I have not posted in a while, but would appreciate some input from today's doctor's visit. It is frustrating when a doctor sits there, shaking his head and saying that he does not know what else to do to help you. I was pleased that my doc did say that he was going to go and read up on blood pressure meds and get back to me, though (internal medicine doc). Here is the dilemma: I am on four different meds for HTN - Covera, 2xday, Metoprolol 2xday, Atacand 1 x day, Furosemide 2xday. My blood pressures are still running 140's and 150's over 90's and 100's, with a few exceptions in both directions. I also have diabetes, so the target rate is 130/80. I am 41 years old with no family history of HTN and all of the standard tests have been done over the years. The doctor mentioned something about an alpha blocker - any thoughts on that type of medication? He asked me about ace inhibitors, but I had an opposite reaction to Zestril once(when taken off of it for a nuclear test, my bp came down immediately).

I would appreciate any input with this situation. Thank you.

Before getting to the blood pressure aspect, I wanted to ask if you have your blood sugar under tight control? Are you monitoring those also? It sounds like you are keeping up with your blood pressure well.

Anyway, I am not familiar with the medications you listed. In some cases,the first route is to prescribe an ACE inhibitor to help your vessels dialate a bit. Ones that I have been on are Lexxel, Accupril,and now Altace. That alone is not enough to control my blood pressure. Therefore, the next step in my case was to add a beta-blocker (good because this helps folks like me with coronary heart disease). The beta blockers I have been on have been Ziac, Atenolol, and now Toprol XL. Those two are enough to take my bp from a 170/110 reading down to 100/60. At one point, when I was at my heaviest, it was necessary to prescribe a diuretic.

There is another class called calcium channel blockers. However, I have no experience taking any of the meds in this class, so I feel its best that I limit what I say to the areas that I have some familiarity with.

A product called Hyperbalance brought my diastolic down from 100 to 85. I am not sure if these results are peculiar to me.

[This message has been edited by sunbird_owner (edited 12-30-2002).]