Hello, everybody. I've had high blood pressure since 8th grade. I was fit and very active but high blood pressure runs in my family on both sides. At 14 my blood pressure was 140/90. Well after awhile I quit football (too much drama) and I took interest in other things like guitar, painting, etc. Over the years I've gained a bit of weight and I've been trying to walk some of it off and eat healthy to keep it down. However about 6 months ago I started a new pill (antidepressant) called Effexor. And one of the major side effects that I did not know at the time (nor did my doctor check for...very stupid) is a big raise in blood pressure. I'm trying to get off the pill but I can't afford a doctor's appointment so I went to community health and am waiting on a response from them.

I took my blood pressure the other day and it was 204/112 with a heartrate of 98 bpm. At 19 years old that's ridiculous! My mom's a nurse and I called her to ask her if I was due for a stroke any minute... she said to calm down, she's seen much worse, but it's definitely something I should be very concerned about. I started incorporating whole grains into my diet (I try to eat 2-3 bowls of whole grain cereal per day) and I'm trying to cut out my cholesterol and sodium intake by half if not more.

I know this is very serious and last night I finally did some research on some herbal remedies for this type of thing. Right now I'm taking Omega III Fish Oil capulets 2-3 times daily and incorporating garlic into my diet. I know there's a few herbal remedies that will work wonders though (Mukta Vati, Hyperexol, etc). But I'm wondering which ones are best and don't have adverse side effects.

Thanks!

Shame on your doctor for not checking that out before prescribing it! That bp is really high. Have you thought about stopping the med yourself? Not cold turkey but cut your dose until it's nothing? I'm not telling you to do this of course but if you're sure it's the effexor and you can't see a doc right away you might want to consider it. Have you called your doc to tell him what's happening? He should talk to you on the phone with no charge since he prescribed it and you're having major side effects which are his fault. I took myself off paxil after taking it for over 6 yrs for other reasons than my bp but I just cut my dose in half for about 10 days then cut that half in half for about 10 days and then only took it every other day for a few weeks and then just quit. It wasn't bad, no weird stuff happened but everyone is different of course. You might go over to the depression board and see if anyone over there who has gotten off effexor can tell you about how to do it. But seriously, that doctor should talk to you over the phone and tell you what you can do to get off that med since he prescribed it. Call him, leave a message explaining what's going on and tell them you can't come in but need to get off of it. You should still see the community doctor as you may need a med to lower your bp even if you're not taking the effexor. Herbal remedies are good and so is diet but if it's really high, meds are your best bet. I know of some herbals for bp but you need to eliminate the effexor first and see if that helps. Call that stupid doctor!

Take Care and Good Luck!
Tori

I had the same concerns about Effexor when my doctor prescribed it to me. My advice would be to switch to another antidepressant, but in the meantime you can probably wean down (like the other poster said). In my research, I"ve found that Effexor can be kind of nasty to get off of, so I would take it very slow. I've also found in my research that the high blood pressure effects of Effexor typically take place at higher doses. So, if you are on 150mg, I'd make it a goal to get down to 75 or even 37.5. You may see lower BP numbers by getting down to the lower doses. I would probably not get completely off Effexor if you have serious anxiety/depression issues. I would simply switch to another SSRI once I got down to 75 or 37.5. Hopefully you can get a script from either your prescribing doctor or from the clinic you saw. Good luck

hi there,

thanks for the responses. Honestly, I've been feeling pretty good lately. I've been taking those fish capsules and drinking herbal tea a lot. I don't know what my BP is now, but I feel a lot less dizzy and less pressure in my veins. I finally checked into a doctor today... i had an appointment from community health this morning - they sent me to a PSYCHOLOGIST!! Like I need that... I just want to get off my meds, not to tell someone my problems. I went into the clinic this morning and booked an appt for 3 PM today and we'll see what happens.

I'm on 75mg of Effexor XR right now...trying to see if I can get switched to welbutrin or something similar.

I hope it all goes well for me.

-Jared

Hey bro...take some celery seed extract and hawthorne. It will lower ur bp.