (bradycardia). But...... starting in Feb 2004, after I made a few changes to my environment, I started suffering from a very weak, slow heartbeat and difficulty breathing, especially during the night. I attributed my new problems to changes in how my body was handling the Verapamil as a result of the changes to my environment.

After many months of trial and error, I've come up with a solution that works for me. I've reduced my Verapamil down to twice a day, and take my second verapamil pill at 6pm. I found out that, if I take Verapamil too late at night, I get increased difficulties breathing and too slow of a heart rate. It was not an easy solution for me since it takes several weeks of increased, nasty symptoms for me to slowly reduce my Verapamil.

I also take an ACEI and diuretic If I remember correctly you take an ACEI or ARB too. Is that correct?

Yes. I take a CCB an ACEI and an ARB. Plus Digoxin and Coumadin. My next goal is to try and eliminate the ACEI. There has not been enough research on using an ACEI and an ARB, and I am curious to find out if I really need to take the ACEI. I am a little hesitant, though, because withdrawal sometimes can be pretty nasty and take a long time.

Anyway I was wondering if Verapamil lowers your heart rate too much.
Glad to hear you are doing well,
Cass

Thanks. I have my good days and my bad days. I've been changing more and more of my diet over to organic foods. Each time I do it, my heart disease pays a nasty price until my system gets used to the organic foods. All these years I thought that I was allergic or sensitive to tomatoes. NOT! I can eat all the organic tomatoes that I want without the nasty reaction that I used to get.

The good news is that my blood pressure is doing great. What really irritates me is that I haven't seen a significant improvement in my heart's reaction to chemicals, dyes, odors, materials, inks, etc., I still have to avoid many items if I want my heart to behave itself.

How is the frequent, small serving diet doing? Have you made any changes? Anything that I can try? How have you been doing (other than baseball! :rolleyes: ) ?

Take care....... :wave:

How is the frequent, small serving diet doing? Have you made any changes? Anything that I can try? How have you been doing (other than baseball! :rolleyes: ) ?

Take care....... :wave:

I intend to remain on the "6 small meals diet" indefinitely, But I haven't stumbled on anything new lately. I've been trying to add more chicken and turkey, although neither has become a favorite. Just lots of veggies, whole wheat pasta, and egg beaters.
My BP has never been better since I added the CCB (diltiazem). Very consistant all day and night. I just worry about the slow pulse. I only take 180mgs of diltiazem but maybe I could go down to 120. :confused:
By the way baseball is great today!
Cass